A Child’s Story: Shaka Sandy of Sierra Leone
POSTED ON Aug 31, 2010 / UPDATED ON Feb 25, 2011
Shaka Sandy had never heard of Jesus. But in 2007, when Children of the Nations (COTN) began ministry in the rural area of Banta Mokelleh, Sierra Leone, Shaka’s life became different. He started attending COTN’s school, Mallory Jansen Memorial School. He also began to learn about Jesus. “Before I came to COTN, according to my family background, I was a Muslim and didn’t know about Jesus,” Shaka says. “But after coming to COTN, I know Jesus and attend church.”
The mild-mannered 15-year-old is quick to smile, though often shy. He has eight siblings, some of whom live with him and his parents in their mud home in the village of Senehun—located about a 20-minute walk from COTN’s property. Most Sundays, Shaka goes by himself to the church in his village—one that COTN–Sierra Leone helped plant there through its Church of the Nations ministry. The church began meeting a few years ago on the porch of someone’s home in the village—only a handful of people attended. Now, however, the church has its own building in the village with chairs for attendees. A couple of children who live in COTN’s Banta Children’s Village make the walk to the village on Sunday mornings to help lead worship or to simply attend the church service. Shaka’s church is just an example of the many churches that have formed and grown in the villages surrounding COTN. Leaders have stepped up, congregations have developed, and God’s love has spread to others. “Before I came to COTN, I was wicked because I never knew Jesus and I was doing bad things,” Shaka says. Now, his life is different.
Because of what Shaka has learned about Jesus, he strives to be like Christ in his daily life. Attending COTN’s church reminds him each week of what it looks like to be a Christian and serve God on a daily basis. And at COTN’s school—where Shaka is in the ninth grade—those values and beliefs are shared by his teachers and many of his peers. He values the education he is getting for this continued encouragement in his faith as well as for the quality of learning. “COTN has the qualified teachers,” Shaka says. “I like school because COTN is doing a great thing in our life and they are bringing education to the country [of Sierra Leone].”
That education allows Shaka to dream big for his future and what he wants to do with his life. It has also influenced him as a Christian—in the way he treats his friends and family, his schoolwork, and how he lives his daily life, no longer “wicked” as Shaka calls it. “COTN has changed my life because I know Jesus,” he says.
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