We are the Leno family: Niouma Leno (that’s me), my wife Marguerite, our three sons, Georges, Marc and Eben-Ezer and our daughter, Georgianna. We are from Africa, where I was introduced to Seventh-day Adventist Christianity by Fred Coker and went on to study theology, becoming a Bible worker serving alongside Uncle Fred and, eventually, an SDA pastor at the Fria Church. At the urging of Uncle Fred and others from Adventist Frontier Missions, my family and I traveled to the U.S. to attend career missionary training with AFM.

Soon after returning to Africa at the end of January 2025, following our completion of the AFM training (when we were using pen names), our daughter, Georgianna, experienced malaria for the first time. This delayed our launch to our project.

Georgianna, now almost two years old, was born to our family while we were attending the training in the United States. Because she lived her first year in the U.S., her immune system had not experienced malaria, unlike other children her age in Africa, who are typically exposed to this disease shortly after birth because of its prevalence.

Georgianna’s body had yet to develop a resistance against the disease, which kills millions of people each year, especially children between the ages of zero and five. Nor had it been subject to the brutal malaria treatments or the scorching heat. Children like little Georgianna remain very vulnerable to malaria and other tropical diseases.

Because Georgianna contracted malaria while we were visiting family just before our launch, this delay (and trying to get her a visa) coincided with the death of my good friend and spiritual father, Uncle Fred Coker. As a result, our family has accepted Isatta Coker’s gracious invitation to join her at the Kono Project in Sierra Leone, and we invite you to join us in our new mission field through your support.

Our experience with Georgianna’s malaria has allowed us to understand the price paid by missionary children who were born in developed countries where malaria does not exist but who then travel to tropical regions, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. For Georgianna, even with the various treatments administered, the prayers of our donors were crucial.

Constant communication with you, our donors, has allowed us to build a strong prayer team. We are grateful to God for placing you in our lives.

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