Over the last two years the world has become intensely aware of the RUF rebels’ inhumanity to man. In late July I visited Freetown, Sierra Leone, to build relations with our Sierra Leone representative, and to visit other medical officials in order better to meet the health needs of war refugees otherwise called "Internally Displaced People," (IDP). Blessings International had just unloaded a container full of medicines and clothes intended for these victims, many of whom have lost mothers and fathers or other family members to the barbaric butchery of the rebels.

 While visiting the Children’s Hospital in Freetown, the first recipient of our pharmaceuticals, I stopped by the bed of a 7 year old boy who was obviously severely malnourished. A woman who later identified herself as his aunt shared that after rebels came to this boy’s home and killed his parents, he ran into the bush where he survived 2 months alone. When his aunt found him, he was in very poor condition having almost starved to death. Not only did he have severe respiratory and skin infections, the lack of dietary vitamin A and protein in part resulted in ulcers and a sloughing away of skin on his buttocks. The hospital had already administered some previously donated antibiotics. In addition he had been prescribed Fansidar to treat malaria and vitamin A which the hospital said his aunt would have to purchase even though she had no money. The following day, we returned to the hospital with Fansidar tablets, antibiotic cream with a local anesthetic, and two bottles of Theragran Hematinic that had been recently donated to Blessings. The boy was still in great pain due to his raw, skinless buttocks and we hoped the topical anesthetic would help relieve his pain in addition to the Tylenol he was already receiving. After pulverizing the tablet and suspending it in a small volume of water, a nurse administered the Fansidar. The aunt was most pleased that her nephew was now receiving all that had been prescribed. While he was still in pain the following day, he was beginning to regain strength. How gratifying it was to minister directly to one of the victims for whom Blessings International had shipped a container of medicines to Sierra Leone.

We also visited one of the "IDP’s camps" in Grafton, located about 10 miles outside Freetown. This camp had consisted of many temporary wood structures covered by a plasticized canvas material mostly built closely together in a neat matrix of rows and columns. Upward of perhaps 10,000 people lived there at the time. Here our Sierra Leone team learned some valuable experience in the management of clothes, vitamins, and non-prescription medicines. Specifically they learned that crowd control was essential to prevent a near riot among the IDPs or refugees as I still refer to them. People who are desperate for essentials of clothes, food, vitamin drops for malnourished infants and other over-the-counter medicine are easily excited when their needs and expectations are about to be met. This was the first experience our Sierra Leone representative, Pastor Archibald Cole, had in passing out relief supplies among refugees. He quickly learned that speech muscles and leg muscles are seemingly exercised simultaneously and had a synergistic impact. To handle even a small crowd inside one of the IDP shelters, he learned that order could be maintained only if people were required to be seated and quiet while assistants passed out relief supplies. This was only one of many trips to the IDP camp at Grafton and elsewhere. 

As always, the children were most eager to express their gratitude, and all of them wanted to be in the picture as we left. 

We offer our thanks for your giving which helped to cover some of the unexpected costs of this shipment and distribution effort, including a very costly and excessive war risk surcharge assessed by the steamship line’s insurance carrier. Blessings International is preparing to send additional containers filled with medicines and other relief supplies as resources become available. 

Your giving makes a real difference.