Partnership Discussions

Yesterday we had some interesting discussions about partnerships and what we even mean by that word. in Sierra Leone, the word often connotes the kind of activity carried out by NGO (non government organizations). Throughout Kabala you see all kinds of signs which give evidence to the work of NGOs. e.g. Some Norweigen organization who came to help out with amputee victims of the war). By their nature, NGO's tend to have a restricted mandate that is time limited. As we were at the school, and saw the wonderful effort happening there, I wondered about sustainability for the long haul and what that means in a desparately poor country.

In trying to figure out what partnerships can be, we used three words with the SL pastors: Dependance, Independance and inter-dependance. Those are some of our words when we think of partnerships. When we asked SL pastors what kinds of words they use for partnerships, Pastor MB stood up and leaned against me, and then leaned against someone else and we started this little dance! back and forth... leaning on each other. that is partnership. Another concept was mutual love, like happens in families between brothers and sisters. How this will also translate into partnerships between a North American church and a Sierra Leonian church is not clear at this moment. -Martin Contant