Kabala

In Kabala we asked around about a good book college we heard about. Sargent Dimba, with his eyes still half closed, told us in Krio that he knew where it was and would take us there. So, Rita, Muhammad, Sargent and I all headed off down another back road. Sargent and I were in the back seat. As we would come to a T in the road or a split off, Sargent would say “Right” and point left. “He means left!” I would shout and we’d jerk to the left suddenly. “Oh, he he, yes, that’s right, left.” And then in a few minutes “take your left” now pointing right…  Eventually we made it to the college which is located about 20 minutes from Kabala town. As Rita turned the engine off, I could see a young white girl passing out pineapples slices to the excited national children. She looked up from the children long enough to smile sweetly and retreated into the house. Soon we met, Faith, the girls mother. Faith grew up in Sierra Leone, He Father and Mother started churches in the north East of the country. Faith greeted first Sargent in Krio and spoke happily to him as he smiled and remarked on the buildings conditions. During the war all the building at the school had been bombed. “When we returned to rebuild there were trees growing inside of the buildings and through the roofs. ( She said something in Krio to Sargent, Like ‘the forest never stops.’) We cut them down and used the wood to help rebuild.” Faith is beautiful. She conversed naturally and easily in Krio with Sargent and was evidently very pleased to see him again. As we spoke, Her oldest daughter walked past us with a national child on her hip and headed up the hill. Faith said of her, “ She is a good girl, hard working,  she is always helping the women to thresh their rice.” Later Abby greeted us shyly and respectfully also greeted Sargent in Krio. Faith life is beautiful, and she is raising her children with the same love and compassion that exudes from her own heart. She told us about their plans for the college, her husband and herself were simply there to advise while they were reforming the college. Her heart however is with the unreached of the SuSu and she longs for the day when they might be able to start ministry among them. I left the college feeling refreshed and hopeful for S.L. And I think Sargent did as well. As we drove out, he commented on how beautiful the campus was now. The last time he was on that campus he was an army Sargent and he had to drag the dead bodies strewn about the campus into a pit.  But now there are children laughing and playing, there are fruit trees planted all over campus, there are new buildings and there is hope.