Empower Africa Director Dr. Frank Michael Tweheyo and his wife Phobice recently traveled to Cameroon to train leaders. The following is Frank’s report, edited for space and clarity.
Cameroon has been called “Africa in Miniature,” because it is a melting pot of both Western and African cultures. It is the only officially African bi-lingual country, (French and English) and it is considered as being both in Central Africa, as well as West Africa.
Cameroon is considered to be in the lower-middle income economy, thus having an edge over many peer African economies. It boasts of tropical forests as well as many valuable resources including minerals and oil. Western countries have also heavily invested in the country.
Phobice and I were invited to this beautiful country at the end of July by MEVIPAC (Mission Evangelique Vie Et Piex du Cameroun, or Cameroon Life and Peace Evangelical Mission), a Christian ministry which plants churches and trains Christian leaders.
We were introduced there by Professor Moses and Susan Chalwe, from Zambia. Last October, the Chalwe’s hosted an Empower New Man New Woman New Life seminar in Lusaka, Zambia.
We travelled with the Chalwe’s as a team to train leaders in Transformational Leadership.
We conducted trainings in the two largest cities of Cameroon: Douala, which is the largest city and the economic capital; and Yaounde, which is the political capital. Our host, Bishop Dr. Christophe Ohandja, oversees several dozen churches in both cities and elsewhere in the country, as well as being a deputy vice-chancellor in a local university.
As usual, I made use of such opportunities to share the Empower message and vision. Several sessions were dedicated to the Empower Vision-Cast, as well as teaching on leadership based on our framework of creation, fall and redemption.
I was also able to share insights from our training on Jesus’ model of leadership in John 13. This content (“What does it mean to be Lord” in our manual) took center stage, especially in Douala Leadership training.
These teachings were greatly received by the participants, and they want us back!
Both MEVIPAC Ministry and POTAMI University have invited us to hold Empower trainings in Cameroon.
Cameroon is deeply influenced and negatively impacted by western values, especially those of France. Considering that the family situation in this part if the country, with high levels of divorce and conflicting patriarchal cultural tendencies, the Empower message is essential in this part of Africa.
Our welcome to Cameroon may open other opportunities in other Central African, as well as Western African Francophone countries, for Empower.
Your support makes it possible for our teams in Africa to respond to invitations like these. Thank you for your prayers and faithful support.