By Ann Carlson, Coordinator: OC Ministries Baiwalla, Sierra Leone Partnership
In December 2017, Pastor Judy Zabel organized a mission trip to help build a new secondary school in Baiwalla Sierra Leone. When I signed up for that trip, I had no idea I would become involved in supporting the development of the school. That was before I visited Baiwalla and met Pastor Judith Gaima (Banya) Methodist pastor who started the church and school there.
The First Mission Trip to Baiwalla
Baiwalla is a rural town near the border with Liberia. Baiwalla is a dusty town of about 10,000 people where children and chickens wander freely in the dusty/muddy streets. Most houses are made of mud brick with tin roofs. We stayed at Pastor Judith’s large mission house where we shared bedrooms and enjoyed running water and flush toilets unlike most of the people in Baiwalla, The morning after arriving, we went to work in 85-degree heat and humidity to help construct the new secondary school. Under the supervision of a paid construction manager, we and Baiwalla volunteer laborers made bricks by putting mud into forms that dry in the hot sun. We also broke up rocks into smaller pieces to be used in flooring.
How the Ormsby School got built
The money to build the school was donated to OC Ministries, by an anonymous Minnesota donor. OC Ministries is a conference-wide program of the Minnesota Annual Conference, United Methodist Church, dedicated to supporting education in developing countries. The leaders of OC Ministries became acquainted with Pastor Judith when she lived in Minnesota and served several UMC churches. She always wanted to return to Sierra Leone to build a school in Baiwalla, where she grew up. Minnesota United Methodist Pastor Rick Ormsby enabled Pastor Judith’s return to Sierra Leone by raising money to support her Baiwalla ministry.
School founder Pastor Judith is a powerhouse woman. She received a quality education at a Methodist Boarding School when she was a teenager. She experienced eating three meals a day and having her own bed. She loved the compassion and encouragement that she received from her teachers. In fact, she was so impressed with her school experience that she vowed to return to Baiwalla to build a good school. With the help of OC Ministries, Pastor Judith’s vow is coming to fruition.
Until the Ormsby School was built, kids growing up in Baiwalla didn’t have a remote chance of receiving a good education. With a literacy rate of about 40%, most people can’t read or do math. Subsistence farming for about $720 per year is the norm. Most kids only finish the 6th grade – especially girls. Many parents believed their daughters didn’t need any more education than basic reading and math because their future lives consisted of farming and raising a lot of kids.
Unlike the Ormsby School, the government sponsored elementary school in Baiwalla is housed in a shabby building with no electricity, running water or flush toilets. Teachers have only chalk and a blackboard. There are no books, no posters on the wall, no materials to work with. Classes are crowded with 60 -120 elementary students per class. Boredom and wiggly children run rampant. Teachers discipline students by rapping them on the knuckles with a cane.
How I became involved in coordinating the Hennepin Church Baiwalla Mission Project
The Hennepin Church Missioners asked Pastor Judith how Hennepin could be helpful. She immediately said “sponsor children to go to school and provide money for feeding. Students here can’t thrive in the modern world without an education.” I thought to myself, “I can organize a campaign to encourage Hennepin Church people to support children’s schooling and to provide them with lunches.” I felt God nudging me to organize this ministry. So, I volunteered to organize a campaign in the summer of 2018. Other Missioners agreed to be part of the committee. The goal for the first year was to get thirty sponsors. Hennepin People responded enthusiastically, and 62 children were sponsored. I continue to coordinate the sponsorship campaigns each year. This year’s campaign is the 7th campaign!
My background in Early Childhood Education, teacher training and administration, has enabled me to advise Pastor Judith about the development of the school and the curriculum. I also serve as a member of the OC Ministries Steering Committee which raises the funds to support various international outreach ministries. I have worked with other churches to develop campaigns to support other parts of the Baiwalla ministry, such as funding the computer lab, development of the farm, provide solar power for the school and furnishing the science lab. People have really made an enormous difference in the lives of Baiwalla families.
Hennepin Church People are significant donors to the success of the Baiwalla Ministry
Since 2018, the number of Hennepin sponsors has increased. Some have increased the number of children they support, and others have recently joined in supporting students. In addition to the child sponsorship campaign, Hennepin Outreach has donated $7,500 each year for the last 4 years to support the school. United Women of Faith has donated $2,000 each year for 5 years to support the school lunch program. Several years ago, the Hennepin Youth raised $2,000 from a Go Fund Me Initiative to purchase Afrocentric books for the school library. One year, the Vacation Bible School collected bags of beans that were shipped along with meals from “Feed My Starving Children” to the Ormsby School.
Status of the Baiwalla Ministry
I visited Baiwalla in September 2023 and March 2024 to see the Ormsby School in operation. During the September visit, I learned that the school has all twelve grades and 589 students. A separate elementary school had been built across the road from the secondary school. An addition has been built to the secondary school which houses science and home economics labs and two additional classrooms. A kitchen was added to the back of the school. The school has many features that other schools in Sierra Leone don’t have such as solar power to electrify the school, a computer lab, a well-stocked library, and ample teaching materials. Each of the twenty-five teachers have a higher teaching certificate or a bachelor’s degree in education. There is a 40-acre farm to provide produce for school lunches and income to support school operating expenses. In addition, there is a small general store and canteen for the community to gather. The store and canteen will hopefully bring in money to support the school.
The meaning of having the Ormsby School in the community of Baiwalla
The Ormsby School is a source of pride for the Baiwalla Community. The community members are so pleased that their children can attend a first-class school which teaches them the skills to thrive in the 21st century with jobs that can provide a decent living. In addition to offering a quality education to the Baiwalla children, the school is a source of employment for community members. Forty-four people have jobs to support the school operation. Examples include cooks, maintenance workers, farm workers, store workers and drivers.
During the September 2023 visit, the school organized a convocation for the community to meet the missioners. The auditorium was packed with students, parents, and other community members. A representative of each constituency gave a thank you speech to thank Minnesota United Methodists for providing their children with a good education. At the end of the convocation, someone turned on music. Parents danced down the aisle with gifts of fruit, vegetables and even chickens for the Missioners. After depositing the gifts on the stage and specifically thanking the Missioners, they stayed and joyously danced for the next half hour.
Opportunity Knocks
Who knows what will happen when you volunteer your time and talent to help someone on the margins of society? My life has been immensely enriched by my association with Ormsby School. The Ormsby School is immensely enriched by the ongoing support of Hennepin Church People. The Baiwalla-Hennepin Church Ministry Partnership offers the opportunity for you to support Baiwalla students to go to school for another year. Will you join me in the opportunity?