From Randal Dick
Superintendent of mission
John Halford, regional director for Europe, visited one of the Mercy Ships, currently in Gambia, western Africa, March 16 to 23.
I would like to share with you his observations. They speak for themselves.
By John Halford
BANJUL, Gambia--West Africa has a reputation for being a hot, disease ridden, politically unstable and rather dangerous place. But Gambia, a sliver of land surrounded on three sides by Senegal is different. It has a stable government, and although the Gambians are by no means rich, they are among the more fortunate people in this rather desperate part of the world.
It has not always been this way. Two centuries ago, this was known as the Slave Coast. Just a few miles from here is James Island, once one of the main staging posts for transporting slaves to the New World. You may remember that it was to Gambia that Alex Haley traced his ancestor, Kunte Kinte, in Roots.
Yes, I know critics accuse Haley of artistic license in putting the story together. Be that as it may, the essential facts are accurate enough. Hundreds of thousands of men, women and children were captured, herded to the coast and then shackled and crammed between the decks of slave ships for the horrendous voyage to a life of bondage in the plantations of the New World.
It is a story of cruelty, exploitation and horror--made all the more shameful because this was done by allegedly Christian nations. Thank God it is only memories now.
Or is it?
I am in Gambia as a guest of the Mercy Ship Anastasis (a Greek word meaning resurrection). They invited a party of journalists from Britain to spend a week with them to see first hand what they were doing.
A Mercy Ship is Christianity with its sleeves rolled up. The Anastasis was once an Italian cruise boat. It has been fitted out as a hospital ship. With an all-volunteer, unpaid crew, it travels to poor nations, bringing needed medical help to people who otherwise would have no access to it. Anastasis has three sister ships that serve in the Caribbean and the Pacific--a worldwide network of compassion and love.
That's why we are in Gambia. Although you would not suspect it from the pleasant tourist developments near the coast, the interior of this country, like much of Africa, is still desperately undeveloped.
Children die from what are now only minor illnesses in the developed world. They go blind for the want of a few cents worth of vitamins. Or are maimed for life because simple repair surgery is unavailable.
The most common birth defect is cleft palate. In the United States and Europe, this is quickly repaired in infancy. But here, it is likely that a witch doctor will tell the parents that their baby has the face of a demon and recommend that they bury it alive to get rid of the curse.
You would think then, that people would flock to the Anastasis, wouldn't you? And of course, hundreds do. But many who could come, and who need help most, are afraid. They have heard that Anastasis is a Christian ship and they remember what happens when Christian ships moor in their river.
It has been nearly 200 years since the slave trade was abolished. But in this part of the world, tradition and history are often not written down. They are passed on by oral tradition, through tribal storytellers, called griots, who tend to blur the past and the present.
Alex Haley found the key to his roots by talking with the griots, who could recreate the events of two centuries ago as if they were last week. So, believe it or not, there are people in Africa today for whom the slave trade is still a reality.
The effect of this is that some people do not bring themselves and their sick children to the ship because they are afraid the white people will make them slaves and take them away.
We cannot undo the past. Mega-crimes against humanity, like the slave trade and the Holocaust, leave us shaking our heads and wondering whatever possessed (and perhaps that is the right word to use) our ancestors to do these things. We may be moved to repentance--many Christian groups come to the Slave Coast to pray and to repent.
But this of itself does not erase the past. Jesus told us that his followers would be known by their deeds, not their words. The Mercy Ships are all about showing the Christian faith through acts of unselfish service.
Instead of disappearing forever into slavery, people now come out from the ship healed in body and often also in soul. Every time that happens, a few more pieces of the ignorance and prejudice that divide us are blown away.
That's why the Anastasis is a nice place to be. The crew members come from many different denominations, but they are united by the work they do. (I met people on board who had lived with others in the same cabin for months, not knowing what church they belonged to. It doesn't seem to matter so much when you are surrounded by need and opportunity.)
We can't all serve aboard a Mercy Ship. But we all have the opportunity to be "vessels of honor, sanctified and suitable for the master's use, and prepared for every good work" (2 Timothy 2:21).
Tropical Africa is not the only place that still bears the scars of our inhumanity to each other. As a church, and as individual Christians, we can show by the things we say and the things we do that we truly represent a kingdom that wants only to do good, and seeks to serve all people with mercy, respect and compassion.
"Go into all the world," said Jesus. Our multinational, multi-racial, multicultural worldwide church has had to learn that we are not the only vessel God has in his fleet. But we are one of them, and like Mercy Ships, if we keep our worldwide network intact and seaworthy, we can make a difference. Not all the difference, of course.
But the goal of the kingdom we serve is to erase all shameful memories, reconcile all enemies and banish the last shreds of suspicion and fear. Until then, use every opportunity to represent the truth about God and his kingdom, wherever you are, whenever you can.
CHILDHOOD ILLNESS--Cleft palate--before (right) and after treatment.
James Island, once a staging post for transporting slaves to the New World.
NETWORK OF COMPASSION--Anastasis (above) has three
sister ships, a worldwide network of compassion and love.
Copyright © Worldwide Church of God, 2000