When I began my service as a Global Mission Fellow in Sierra Leone, one of the things I struggled with most was figuring out whether I was actually making an impact.
My background made me accustomed to looking for results that I could see and measure. But much of my work in Sierra Leone is centered on advocacy, awareness raising, community mobilization, and helping people engage with environmental and climate issues. Those kinds of changes don’t always give you an immediate result that you can point to.
There were moments when I would leave a community meeting or sensitization session and later find myself asking, “What actually changed because I was there?”
We would have discussions, train people, meet with farmers, talk about environmental issues, and then return to the office to document what had happened. But sometimes the impact felt invisible. I wanted to see something concrete and be able to say, “This is what I have achieved.”
Over time, however, my experiences with the communities began to change the way I understood impact.
I started realizing that advocacy is more like planting a seed than producing an immediate harvest. A conversation may not transform someone’s behavior that same day. A meeting may not immediately stop environmental degradation. Someone may hear something about climate change and leave without showing any obvious change.
But perhaps they think about it later. Perhaps they share it with someone else. Perhaps they begin asking different questions or become more willing to participate in decisions affecting their community and environment.
I began to understand that I might not always be present when the results of that work become visible.
That realization became a God moment for me. I realized that I had been looking for God primarily in visible outcomes, while God was teaching me something about faithfulness. I was learning that not seeing the result immediately does not necessarily mean that nothing is happening.
It changed the question I asked myself. Instead of constantly asking, “What big difference have I made?”, I began asking, “Was I faithful with what God placed in front of me today? Did I listen? Did I encourage someone? Did I create space for another person’s voice? Did I share what I knew? Did I show up and do my part?”
I think that has been one of the biggest transformations in my time as a GMF. I came into this experience wanting to see a clear and measurable impact, but God has been teaching me to appreciate that some of the most important work happens quietly and takes time.
For me, the sacred part has been learning to trust that something can be growing even when I cannot yet see the fruit.
Evalyne Wanjiru Chomba is an international Global Mission Fellow engaged in a two-year term of service with Green Scenery in Sierra Leone. Chomba is from Kenya where she earned a Bachelor of Science in environmental and biosystems engineering.
The application for the 2027-29 class of Global Mission Fellows is now open. Learn more and apply here.
