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When the president of the International Tract Society (for Seventh-day Adventists) raised awareness about Sierra Leone in 1892, he had no idea what exactly will unfold for medical doctors on the mission field. Besides its horrific history of slavery, continual eruptions of war largely from control over the diamond mines, Sierra Leone has also had a severe bout with leprosy. The small village of Masanga is chosen as the site of the Masanga Leprosarium. In 1965 the Leprosarium comes under the auspices of the Seventh-day Adventist Church becoming the Masanga Hospital. Its purpose is on the prosthetic and reconstructive treatment of leprosy. And while many medical missionaries have come and gone over the years, it isn't until 1972 when a visiting Adventist doctor meets David Turay, a young teen whose hunger to learn eventually takes him on a twenty-year journey to become a medical doctor.
Comm pens a fascinating story that charts the history of the Seventh-day Adventist church and its connections with Sierra Leone. Particularly zeroing in on David Turay, his story would not do justice without an understanding of the chain of events leading up to the historic encounter in 1972. Following a chronological sequence of events, Comm provides readers with a plethora of Sierra Leone history that not only covers basic history and the religious conflicts between Muslims and Christians, but also the medical trials and tribulations as well as the triumphs. While it is obvious that Give Me This Mountain centers on a very specific aspect of missionary work among the Seventh-day Adventist church, medical professionals (particularly in the field of prosthetic and reconstructive surgery) will find Comm's narrative very enlightening and educational. For further research on Sierra Leone's history, Comm also includes an appendix on the British Anti-Slavery Movement.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review