United Brethren Historical Center

The First Medical Missionaries in Sierra Leone

The Department of Christian Education chose to support the training and maintaining of a medical missionary to be sent to the Sierra Leone mission field. It would be the project for the coming quadrennium, and it led to great rejoicing among missionaries. Vernon and Audrey Kopp from the Kansas Conference offered their services to the Board and the Christian Education Department. Rev. and Mrs. Kopp were graduates of Central College, now Huntington University. They were required to take a nine-month course in tropical medicine at the Livingstone Memorial College in London, England. The course began on October 1, 1913, and so the Kopps left for England in September of that year.  

The first medical missionaries should have arrived in Sierra Leone in July 1914. However, their departure was delayed for several months. First, the Kopps’ daughter, Ruth Vivian Kopp, was born on July 20th. Second, World War I broke out in southern Europe. The delay allowed workers at the new home in Danville to complete the final tasks before the family arrived. The ground floor, known simply as “The Basement,” was being turned into a dispensary, as well. Considerable work needed to be done to finish this project.  

The arrival of the Kopps was announced as December or early January 1915. In Trail Blazers in Sierra Leone, Rev. G.D. Fleming details two stories that occured before the arrival of the first medial missionaries on the Sierra Leone mission field.  

Fleming was passing out the work assignments for the day when he was interrupted by the sound of wailing coming from Gbangbaia, which was across the river from the mission station. This typically indicated that someone had died or was at the point of death. As Fleming stood and listened to the crying, a runner sent by the local chief approached him. Fleming’s old friend, Lamina Sherrifu, had been attacked and trampled by an angry cow. He was now dying. 

Fleming quickly rushed to the mission wharf and into the large canoe that was being held for him. Once at Gbangbaia, he followed a group of men to a house and found his friend lying on the floor with country clothes around him and a grass pillow under his head. The wailing had ceased as soon as Fleming had arrived in the town. He asks in Trail Blazers, “And now what was I to do? How was I to tell to what extent he had suffered internal injuries?”  

The room was crowded and suffocatingly hot, as it was custom to leave the windows closed during these kinds of situations. Fleming ordered that anyone who was not family leave the house and that the windows be opened. As he knelt down to examine Lamina, he realized that his friend was not dying but had merely fainted. Fleming writes, “I would not dare to claim any ability as a physician nor even imply that I be given credit for any skill which I possessed in this case. I merely did, in my sheer helplessness, what any father or mother would do, whose experience in life had taught them certain basic lessons.”  

Fleming had several simple remedies in his medical kit that he knew how to use. Soon, Lamina opened his eyes. In less than an hour, he was settled into a reclining chair and breathing more easily. They began applying hot pads to the bruised spots on his body. By the time Fleming was preparing to leave, Lamina was resting more comfortably.  

Lamina had been a station chief and worked for many years as a government employee at Bothe as a member of the District Commissioner’s boat crew. He was the captain who had been sent by District Commissioner Aldridge to Momaligi to rescue Miss Mary Mullens during the uprising of 1898. When he retired from active service, he settled in his old hometown, Gbangbaia, where he purchased and began caring for two cows.  

Fleming later learned that one of the cows with a newborn calf had been attacked shortly after dark by a leopard. When the leopard had lunged at the calf, the angry mother thrust her horns into the leopard's side. The injured animal sulked away. A passer-by who noticed the strange and angry behavior of the cow hurried into town to inform Lamina. Lamina, not fearful of his usually tame cows, hurried to the scene. He was attacked by the enraged cow. His cries brought men from the town, who thought he was dying and quickly carried him to his house.  

The Gbangbaia people, typically in a group of fifty or more, would travel across the river to attend the divine service on Sunday morning. When Lamina was strong enough to make the trip himself, he often testified to his gratefulness to God and to the mission for saving his life.      

The second story Fleming relates happened after he returned to Danville following a long trip. He found a patient lying near the steps of the boys’ home. The patient’s condition seemed to be too serious to render aid, but the Bonthe Hospital was seven to ten hours away, depending on the tide and wind. So, Fleming began giving directions and orders. 

Fleming learned that the man had encountered a large alligator while fishing a few miles down the river from Danville. He was pulling a fish toward the shore where his companion sat. Neither knew that the struggling fish had attracted an alligator. When the man on the shore did notice, he plunged into the water and struck the alligator on its head. However, the alligator had already missed the fish and tore the other man's thigh. Two friends were nearby with a canoe, and, putting the stricken man into their boat, they rushed him to the mission.  

Fleming “tried hard to conceal his utter helplessness...” He knew that something needed to be done. He was grateful to learn that Arthur Yarn, one of the ministers and teachers at Danville, was on the compound. Pastor Yarn was known to be handy around sick people. He had no special training, but his concern for the afflicted and his natural aptitude for helping people afforded him many opportunities to serve as a “Good Samaritan.”  

Together, they used germicidal tablets that contained antiseptic ingredients to cleanse the wound until they could safely bandage the thigh. Pastor Yarn helped lead them in replacing torn flesh and carefully binding the wound. He offered to house and care for the patient. Under his faithful ministry and, as Fleming relates, “the guidance and help from the Great Healer,” the patient returned to his home a well and happy man. A year later, a stranger came to Fleming’s office and, when greeted, asked, “Bi nya golo?” (Do you know me?) Fleming admitted that he did not. The man then explained, “I am the alligator man.”