Volunteers serving with Mercy Ships are in Sierra Leone for a ten-month assignment this year onboard the Africa Mercy, the world's largest charity hospital ship.
During the war, Bambay, his mother, and two younger siblings fled from their village and hid in the bush for a month. When they ran out of food, Bambay went back to his village to find something, anything, they could eat. He planned to return to his family that day, but it was late. So, he accepted an invitation to stay until the next morning. It was a disastrous decision.
During the night, the village was attacked by rebel soldiers. "You voted for this president," they shouted. Bambay tried to explain that he was only 15 and couldn't vote for anyone. But they wouldn't listen. They chopped off both his hands and left him for dead, along with other villagers who had been mutilated.
Later that day, he was found by a roving seller of goods and taken to a nun at a nearby church. She took him to a hospital and then nursed him back to health. While Bambay was in her care, she asked him what he'd do if he ever found the man who cut off his hands. "I would kill him," said Bambay.
The nun began to plant the seeds of forgiveness into Bambay's thinking. She told him how important it was for his future to relinquish the hate and anger that fueled his unforgiveness. She also did what she could to prepare the young man for life on his own. She arranged surgery that would split the hacked ends of both hands, allowing him to grasp things.
One day Bambay was out with his friends when he saw 'Sewer Poison' the nickname given to the man who had cut off his hands. He went after him and caught him, but couldn't bring himself to kill the man. The seeds of forgiveness had been well-planted. His friends offered to kill the man for him, but Bambay wouldn't allow it. The man pleaded for his life, and Bambay forgave him.
That forgiveness enabled Bambay to move on with his own life. He eventually met and married Mary, and today they have a seven-month-old baby daughter, Ann.
Today, Bambay is a trainee in the Food for Life Program that was started in Benin by Mercy Ships and Bethesda, another non-governmental organization. The goal of the program is to train people in organic farming methods and in leadership principles. These trainees will, in turn, teach others in their communities. In this way, the program is duplicating easily in Sierra Leone. It has the potential of providing food for the people, and improving the financial position of those involved.
In Sierra Leone, the Food for Life program is also partnering with City of Rest Rehabilitation Center's Agriculture Therapy and Skills Training program. Bambay wants to be involved in using the program's Biblical concepts to help rehabilitate the mentally ill, as well as drug and alcohol addicts
Bambay is, indeed, a remarkable man who is achieving much, much more than his goal to 'not to be a beggar'.
Mercy Ships is a global charity that has operated hospital ships in developing nations since 1978 providing free health care and community development services to the forgotten poor. Following the example of Jesus, Mercy Ships brings hope and healing to the poor. Working in partnership with local people, Mercy Ships empowers communities to help themselves. The result is a way out of poverty.
The emphasis is on the needs of the world's poorest nations in West Africa, where the world's largest charity hospital ship Africa Mercy, with a crew of more than 450 volunteer, provides the platform for services extending up to ten months at a time. Mercy Ships works on land-based projects in Sierra Leone in partnership with other organisations, while teams also work in several nations of Central America and the Caribbean. Mercy Ships Australia, one of 15 international support offices is based on the Queensland Sunshine Coast.
To contact Mercy Ships, visit CTindex