Carl's update!

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