Sierra Leone
(MNN) — Voters in Sierra
Leone believe the post-civil war climate is
improving, following local elections being held for the second time in over three
decades.
The elections are an encouraging sign of freedom in a region
that was synonymous with brutality, and HCJB Global's partners in Freetown are part of the
rebuilding solution.
HCJB's International Healthcare Director, Sheila Leech, will
soon travel to Sierra Leone
to establish new medical ministries in conjunction with Radio Life Venture and
Believers Broadcasting Network. The
organization plans to work with drilling wells and improving latrines, as well
launching a mobile medical clinic with Radio Life Venture.
"We realize that primary health care in a place like Sierra
Leone is what we need to do, because most of the folks in the places where we
work in Sierra Leone do not have access to clinics and hospitals," said Dee
Walker, Associate Executive Director of HCJB Global.
Sierra Leone's
government is not capable of meeting its people's "overwhelming" medical needs,
Walker said, so
it is working with other groups that are coming alongside to help. That's why HCJB Global began working with
Radio Life Venture "to assess the need for the extension or integration of
media with medical and leadership development," Walker said.
"This radio station can use the radio to proclaim the Gospel
and tell folks, ‘We are coming to this village or this town with some nurses or
doctors or dentists," he said. "And
people are so excited because many of the people cannot afford these physical
necessities."
The clinic fits into HCJB Global's mission to be not only
the voice but also the hands of Jesus.
"It's one thing to proclaim the Gospel message to someone
who's healthy, and it's another thing to proclaim it to someone who's in dire medical
need," Walker
said. "So we try to fuse the two
together and integrate them in such a way that they see that we are not just a
talking head, or a talking mouth, but we also put our hand behind what we say."
