A CELEBRATION of ten years of the Anglican diocese of Cameroon was held in the open air at the largest city in Cameroon, Douala, on 26 August.

The day dawned bright and dry, and 1500 worshippers celebrated a eucharist, accompanied by choral music, and a sermon by the Bishop of Ohaji Egbema, in Nigeria, the Rt Revd Chidi Collins Oparaojiaku.

The eucharist was celebrated by the Bishop of Cameroon, the Rt Revd Dibo Thomas-Babyngton Elango. He also invested 15 Knights — lay members who have contributed spiritually and materially to the development of the Church — during the service.

The Bishop preached in the centre of the quadrangle of open-sided marquees erected to shade the congregation from the sun. He commended the faithfulness of the Anglican Church in Cameroon, and congratulated the diocese on its achievements over the past decade. He reminded listeners that all things were achieved only by the grace of God.

The congregation responded with loud Amens of approval, and joined enthusiastically when he began an unaccompanied rendition of “Great is thy faithfulness”.

Sustained by a packed lunch of chicken and rice, the congregation enjoyed musical contributions from the diocesan choir, which sang an anthem by Handel, and by visiting choirs, which sang traditional African spirituals and modern gospel. The Boys’ Brigade provided percussive interludes. The service was long, and at points chaotic, but always joyful.

The Church of England link diocese of Chichester was represented by Canon Mark Payne, the Rector of St Pancras, Chichester, and Canon of the Cathedral of St Michael and All Angels, Douala.

Anglicanism was brought to Cameroon in the mid-20th century by an expatriate community of West African business owners, who set up churches, including what is now the cathedral. Cameroon was initially a missionary area under the Church of the Province of West Africa (CPWA). It was only in 2008 that it achieved full status as a diocese in the CPWA, and Bishop Elango was ordained and consecrated to the office of Bishop: the first Cameroonian to hold the position.

The diocese has now expanded to 28 churches across nine parishes, served by 16 full-time clergy and eleven catechists. The diocese has an ambitious and largely self-funded building programme of churches, clergy accommodation, schools, and a health clinic. In a country without a welfare state, this contribution to education and health care has a significant impact on the life chances of young people in particular.

The tenth anniversary comes at a time of significant civil unrest in Cameroon, as anger and frustration in Anglophone regions about perceived marginalisation by the Francophone majority spills over into violence. The Anglican Church ministers to both English and French speaking communities.

Culled from Church Times

Catholic bishops in Cameroon have issued a pastoral letter to say voters should be able to exercise their right to freely, peacefully and responsibly choose leaders in the upcoming presidential elections.

“According to the teachings of the church, the people should be at liberty to exercise their sovereignty by freely, peacefully and responsibly choosing their leaders,” the bishops said in their pastoral letter dated Aug. 24.

Current President Paul Biya, hoping to embark on a seventh term, is now 85 years old and has been in power since 1982. In the presidential elections of Oct.7 he will challenge a divided opposition that is putting forward eight candidates.

Points of instability

These elections fall at a particularly tense moment and there are many areas of instability across the country. Since the beginning of the Anglophone crisis in 2016, the northwest and southwest regions have witnessed many deaths and there is no immediate end to the hostilities in sight.

The Nigerian border region in the far northeast is in a state of extreme volatility with deadly attacks carried out by Boko Haram. Since 2014 over 2,000 Cameroonians have lost their lives in terrorist violence and more than 1,000 have been abducted.

On top of these internal issues, are conflicts in Central Africa which have pushed more than 150,000 people over the border to seek refuge in eastern Cameroon.

Members of the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon have expressed concern that these crises will have a negative effect on the upcoming presidential elections.

They state that free and transparent elections are the only way to “guarantee peace, stability and justice.”

They call on Cameroonians to choose candidates capable of dealing with the country’s social, economic and political issues and tackling inequality, corruption, unemployment and Boko Haram.

The Anglophone crisis

The Anglophone problem began in 2016 with remonstrations and complaints among lawyers and teachers who protested their marginalization in the country’s legislative and education systems, which are largely francophone.

Their protests led to strikes which turned into deadly confrontations between Cameroonian security forces and those supporting secession of Anglophone regions.

On July 25, Cameroonian religious leaders announced their involvement in resolving the secession crisis.

Among those who added their names are Cardinal Christian Tumi, retired archbishop of Douala, Babila George Fochang, a priest from the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon, Tukur Mohammed Adamu, an imam from Bamenda Central Mosque, and Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar, chief imam from Buea Central Mosque.

To this end, they were planning a general conference for Anglophones from Cameroon and the diaspora on Aug. 29 and 30 in the city of Buea (southeast). However, a few days after the announcement, it was reported that the conference had been postponed indefinitely.

Source: La Croix International

The Bishop of Buea says a priest who died in the July 2018 in the restive South-West region of the country was assassinated disputing claims that the death was as a result of a stray bullet.

His Lordship Immanuel Bushu is reported by local press to have said Rev. Fr. Nougi Alexander Sob was assassinated. “Father Sob was with two other people in his car when he was shot at close range with a silencer gun.”

The Cameroon Catholic church reported the death of the parish priest of Bomaka, a district of Buea, at the time the report said by “unidentified individuals.”

“We have received photographs of the body of the deceased priest, Alexander Sob Nougi,’‘ an official communication by the church issued in Yaoundé read, specifying that the perpetrators of the murder remain unknown and that the body is mutilated.

Security in Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions, the north-west and south-west, has deteriorated considerably.

Fighting became daily between the security forces and armed separatists demanding the creation of an independent English-speaking state.

Catholic Church as conflict mediator

The Catholic Church is the only actor capable of “promoting dialogue” between the insurgents and the government, according to the International Crisis Group (ICG) research centre in April.

It represents almost a third of the Cameroonian population, according to the ICG, which deplored the Catholic Church’s “divergent positions” on the Anglophone question and invited it to “overcome its divisions and display its neutrality”.

This increasingly violent armed conflict in the English-speaking zone, as well as that against the jihadist group Boko Haram in the north of the country, could disrupt the presidential elections scheduled for 7 October, according to analysts.

President Paul Biya, 85, declared his candidature last week for a seventh consecutive term.

His supporters believe that he is best able to respond to the English-speaking crisis, his opponents accusing him of being responsible for the crisis.

Source: Africa News

Cameroon religious leaders are coming together to help seek a solution with the country’s ongoing Anglophone Crisis, with Cardinal Christian Tumi leading efforts to ease tensions between the country’s French-speaking majority and an English-speaking minority that says it is being persecuted.

Tumi, the Archbishop emeritus of Douala, joined with Christian and Muslim leaders to call for an Anglophone General Conference to take place Aug. 29-30 in the town of Buea.

The cardinal told Crux the leaders hope to offer a unique “pastoral approach” to tackle the crisis.

The Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon are majority English-speaking, a legacy of the colonial history of the country: Cameroon was originally German, but after World War I the defeated country transferred it to the allies, and it was divided between France and Britain.

At independence, the two parts were reunited, and currently about 20 percent of the country’s nearly 25 million people is anglophone. The Catholic Church is the largest religious group in the country, representing about 40 percent of all Cameroonians.

In October 2016, strikes by lawyers and teachers over perceived attempts by the Francophone administration to assimilate the legal and educational systems practiced in the two English-speaking regions turned violent, and morphed into rising demands by Anglophone Cameroonians for independence.

The government has been accused of razing entire villages and extrajudicial killings in their hunt against separatists, who are calling on the English-speaking areas to form a new country, called ‘Ambazonia.’

Separatists have also been accused of atrocities, and have attacked Cameroonian security forces, and kidnapped opponents for ransom.

“We believe that the moment has come to put an end to the conflict through a frank, inclusive and comprehensive national dialogue on the Anglophone Problem,” the religious leaders said in a statement.

“We recognize that absolute necessity for the people of the Southwest and Northwest Regions to hold a preparatory general conference in order to agree on the issues to be examined at the national dialogue on the Anglophone Problem and to freely designate their representatives at that dialogue,” the statement continued.

“Accepting our moral responsibility to promote peace and harmony among all God’s children, we hereby freely take the initiative to constitute ourselves into a college of conveners for the purpose of summoning the required General Conference of the people of the Southwest and Northwest Regions.”

Those whose ancestral origins are within the territory that today constitutes the Northwest and Southwest Regions of Cameroon; or those whose parents or grandparents, not having their ancestral origins in the Southwest and Northwest Regions, settled permanently in this territory as of Oct. 1, 1961, when the former ‘British Cameroons’ formally joined Cameroon.

Tumi told Crux that because there were already several currents of thought among Anglophones themselves as to what the problem is and how it should be handled; the conference becomes much more necessary.

“There are some calling for secession; others for federalism and others for decentralization. All that we are saying is that anybody who wants to take part in this dialogue should be objective, that is to say – when you come to the dialogue, you must be able to give and take.”

Similar conferences had been held before – one in Buea and the other in Bamenda in the early 1990s, but Tumi believes the one he and other religious authorities in Cameroon want is different.

“We come with a pastoral approach,” the cardinal told Crux.

“We have no arms. We preach love and forgiveness, objectivity and truth. Our insistence will be on those virtues. If intellectually you are convinced that what the other person is saying is true, you are obliged by intellectual honesty to accept,” he said.

The religious leaders said in their statement that such an initiative can only succeed if government releases all those who have been arrested in connection with the crisis, as well as create the conditions necessary for all English speakers to participate, including separatists.

They also called on “the Government of Cameroon and the various armed groups that now operate throughout the territory of the Northwest and Southwest Regions, to declare an immediate end to military hostilities in these two regions and thus create favorable conditions for finding a peaceful and lasting solution to the Anglophone Problem and to ending the Anglophone Crisis in our country through dialogue.”

But the government has raised objections to the proposals, especially the inclusion of separatists in any talks.

“We can’t place the republican army, which today is deployed to fight for the territorial integrity of our nation on the same footing as armed groups, terrorists who kill, slaughter, behead, burn schools, [and] commit despicable crimes,” said Issa Tchiroma Bakary, Cameroon’s communications minister.

Tchiroma also criticized the religious leaders for asking for the release of all those arrested in connection with the crisis.

“You can’t also ask a state that is ruled by law like ours, to release those who have killed, massacred and who are today awaiting trial,” he said.

However, the call of Cameroon’s religious leaders for an end to the military campaign in the Anglophone areas has gotten the support of the Geneva-based World Council of Churches.

“The World Council of Churches condemns all forms of violence in Cameroon and calls on the government to stop using any force to punish its people in the English-speaking region of Cameroon,” said Isabel Apawo Phiri, the WCC acting general secretary, in an Aug. 2 statement.

“Cameroon authorities must immediately cease the use of disproportionate and deadly force against civilians and protect the human rights of all,” she added.

Meanwhile, 85-year-old President Paul Biya, who has been in power since 1982, announced last month he will seek another term in office when national elections take place in Cameroon in October.

Source: Crux

We of the Cameroon Concord News Group give thanks to God for the man and the priest that we have known and with whom we have worked and prayed over the years.  His sudden and untimely death leaves a huge void in all of our lives. In this soul-searching tribute Rev. Fr. Constant Leke, Pastor of St. Mariae Rosenkranz Mülheim an der Ruhr Germany speaks of the late Father Sob-the man and the priest.

The Bible declares in 1 Thessalonians 5:2 “For you are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.” The death of Rev. Fr. Alexander Sob yesterday the 20^th of July in Muyuka made me contemplate a lot and finally compelled me to write this reflection. The Bible says death comes like a thief; which often makes us ponder over this aspect of death. Death is sudden, inevitable and we have to accept this well-known and universal fact. But how death comes is a question that we human beings need to ponder over, especially when we come across instances of sudden or untimely deaths. Unexpected or unseen deaths cause inconceivable misery and pain to family members, close relatives and near and dear ones, many of who are unable to come to terms with such sudden loss and rebuild their lives.

When death enfolds us in the form of accidents, I am sure, no one is prepared for it. But almost everyday we come across instances of precious lives being loss in accidents. People perish due to their own mistakes or pay with their lives for the mistakes of others. a small mistake or error of judgment may prove costly for self and for the lives of others.

Father Sob and Father Constant

At this moment, I recall the sudden and unexpected death of Rev. Alexander Sob who was in his mid 40’s. In the context of the Anglophone Crisis or the Ambazonian War in the English Speaking region of Cameroon which started in November 2016 till present, many innocent people have lost their lives in mysterious, inexplicable and very fearful circumstances. As of now there is no end in sight for a quick resolution to this crisis or war. It is in this context that Rev. Fr. Alexander Sob died. As it was reported all over the social media yesterday evening, it is said he was killed by a stray bullet around Muyuka. What ever may be the true circumstances of his death we may never fully know due to the frightening situation at present in this region.   His demise has become a subject of discussion and many still keep wondering what could be the cause of his death. One can only term his unexpected death as “a call from God” and here too death came like a thief. It is a hard fact that he will not be with us anymore.

I am unable to come to terms with his death as I still have vivid memories of him for many years. I first met Rev. Fr. Alexander Sob in 1990 when I was admitted in Form One in bishop Rogan College, Small Soppo Buea. He was in High School at the time. Even though as a Form One Student, I had very little contact with him, but I could remark at that time that he was very intelligent and spoke very refined and articulated English Language. After I completed my Secondary School education in Bishop Rogan College and went to the University and later preceded to the Major Seminary Bambui in 2001, I met Fr. Alexander Sob who was already an Acolyte waiting to be ordained a Deacon. During the two years I spent with him in the Major Seminary I noticed that he was a very good singer and interested in Music. I noticed that he was a very assiduous student, self-effacing sociable and friendly. But what shocked me vividly was when the candidates for Diaconal ordination were on the line preparing to enter the Chapel to begin the Mass of Admission into Candidacy in June 2001 and he was removed from the line. That was the clear message that he was not to be ordained as Deacon that year. He was later on asked to discontinue formation. He then went to teach for some time n St. Joseph’s College Sasse where Fr. George Nkeze was Principal at the time. Then he later went and joined the Diocese of Obala where he was ordained as Deacon and later as Priest in the year 2003 and 2004 respectively. After serving as a Priest in the Diocese of Obala for about 5 years he then returned to the Diocese of Buea. He was appointed as Principal of Regina Pacis College in Mutengene. Later he served as Education Secretary of Buea Diocese after Rev. Fr. George Nkeze, Fr. Joseph Awoh and Fr. Willibroad Sakwe. He served in this capacity with all his energy until last year 2017 when he was appointed as the Parish Priest of the Sacred Heart Parish Bomaka.

In December 2017 I travelled to Buea-Cameroon for My mother’s 60^th Birthday anniversary and the wedding of my younger brother from Canada. I was happily surprised to meet Fr. Alexander Sob in the Sacred Heart Parish Bomaka. He quickly recognized me when I came to the Parish to greet him and Rev. Fr. Wilson Mesue. He was so friendly and invited me to the dinning table. He immediately asked me to help in the Parish during my stay at our Family home in Bomaka. So I used to help to celebrate morning Masses and Sunday Masses both at the main Parish Station and Mission Station at Mile 18. During my stay there I discovered that he was a very simple Priest, so jovial, social, friendly, and very pastorally orientated.  His intelligence was manifested even in his common of the English language and his  results at his Masters Degree  and was presently undertaking a Doctorate program.  Concerning his pastoral work I also noticed that he used to visit homes of the old and sick to administer the Sacrament of the anointing of the sick to them. He even visited my Grand mum twice during my stay in Buea. My mother also told me he used to come regularly to pray and anoint my grand mother. I discovered that he had activated the Small Christian communities in the Parish and he even asked me to attend one of them and celebrate Mass with the Christians which I did. He invited me severally to visit with him and I noticed that while in the car he will stop everywhere to greet Christians and non-Christians alike. I also listened to a radio program he was doing. It is then I knew how he was loved in the Parish and how he was so popular in Buea and in the South West Region as a whole. To my greatest surprise when I was about to leave Cameroon I informed him and he decided himself to go and see me off at the Douala airport himself with his own car. This act of his touched me so much.

I returned to Cameroon in April 2018 to attend the funeral of my Aunt in Douala and to witness to the marriage of my uncle’s daughter. During my stay in Bomaka I was very much well received by Rev. Fr. Alexander Sob. He was just the same as I had met him in December. He asked me to help in the Parish during my two weeks stay. I remember the visit of Bishop Immanuel Bushu to the Parish to administer the Sacrament of Confirmation and the crowd he pulled. Fr. Alexander Sob was a real crowd puller. He could pull even ministers, seasoned Journalists and politicians to an event. He was a good organizer. That I witness first hand.

Father Sob and Father Constant(Douala airport)

After my meeting Rev. Fr. Alexander in December 2017 and April 2018, I had to wipe out from my mind all the prejudices I had I heard from his many detractors. It taught me the lesson of never drawing conclusions about people whom I have no personal experience about. From my personal convictions I can say Rev. Fr. Alexander Sob was a good man and a good Priest. He will be greatly missed by his family members, friends, parishioners and his fellow Priests. There is an unsettling challenge to my understanding of what is meant by “a good Priest” as I pass that gentle assessment on most of our deceased Priests. It reminds me of personal unworthiness and how each of us can only do his best in ministry and leave all judgment to God.

Though none of us is permanent in this world, (Hebrews 13:14-16, “We have here no lasting city, but we look for one in the life to come”) it is not easy to accept the sudden death of such a person, especially the family members. None can understand the pain and the trauma of the close family members and friends. We can only console the family saying that though Rev. Fr. Alexander is dead and gone we will live with the fond memories of the little time he spent on this earth. In the case of Rev. Fr. Alexander Sob too death comes like a thief.

Oh how I wish you could proclaim with Saint Paul: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7). My prayer is that you hear these words, “well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:23) from the lips of our Lord, God and Saviour Jesus Christ.

I pray that may his soul find Eternal Rest in Jesus Christ his Saviour

Rev. Fr. Constant Leke

Pastor of St. Mariae Rosenkranz

Mülheim an der Ruhr

Germany

The Catholic Education Secretary in the Buea Diocese in Southern Cameroons Alexandre Sob Nougi has been shot dead along the Buea-Muyuka road by Cameroon government forces. Revered Father Alexander Sob Nougi also moonlighted as the parish priest in Bomaka in the outskirts of Buea.

Local media sources confirmed that the man of God was caught by a stray bullet in Muyuka as the Francophone dominated army battled separatist fighters in the area. His body was ferried to the Buea Hospital mortuary.

The Roman Catholic Church in Southern Cameroons is yet to react to the news.

This item is still developing

A 29-year-old Ghanaian pastor, Isaac Nii Armah Attoh has been shot during a riot that took place in West Akone in Cameroon.

The young pastor is said to have been hit by a bullet during a commotion between the Francophone and Anglophone speaking neighbours.

Pastor Isaac Nii Armah is an associate pastor with Destiny Impact Ministries, a Ghanaian church whose head Pastor is Apostle Charles Akong-Attah and headquartered in Accra.

According to Pastor Anthony who is a close friend and colleague pastor of the deceased, Pastor Isaac was returning to Cameroon where he heads one of the branches of the church after holding a naming ceremony of his first child two weeks ago before the incident.

He is said to have left Accra on Tuesday 10th July, 2018, and journeyed to Nigeria where he transited to Cameroon on Friday 13th July 2018 after which he lost touch with family members.

Several attempts to reach him proved futile until his family saw pictures of him brutally murdered on social media.

The body of the deceased is yet to be conveyed to Accra, as his family is in talks with the Ghanaian embassy in Cameroon for all necessary documentation to be done.

He left behind a wife and a month old son.

Source: Ghanaian web

Cameroon is embroiled in what could be the precursor to a civil war. The nation is currently divided into two basic populations: the French-speaking majority and the English-speaking minority to the southwest who want to break off as their own nation — Ambazonia.

Those in the Anglophone region feel underrepresented by Cameroon’s government. Two years ago, they decided enough is enough. As English-speakers in southwest Cameroon clamor for autonomy, the French-speaking state military is clamping down.

We spoke with Efi Tembon, the Executive Director of the Cameroon Association for Bible Translation and Literacy, a partner of Wycliffe Associates. He says, “It’s actually like a genocide where the war is going on in one part of the country, in the English-speaking part of the country. The military has been deployed in that part of the country and they are causing horrible atrocities.”

“There are over 30,000 refugees who have fled into Nigeria and over 200,000 people have been displaced. Many of these people are hiding in the bushes — some of them elderly people, expectant mothers, mothers with young babies, and children without any care, without any food, without medicine, [and] without protection.”

State forces are going into villages in southwest Cameroon, burning homes, and shooting civilians.

The violence has become a vicious cycle.

“The people decided to fight back, so they have young people who get together and form their own groups in communities to defend their communities. So they ambush soldiers, they take weapons from soldiers and when weapons are taken or a soldier is killed, then the military goes out into the community and burns the [homes] and kills more people.”

A paranoid military means it’s not even safe to ride a motorbike in Anglophone communities.

“Motorbikes have been burned in the area and many people have been shot because they were riding on motorbikes. Sometimes the people who attack soldiers also have motorbikes. They will attack the soldiers, ambush them, and take their weapons to fight back. So the government decided to ban motorbikes in some of the areas.”

Because of the travel dangers, including on motorbikes, CABTAL staff have a hard time getting around. But sometimes more dangerous than traveling is the danger of staying. Some translators have left their communities. Tembon says the president of a translation program had to flee the area when soldiers took over his church. Later he found out his entire village was burned.

This outbreak of violence in Cameroon has affected more than a dozen Bible translation projects.

“We have about 13 language projects in the area where this core of violence is taking place,” says Tembon. “Even some translators have died. The husband of one of our translators was shot and killed and we had to go rescue them in the forest. They were hiding in the bushes for weeks with babies and even older people. Whole families were hiding in the bushes, so we’ve taken them out into the regional training center where translation will be taking place now to help them. But even that center is not safe because it is at the heart of the crisis.”

Wycliffe Associates is hoping to raise funds to build a wall around the regional training center compound and make it safer. Also, computers and translation materials have been lost in the chaos. The ministry is trying to recover or replace those items as well. Currently, they are trying to raise $170,000.

Tembon assures, “In the midst of all of the violence, our teams are still working. God’s Word is still spreading. They are still reaching out to people.”

One thing CABTAL is doing to respond to the fighting is provide a trauma healing workshop for Christian leaders to be the healing hand of Christ in Cameroon.

“It’s a trauma healing workshop where we train people who can reach out to those who are suffering from the trauma. So we have launched out this workshop to train pastors and other leaders so they can help all these people scattered in the bushes to heal from this trauma of the war and the killing going on.”
Source: Mission Network News

The Archbishop of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Bamenda, His Grace Cornelius Fontem Esua, has tendered his resignation letter to the Pontiff, His Holiness Pope Francis.

The Prelate handed over his resignation letter to Pope Francis in prelude to his 75^th anniversary. Speaking to reporters on Monday, July 2, 2018, at the St Joseph Metropolitan Cathedral, Big Mankon, Bamenda, during the commemoration of the 75th anniversary on earth and his 35^th anniversary of his episcopacy, Mgr. Fontem Esua said his decision is in tandem with the Canon Law.

“Take note that, according to the Cannon Law, when a Bishop reaches the age of 75, he tenders his resignation to the Pope so that the Pope should find some other person to take over from him, and I have done so already and I am waiting for the time when the Pope will appoint some other Bishop to take over from me,” he said.

He said even though he is due retirement, he is still the Chief Shepherd of Bamenda Archdiocese.

“I am still due retirement; that is, getting to the age of retirement.  I am retired but not tired. From the inspiration I have, I will continue to serve the church as I have been doing.  As long as the Pope has not appointed anybody else yet, I remain the Archbishop of Bamenda,” he averred.

Meanwhile, the Archbishop used the dual celebrations to apologise to those he has hurt in the course of shepherding God’s flock.

Source: Journal du Cameroun

It was early morning in western Cameroon on May 23rd. A local Bible translator walked out of his house to head to his fields that day. Then just down the road, he saw a white vehicle barreling his way.

The translator shares, “Bullets were flying out of the car towards me. But by the power of God, I was able to escape all the bullets and none of the bullets hit me and I escaped. I ran and hid far away in the bushes.”

(Photo courtesy of Efi Efi)

He saw the men in the vehicle get out and approach his house. It had been built by his father, and he had hoped to pass this home on to his own children. So what he witnessed was heartbreaking.

“They knocked down the windows and doors. They knocked down everything and set fire on the house. The house is completely burnt and nothing is left. I thank God because before they came, my family was already out of the house. My wife, my mother, and children were out of the house.”

The Cameroonian Bible translator now lives with his wife, mother, and children in the bush where they are constantly eaten at by mosquitoes. “My children are still too young and I don’t know what I can do now. I am stranded and do not have anything. I have nothing left except the clothes on me; I had them on that morning. All my documents have been burnt, except my ID card that was on me…. I trust in the Living God that I serve, else I should not be here talking now.”

(Photo courtesy of Efi Efi)

These scenes of brutality have plagued Cameroon for several months now. Cameroon was a largely peaceful country until recently when disputes between French-speaking state forces and English-speaking separatists caused violence to break out in the west.

Bruce Smith with Wycliffe Associates explains, “It goes back to the post-colonial season of their history where there was a French-speaking portion of the country and an English-speaking portion of the country that eventually unified to create a federation, which is the current Cameroon. But unfortunately, the people in the western part of the English-speaking majority area has not felt adequately represented or regarded in terms of the governance of the country. This has been growing in recent years and until just [recently] where it has exploded really into this common violence.”

More than 160,000 people have been displaced by the surge of violence in Cameroon, and at least 21,000 have fled as refugees to Nigeria.

Wycliffe Associates has worked with Bible translation partners in Cameroon for about 25 years. The unrest in the country has directly affected Bible translators and their work. One translator, Anka Terence, was among those killed by soldiers in the Ngwo region on May 23rd.

“There has been a number of people that have had their homes burned,” Smith says. “They have had to flee into the bush…. The problem is the violence just seems to continue to be escalating with no end in sight. We’re concerned, naturally, for the people of the country, but also for the progress of Bible translation there as well.”

(Photo courtesy of Wycliffe Associates)

There were 85 Bible translation projects in progress in Cameroon when the violence broke out. About 17 of the Bible translation languages are located in the western region and have either been slowed or come to a dead-stop because of these attacks.

“There is just a huge disruption to the whole family of Bible translation projects that are going on. Even though it’s only affecting 20 percent of them, 20 percent is a pretty large number when it’s your brothers and sisters in Christ.”

Smith explains, “The Church is not really a target in this process, but unfortunately as the Church leaders have tried to mediate this disagreement between different parts of the country, they have also been targeted in lawsuits by the government and basically intimidated in order to back down so that they wouldn’t continue to influence the process.”

Wycliffe Associates is currently seeking to locate other Bible translation partners that have gone missing.

“We’re trying, first of all, to secure the people’s safety, the translators that are part of the teams that have been driven out of their homes. Most of them have lost their fields, they have lost their herds, their animals, things like that as well as their physical homes. They’re basically just surviving [by] hunting and gathering in the bush. So we’re trying to locate them, we’re trying to get them to safe places, trying to help them reconsider resuming their Bible translation work, but they really have to go through some counseling and some adaptation in between now and then in order to make that possible.”

While the hope is to eventually resume the affected Bible translation projects, they also have to recover the lost manuscripts or digital files for those projects and see if they are still viable.

“It’s a huge matter of prayer. It’s an urgent matter for us to respond to financially, so we would invite listeners to be a part of that as well. This is the time for us to stand with our dear brothers and sisters in Christ in Cameroon.”

Culled from Mission Network News