Mission is God and without God there is no mission
Reflection by Sister Magdalene Umoh
Serving here in Sierra Leone divinely affirms the words of our Foundress - the heart forms itself according to what it loves. Historically, Sierra Leone is a country with the population of approximately 7.813 million people located on the western coast of Africa. A country that is gradually recovering from the devastating impact of 11 years of civil war, Ebola, mud-slides and currently struggling with the ongoing trend of the Covid-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, Sierra Leone is a country whose citizens have mirrored to the world community the truest degree of religious tolerance, love and respect. They are a humble people, simple in lifestyle and embraces multicultural living.
As a campus administrator and tutor at the Department of Public Health, University of Makeni, I have learned the value and necessity of “Team Work” in the development and character formation of the young people here in Sierra Leone and, by extension, the world. I find inner joy in building a formidable team as we strive together to unwrap the God-given potentials of the young ones amidst the challenging weak educational system. My ministry challenges me to stand empty before God daily in order to be refilled with His divine wisdom and grace so as to be effective in mission. I have become deeply aware that God is always enough in every situation life presents to me.
Mission is God and
without God there is no mission.
In my ministry at the university I am amazed and humbled by the needs and desires of all those who long to better their lives through education. Experience has taught me that our world community still desperately craves for servant leadership rather than bossy authoritarianism. And so, I consciously strive to respond to all with love, respect and compassion especially finding myself in a particular situation wherein the citizens have gone through series of traumatic life experiences. However, I find truest joy, fulfilment, assurance of hope and transformation in what I do. I am grateful to God that I still feel the inner push to give more of myself because my heart has found fulfilment in what it loves to do best.