Two Susquehanna churches help build a well in West Africa

By Shannon Baker, BCM/D National Correspondent

MAMOU, Guinea—The chief said, “We have lived here for hundreds of years, and no one has ever tried to help us until now.”

The words penetrated Dan Sheffield’s very soul.

In 2006, Sheffield, director of missions for the Susquehanna  Association in Havre de Grace, Md., led three others from chuches in the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware to West Africa’s coastal country of Guinea to pursue unengaged people groups in the mountain villages.

During the exploratory trip, it was evident that the greatest physical need of the area was clean drinking water. Even brackish water was difficult for the villagers to obtain. To the team’s dismay, they learned that much of the disease and weakness of the people could probably be traced to the lack of sufficient clean water.

After traveling through several villages, the team decided to help with building a new well for the Kakabay people in the Alphaya village.

One year later, members from the original team attempted to revisit the area, but civil unrest prevented them from coming. Then, on Feb. 22-Mar. 3 of this year, the following six people from The Church at Riverside in Belcamp, Md., made it back to Guinea: Dan and Debbie Sheffield, John and Lori Lorenzo and Sue Schumer and Danny Beasley. Financial support for the project came from Calvary Church in Bel Air, Md., the Susquehanna Association, The Church at Riverside and from individuals.

Sheffield noted that it was great to return to the village, but it was in even worse condition than before. They had almost no water. They were running out of dirty water and had very little food. Many villagers had left the village searching for a place with water. 

It had been two years since the original vision, but after researching possibilities for providing wells, the team was near to giving up.

“To bring well-drilling equipment from Conakry [Guinea’s capital city] was incredibly expensive. Getting such equipment to the villages was almost impossible due to the lack of usable roads,” Sheffield explained. “We even explored the possibility of carrying in portable drilling devices but none seemed like possibilities for the extremely rocky terrain.”

Then it happened.

This year’s interpreter, Lamin, overheard their conversation of frustration. He said he had a friend named Alpha Oumar Jalloh who was a local well digger. Alpha’s method involved using a hammer and chisel to carve through solid rock to find water for the village.

It would take about a month to dig. He and fellow well diggers would require food and a place to stay.

With Alpha and a plan, the team traveled to nearby Oure-Kaba and explained to government officials that they were Christians who wanted to help Alphaya by having a well dug. They reiterated the message when they arrived in Alphaya and met with the village leaders.

The village people all applauded.

“I told them that because of God’s love for us and because we were followers of Jesus Christ that we wanted to give them a well but that only God could provide the water,” Sheffield stressed.

Sheffield told the people that a place for the well needed to be selected and that they would like to dedicate it to the glory of God.

On a tour of the village, the chief stopped by the house of Fatamata, a woman the team met in the first trip to the village, where the well diggers would stay. It was in the same house where the original team members had fallen to their knees, earnestly praying for Fatamata’s dying mother.

It was fitting that the two well diggers, Alpha and Mamadu Bella Barry, would now stay in the same place. Unfortunately, Fatamata and her family, unable to eat and drink during the ongoing drought and famine, had already moved on to other locations.

The village elders selected an area near the soccer field to build the well. Then, Sheffield led the villagers in a prayer of dedication, with hands lifted to heaven and spoken in the name of Jesus Christ. Lamin translated.

After the groundbreaking, Sheffield noticed that Lamin had tears during the ceremony. His village had no well.

“He was not upset but deeply touched that we would provide a well for this community,” Sheffield explained.

Sheffield then presented the chief with a Pular calendar with Scriptures on it. He also gave him the books of Genesis and Exodus and the full New Testament in Pular. The team also shared soccer balls, jump ropes and Frisbees, which had been donated by VBS students at The Church at Riverside.

“It seemed to be a truly wonderful day for everyone,” Sheffield shared, wishing he didn’t have to leave until the well was completed.

But James, one of the team’s interpreters and also a Baptist pastor from Conakry, supervised the finishing of the well and called Sheffield almost every day with a report. 

Back in Maryland, Sheffield received the most exciting phone call from James on April 4. “The well has plenty of WATER and the villagers are already using it!” James told Sheffield. “The water seems to be very good, very cold, and very plentiful.”

Sheffield commissioned the local Africans to erect a sign near the well, containing the words of John 4:13-14 in Pular (the village language), French (the government language), and English (for the Americans). Fittingly, this scripture says, “Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.’”

“This has all been so miraculous, truly God-driven! We had given up on being able to give them a well and out of nowhere He provided everything that was needed!” Sheffield rejoiced. “Hopefully, the seed of the Gospel has been planted.  We look forward to returning to see how the Lord has used this for His glory!”

For more information, contact Sheffield at the Susquehanna  Association at (410) 939-5525 or at domsheffield@aol.com.