It's Sunday morning and Pastor Eric meets us at exactly 9.00 am. It's the only time that an agreed meeting time has been met so far (African time tends to mean waiting for up to 30 minutes from the agreed time). However we are going to church and we cannot keep God waiting!
Eric takes us to Yatta's church (the Christian Community Mission Church Freetown) which has no fixed building but currently meets near the centre of town in the YMCA building. We are amongst the 1st to arrive and Yatta begins the service on the dot at 10.00 with only a handful of others with us.
The congregation sings for maybe 15 minutes and during that time the room rapidly fills up so that no seats are spare and people are standing at the back. We are given special introductions as guests from England and I bring a message of support from our church, St Andrews Oxford. The service lasts for about 2 hours which is probably rather longer than in the UK, it also feels slightly more flexible and spontaneous. However the service has many common themes that one would expect to find in any church the world over, some time teaching, some time praying and some time singing or worshipping. There is also the baptism of Issa and Ester's new daughter. After the service everyone enjoys food and drinks in honour of the baptism.
At 1.00 we go back to the guest house to change out of our "Sunday best" and have a short siesta. By mid afternoon we are back on the football trail! The "appetizer" is watching the last 30 minutes of Portsmouth v Newcastle. Portsmouth go to pieces and Newcastle win 3-0 to our joint delight - the locals wonder why the mad English are celebrating. Newcastle is Joni's team and Newcastle along with West Ham are many peoples "second teams" in England. Although Hull (interestingly twinned with Freetown) is I perceive making a rapid rise in popularity.
We then go back the National Stadium for more of the weekend soccer festival. We arrive to see the Parliamentary team play the Councillors. The Parliamentarians win and their celebrations are worthy of a higher stage! There are real Cabinet Ministers playing as well as the Mayor of Freetown. After the match everyone is very accessible. We find common ground with the Minister of Transport as we have both lived in Peckham, London.
There are further matches between local teams and at the same time commentary from the BBC world service grabs our attention - Chelsea v West Ham. A draw for Chelsea and all the Man U fans sitting near us find their voice!
Despite the ravages of war here it feels safer to joke with opposition fans than in the UK - something to ponder on the journey home!
Monday 15th December 2008
It seems today will be quieter day after the excitement of the weekend's soccer. There is some very sad news related to the soccer festival in that we learn more about the reason for the cancellation of the "Heroes" match. This was to have been between Sierra Leone veterans and Nigeria's veterans. The Nigeria team pulled out at the last minute and there was a little speculation for the reasons. In fact many of the team were involved in a car crash on the way to the airport, one has died and seven are in intensive care. Our thoughts go to all those affected.
We then spend time at the "Sports Life" office. Yatta's passion is sport and he interweaves his sporting passion with his work as a Pastor through the "Sports Life" organisation (www.sportslife-sl.info). Yatta is chaplain to the Sierra Leone soccer team and he continually helps set up sports events and tournaments which give an opportunity to give young teenagers (predominantly men) a purpose and a sense of community. He doesn't shirk from giving them Christian teaching but the sports teams and competitions are open to all faiths.
At the Sports Life office we meet Michaela, a young prodigy who represented Sierra Leone at the Olympics in China earlier this year. Yatta says she is only 16 and needs to go to another country to develop her talent. This is another paradox we see here. In fact Sierra Leone is just full of them. In order to develop her talent she needs funding and support from another country. The same is true in Soccer; Yatta tells us that about 15 Sierra Leoneans soccer players now play in Europe and that because the Sierra Leone premier league has no money, the aspiration of all the best players is to be offered a contract in Europe.
At the Sports Life office we also take part in a bible study with some of the other Pastors and coaches. The theme is "heroes" following the theme of the albeit cancelled "heroes" soccer match. We discuss people such as St Paul who on his own admission was persecuting the church before his conversion to Christianity. St Peter is another hero who despite disowning Jesus is still the man who founds the early church. Then there is David who wrote many of the psalms but who also committed adultery and worse before seeking forgiveness. We conclude our discussion by agreeing that in today's terms many of the Bible's key characters are deeply flawed, with the obvious exception of Jesus.
We feel contemporary teaching does not always make the reality of the "flawed hero" so obvious.
Tuesday 16th December 2008
We take a taxi ride into town to do some sight seeing and shopping in the vibrant and colourful markets. On our way to the city centre we hear a call, it is Yatta and his team. We cut the journey short to meet the team and find out what they are doing. Basically they are having a street clean. As the photos of the city show there is a huge rubbish problem with little street cleaning, few litter bins and little being to improve matters. We learn that 2 or 3 times a month the sports life team go out street cleaning to do their bit for the community. It is quite a provocative way of behaving, it is also an example that will hopefully help change attitudes here which is another clear community need. Yatta goes up further in our estimation after seeing this street cleaning work.
Late afternoon we go to Lumley beach. It is only 4 miles from the city centre but in the rush hour can take an hour to get there. The journey is well worth it. The beach faces west and the warm Atlantic stretches to the horizon. The beach is 3 or 4 miles long and in late afternoon a few games of beach soccer commence. However apart from the beach soccer we have this huge beach to share with just a few others. Another paradox of this country that such a beautiful beach as this is left largely unused. There are 2 or 3 well positioned bars and cafes on the beach and we enjoy a cold beer and watch the sun go down as evening draws in.
Richard
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