Hello everyone,
 |
| (David, Mike, Dr. Niboh, Carl, & Kennedy) |
I am excited to share with you
about all that has been going on here in Cameroon! Dr. Martin Niboh, Mike
Wilson and I had a lot of great opportunities to interact with the various
local communities here in Cameroon. First, we flew into Yaounde, the Capital
city where there is an international airport. We stayed there for a couple days
and made some contacts in town before heading up to Bamenda which is the
Torchbearer Foundations headquarters in Cameroon.
While in Bamenda we have attended a
few local churches and we have been interacting with the local people every
day. At the TBF headquarters we have the
TBF National Council that we work one on one with daily. They have been a joy
and encouragement to work with. These guys are full of life and a lot of fun!
Ndintek Kennedy and Nyumnloh David are two of the head guys that I get to
interact with daily. Kennedy is the National Executive Director and David is
the Associate Director. In addition, to these young men is Wah Hilda. Hilda is
our accountant and helps us often with daily meetings to give us the financial
perspective.
While we have been here in Cameroon
we have traveled extensively throughout the Northwest Region. We have been in
and through many villages and have a made trips to some of the farthest corners
of the region to see land and build relationships. We have seen a couple of TBF
primary schools. One is in the city of Nkambe and the other in the remote
village of Ngang.
The roads here in Cameroon vary
greatly depending on how close to a big city you are. In town and around the
cities sometimes you will see paved roads. That makes traveling very nice.
There are usually many potholes, but in comparison to the other roads in
Cameroon it is riding in luxury. As you start passing from one town to another
of smaller proportions, usually the roads turn to clay and it becomes a little
more difficult to manage. Usually there will be several places where water has
washed over the road and left small ditches for us to cross over. There are
often places where water has puddled up a foot or two deep. Although these
roads are a little rougher they are still much preferred to the roads of the
mountain bush. When you’re on a road back in the bush, up in the mountains it
is usually pretty steep. And there are deep ditches running across the road,
down the middle of the road and every direction. Despite these challenges it is
still possible to move down these roads even though it is very bumpy and
requires a 4x4 vehicle to meet the challenges. However, when you are running
from a rainstorm and the clay gets slippery it becomes very difficult for even
our professional drivers to manage the slopes.
We got stuck on various occasions and at other times we had a hard time
getting enough traction to work our way up the hills. Thankfully we were able
to make all of our journeys safely despite some of the learning experiences.
Now I can say I have traveled the “fa fa for bush” of Northwest Cameroon!
We have had some really neat times
getting to walk into the bush to view possible land sites to develop for the
local communities. We have been asking for land to be donated so we can develop
the land for the betterment of the community. In many cases we think starting
an education system in these villages will be beneficial for the community. We
are also considering teaching agricultural courses, processing, really anything
the people will need to better them and increase the value of their products.
In doing this Torchbearer is able to find a place to do the work that will
change the lives of Cameroonians.
As we perfect the methods of
working with the community to discover their needs and to work with them to
resolve their problems we will want to expand. Right now our focus is the seven
divisions of the Northwest region. Aside
from the Northwest region there are nine other regions in Cameroon, similar to
States in the US. With 10 total regions we have a lot of expansion to do just
to reach Cameroon, but our overall vision is much more global. As we continue to
grow and learn new techniques we want to be able to reach all of Africa with
whatever help we can give.
We have found that many of these
communities are struggling with poverty. The infrastructures available to them
are so poor that they have a very hard time building up sustainable businesses.
Often the roads, or lack of electricity or other things keep them from scaling
up the many business ideas that you see in each community. There is no lack of
businesses but nearly all the businesses are tiny with little prospect of
growing. They are in a small market with little chance of exporting to other
local communities because of the road conditions and the lack of
transportation. Processing must all be done by hand because in many of the
rural areas electricity hasn’t been extended to them.
We have heard the need of these
people and we have heard of other problems such as soil infertility. They see
the problems but they have no idea how to fix the problems so they plod on each
year, and each year they get lower and lower yields. We have seen some call out
for education to better prepare them for the work that they do. The TBF has
been responding and right now we are working on renewable energy options to
produce a sustainable energy production system that will be affordable for the
villagers. In the areas where we have been trying these systems we have seen a
strong response and the villagers are excited at the opportunity to have
electricity in their homes. We still have a little ways to go before we reach our
initial goals with the energy project but the wheels are turning and we are
moving in the right direction.
In addition, to meeting the
electrical need TBF is planning to set up shop in some of the very remote
villages of the Northwest in Cameroon. Here we plan to build a farm school to
teach agricultural techniques, business skills, and various other trades and
skills to prepare these communities to expand their business capabilities and
have all they need right there in order to fix it. For some of these villages
if they had a piece of equipment they would have to travel eight hours to get
to a big city where they could get the part or a mechanic who could fix it, and
in some cases they would have to have the part shipped from Europe or the
United States because it couldn’t be found in their country. TBF wants to close
that gap by training students of strong character to build up businesses with
the trade skills they have learned. As these students become community
entrepreneurs who are humanitarian minded we hope to see the businesses grow
and the communities develop from that growth. There are many steps on the trail
to building Cameroon up. One of the most important aspects is Christ. Every
step of the way we hope to nurture Christian Discipleship among the students,
entrepreneurs, and the community as a whole.
I have learned so much about what
we can do here, and how we can help. It has been exciting to see the
opportunities that you and I have to be able to bless these communities, and to
help them discover Christ in a more practical way. I am excited about the
calling that has been put on my life to go with Taylor and our family to this
African country to share God’s love in the various ways that He makes
available. I will always appreciate your continued prayers and support as we
live out this calling that God has asked of us.
Taylor and I will be in the States
for one more year. As you know Taylor has been accepted to College of the
Ozarks and should be finishing her Horticulture degree in the spring. In the meantime I will be working for the TBF
as a supported missionary to organize preparation for us moving over to
Cameroon. I will be working alongside agricultural technicians in Cameroon to
get the land prepared and to continue making plans for the work that is to be
done. In addition, I will be seeking out equipment to prepare and send over to
Cameroon for use in the farm schools. As I will be working for the TBF in this
season while I am stateside, I will need to be financially supported. The work
that has been put on my plate is a full time assignment and I need to make full
use of my time to get this work accomplished. With this in mind I would like to
ask those of you who would like to support Taylor and I in this work to come
alongside us with whatever gift you can extend to us. A small monthly gift will
be most beneficial to us as we are planning on being missionaries for a long
time and we don’t want to be a financial strain on those who would like to
support us. Thank you for your continued prayers! We appreciate each and every
one of you and we are always encouraged to see how many people are viewing our
posts! We want to keep you updated so you know what is going on in our lives!
Thank you for being a support to our ministry!
In Christ,
Carl Anderson
