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Dear Family and Friends,
We are happy and healthy and very grateful to be involved in the ministry of the hospital here at Mbingo. There are a lot of positive developments in the work. We want to update you on some of them.
We just had our annual graduation. This is the fifth group that we have graduated. The above picture is of Dr. Norah Ndi Nyah with the residency faculty. A great deal of hard work goes into the training of these young Internists, but we believe that the future of the medical work of the CBC Health Board depends on these young physicians. Dr. Norah will be staying on at Mbingo as part of our teaching faculty. She and others are my replacements.
On the first of August, we began our new academic year. This year we took in four new residents, all recent graduates of the University of Buea Faculty of Medicine. This makes 12 residents in the program. We have an excellent curriculum for the Internal Medicine training they will undergo. This year we are introducing a new two-year Spiritual Development curriculum that we believe will help the residents to grow in Christ. We are excited about the role we can have in training them to be excellent Christian physicians and serve the people of Cameroon.
Several months ago, the hospital began a special chapel service on Sunday mornings for our patients and their carers. It is lead by one of our chaplains and is conducted in French, since the majority of our patients speak French as their first language. Some of the missionary staff usually also join in the service to support the chaplains. It is a great opportunity to minister to those who come to the hospital from all around Cameroon. The service lasts about one hour and has a short devotion, singing and a lot of prayer for the patients and their needs. Many of the patients have expressed their appreciation for the chance to worship and several have stayed behind after the service for counseling and prayer.
One of our major challenges at present is to secure government accreditation for the training programs at Mbingo. To that end, Dennis has been to Yaoundé, the national capital, several times to meet with the appropriate government officials. We are also working on an affiliation with the University of Yaoundé Faculty of Medicine and hope to have that completed soon. The picture on the right is with the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine (lady) and two of their professors. This affiliation will bring many of their medical students and residents to Mbingo as part of their training. This will give us the opportunity to greatly expand our Christian influence on the practice of medicine in Cameroon.
Nancy was privileged to attend the Conference of the Baptist Women’s Union of Africa-Central Region, held in Douala, July 30th-August 3rd. Three hundred thirty women from five countries were hosted by three Cameroon Baptist groups: the Cameroon Baptist Convention, the Native Baptist Church, and the Union of European Baptists. Each of the host groups provided one of the main speakers. The Baptist World Alliance All Africa Women’s president was also present. Over half the women present were from our Cameroon Baptist Convention!
