Publicity - How others see us!

Good article by Caroline Jones in our local paper. It is true that we have only been involved with NEEDEP since 1999, but as a church we have been going to Sierra Leone since the 1980s. My first visit was in 1989. Many have given time, money and effort into building relationships in the past.

Derby Evening Telegraph
Tuesday, March 01, 2011,

We're on a mission to change lives

By caroline jones cvjones@derbytelegraph.co.uk



MEMBERS of a Derby church are hoping their seven-day visit to Sierra Leone will help change the lives of people they meet.

The eight-strong group, including some from the Community Church Derby, are heading to the African country's capital, Freetown, to work with pastors, community leaders and nurses.

The church sent a team to the same city last year and, 12 months on, they hope to continue support for the community groups they set up.

The group of Christians fly out on March 13, with the aim of teaching the city's people about healthcare and sanitation.

Ted Swindale, a founder member of Community Church Derby, said it became involved in Sierra Leone in 1999, after Freetown was attacked during the country's civil war.


He was asked for help by a pen friend, and so the New Era Evangelism and Development programme was formed.

Using church money, he and fellow members built a school for 700 primary and secondary school-aged pupils. In 2005, it was opened to primary school students and, three years later, to those of secondary school age. The younger children attend in the mornings, and the older ones go in the afternoon.

Mr Swindale, a retired driving instructor of Murray Street, Alvaston, will be leading the team on its second visit to Freetown, although it will be his ninth.

He said: "It's all about building on the work of the school, which was the community's first desire after the civil war. There were many orphans at that point with no future at all.

"More recently, we have wanted to share skills with the community rather than just money so they can organise what they want to do themselves.

"This time, we will carry on teaching as we did before but it is likely all sorts of problems will have emerged from the first time, and this trip should be productive because we can help them overcome them."

Members of the church, which meets at the Riverside Centre, in Pride Park, describe it as a "lively, contemporary church" which aims to have "a sense of community".

The team, which has joined up with the charity Links International for the trip, will stay in Kissy, a neighbourhood in the eastern end of Freetown.