Stories from the mission field

Cameroon: Germaine’s Journey Out of Brokenness

Her life was in shattered pieces—not only did Germaine feel this way, but everyone around her constantly reminded the young woman of it. So much so that even her mother gave her an ominous nickname. Yet, with God’s grace, something new can emerge from despair. Here, based on a report by Magloire Kadjio, we share how this came to pass in the far north of Cameroon.

Germaine grew up in a small village in the far north of Cameroon. Heat and drought characterize daily life; families struggle with poverty and hunger because crops fail or water is scarce. Violence and conflict in the region worsen the situation. Even as a little girl, Germaine had to watch her life fall apart: When her father fell ill, he lost his job. Without an income, Germaine’s parents cannot afford their daughter’s education. She is unable to complete the fourth grade of elementary school. For Germaine, a time of deep despair began. Today she says herself: “This is where my descent into hell began.” She moves with her family to the city of Garoua, but finds no foothold or direction anywhere. She is married off far too young and experiences the failure of this marriage. Germaine seeks support from her relatives and desperately wants to build a new life for herself. But she does not succeed. In the midst of this hopelessness, even her own mother gave her a new name: “Spamakora”—broken calabash.

Broken and worthless

A calabash is the shell of a hollowed-out, dried bottle gourd. In Cameroon and other parts of the world, people make vessels out of them. But a broken calabash is useless, discarded, worthless. That is how Germaine feels.

Hope and New Paths

David and Naomi place their trust in God. They know that under God’s favor, new paths can open up that seem impossible to humans. David finds new hope in praising God. For Naomi and her daughter-in-law Ruth, a distant relative named Boaz opens the possibility of starting a family again and experiencing deliverance from the deepest despair.

For Germaine, too, it is relatives who give her life a new direction. Her cousins tell her about the possibility of starting an apprenticeship at the Centre Technique du Garoua (CTG). But the voice of doubt is still loud in the young woman’s mind: Can she manage it, when she has only a primary school education that she didn’t finish? She also didn’t have the money for the one-year apprenticeship as a seamstress.

But God provided for Germaine: The director of the CTG accepted her as a scholarship student. The young woman learned the craft diligently and with joy, and was even able to follow up with an internship to further develop her skills.

What’s more: Thanks to a grant from the CTG and financial support from friends, Germaine was able to open her own tailor shop. She named her business “Confiance pas de Regret”—Trust, No Regrets. What a name that affirms life and emphasizes trust in God’s favor.

Investing in the future of young people in Africa

Skills development is a key area of work for EBM INTERNATIONAL. In Central Africa, we support four large vocational training centers. Over 600 young women and men are being trained at the Technical Centers in Garoua (CTG) and Maroua (CTM), as well as at the Saare Tabitha sewing schools in Maroua (all in Cameroon) and the Maison Dorcas sewing schools in Bangui and Sibut (Central African Republic).

Thanks to your donation, women like Germaine and many others can learn a trade and discover that they are valued and loved by God and people.

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