Christian Veterinary Missions of Canada

The following is a Sierra Leone Missions update from Conrad Van Dijk, taken from our Sierra Leone e-newsletter.

"This trip was a journey of faith and we tried to live out Proverbs 3: 5 and 6  “Trust in the Lord with all your heart…and he will make your paths straight” The Lord surely blessed us and allowed us to get a lot accomplished, for which we are very thankful... (Please click below to read the rest of this post).

On January 28, we went to drop off Harry Boer and Bernie Pot at the Freetown Airport. Our car was already waiting in line at the ferry to the airport and I took a taxi to catch up with the others there. Taxis in Freetown operate like busses, picking up passengers on the way until the car is full and then dropping them off one or more at a time. One passenger was a friendly Muslim business college student, Alieu, who asked for my phone number and later came to visit me, asked for a Bible; every Sunday after that we had a Bible study together.

We also picked up John Kamara at the airport. He is a Sierra Leonean-Canadian who the Lord has called to be part of the leadership of SCHDO in Sierra Leone. His re-entry into Sierra Leone was typical. As he exited from the airport building with his abundance of luggage he was surrounded by 6 or more porters who wanted to help him with his luggage with the purpose of earning as much money (tips) from what they saw as a rich S.L. Canadian. That is life here, so much poverty, and everyone trying to earn a living even at the expense of others who are not that much better off than they are.

John and I had been preparing ourselves since early September for hours every week, to teach and encourage the Christian leaders in S.L. to deal with the spiritual atmosphere, which has a great influence on the people and the poverty there. We facilitated 3 workshops on three Saturdays in a row in February. The titles were “Heal the Land”, “No Compromise”, and “Holiness Living”. In these workshops we encouraged them to deal with the sins of the past, the sins of the present and to move forward in a holy lifestyle. The workshops were attended by approx. 50 Christian leaders (directly or indirectly associated in the work we do) weekly who were excited about the teachings.  One of the ministries represented asked us to teach the workshops again at their retreat for 22 pastors. We believe the application of these principles are essential in the success of any ministry, including our work of alleviating poverty through our poultry project. We spent a lot of time on how to apply these principles in our daily devotions with our SCHDO (Sierra Canadian Humanitarian and Development Org.) staff, because some of these compromises are ingrained in their culture.

I also went on weekly visits with poultry farmers of the Pig and Poultry Association of S.L. and gave them a one day workshop on poultry health and management. As usual we visited the Polio Brothers who are using sewing machines and tools we had sent before, and some other local NGO’s such as Missionaries of Charity (Mother Teresa’s ministry) with knitted baby booties, and soap bars. These people need so much more but they are so thankful.

We tried out a new water filter from Sawyer (www.sawyer.com), and drank the water in our office. This water filter removes all bacteria from the water so that it is pure  for the people to drink who cannot afford bottled water. We are looking for funding to distribute these in S.L. Each filter costs about $35 and will be a life saver especially for mothers with children under five years old.

Anna spent a lot of time at the Wellington Orphanage. She interviewed all the (now) 110 orphans and updated their profiles. We had a fun evening there with a celebration meal and listening to talented musical entertainment by the children.

We made contact with Rev. and Mrs. Levi Clarke, a Canadian couple from Brampton who had just arrived in Freetown where he is the overseer or Bishop of the Church of God of Prophecy in Sierra Leone. They would like to share a container with us.

We made contact with Njala University which is rebuilding their university as part of recovering from the civil war in the 1990’s, especially the Agricultural College and Animal Science Department where I was a lecturer 40 years ago and where Anna was a primary school teacher at their Experimental School.  We are also collaborating with Njala to help farmers grow corn for chicken feed. We also made contacts with several other NGO’s to help them with their poultry projects.

As I wanted some more exercise, I would walk on weekends on the unpaved roads leading up the mountain rising gradually to about 1000 ft. behind Freetown. This area is  scattered with houses. Close to the top I met a pastor who wanted help to start a church. So we started a weekly Bible study of 10+ people. John Kamara is following up on since I left. Lord willing, a church will come out of this."

Please Pray for our work. Can we count on you?

We are so thankful for the openness to the gospel of the people of S.L.  Even the Muslims are very open!
- Pray that Alieu gave his life to the Lord, and for a Church to start growing on the mountain where that Bible Study was started.
- That the seeds planted in the workshops will take root, and that the prayer groups set up from this will have a strong influence in healing the land and living holy lives to glorify God, Who alleviates poverty.
- Funds to be able to distribute water filters to people who cannot afford them. (Please specify SL water filters)
- Funds for a container we are sending to S.L. soon with poultry equipment and other needed goods. (SL container)
- Funds for Poultry Project (SL poultry project)
- Funds for furthering our poultry project, thus helping to alleviate poverty.

-Dr. Conrad Van Dijk

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