Sierra Leone Follow-up #6: City of Rest

City of Rest:

Pastor Ngobeh of Sierra Leone (78 years old) and Heleen van den Brink from The Netherlands are giving their lives away for the 30 men and 10 women that currently reside at the of City of Rest. These are the mentally disturbed and drug addicts that have either come to the facility or been brought by family members that can no longer handle them. Many of the problems stem from the war as people witnessed loved ones murdered or were themselves the murderers after being abducted, drugged and brainwashed as boy soldiers. There are no medications to help them through the withdrawal process, so during the first phase, to keep them from hurting themselves or others, they are chained to beds or chairs. Our team met with the pastor and Heleen for an overview of the program. We divided into small groups and visited and prayed with residents room-by-room. One man that was new was quite agitated. We watched as the pastor calmly spoke with him and had some of the other men begin to sing. Within minutes the man was transformed. He was clapping with the others and smiling. Becky had the opportunity to pray for him. What a privilege! City of Rest will be relocated at some point in the future. Land has been donated in the town of Grafton about 15 minutes outside of Freetown. It is a beautiful location with amazing views. Mission Direct will be able to help with the building process as teams like ours continue to go to Sierra Leone and invest funds and manpower.