Logos Hope aims to support local organisations and people in their work for the community.

To this end, crewmembers partnered with Pastor Kamara and his wife Joy from Sanctuary Praise Church. As Pastor and Mrs. Kamara desire to serve God and others around them, they want to help people to provide for themselves. Pastor Kamara explains:

“We have lots of people who have been coming to us for various kinds of help, and we will not continue to give them ‘fish,’ but we want them to learn how to ‘fish’ for themselves; so that they can have their own future.”

“Many girls drop out of school for several reasons and as pastors we don’t only want to preach, but we also want to empower them with skills so that they will not go back to their old ways of life.”

The couple is setting up an institute in which Joy, who has more than 20 years’ experience in tailoring, will teach others how to sew. She benefits from her experience of teaching others in her home country, Nigeria. Joy says, “The place will be open for everyone: young women, older women, even men. Everyone who wants to learn shall be able to learn.”

Teams of crewmembers were sent out to help and support the construction work alongside local workers. Matthijs Roffel (Netherlands) says, “It was amazing to work alongside our brothers in Freetown and to be of help with our hands to support the ministry by building a place for the women in the community. To learn from the workers and spend time with them was a great blessing for us.”

Of the partnership, Pastor Kamara says, “[The volunteers] have been wonderful. They came here, they adapted to us; they are down-to-earth, they have shown us humility and that as a Christian you should be humble — you should not be puffed up, not be proud...”

“The people are admiring [them], so even if the traffic has been blocked, as they see the crewmembers doing their work in such an exemplary way, they are amazed with what the guys are doing. We trust in God that [the ship's time in the country] will leave a lasting impact on the condition of Sierra Leone.”

Though the ship has now moved on, please continue to pray for local partners in Sierra Leone as they follow up on the ship’s visit.