COMPETENCE PROMOTION IN CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

“The next afternoon I had my last meeting with the leaders of UFEB (Union Fraternelle des Églises Baptistes). They are our partner union in the Central African Republic. It was time to end our days we had spent together in the last couple of weeks. It was also that moment to affirm again that we as EBM INTERNATIONAL would support our brothers and sister and stand by their side. We want to continue to support their projects and therefore set a sign of encouragement in the middle of a difficult political situation in our country.”

These are the last words in the report of our regional representative Magloire Kadjio from Cameroon. Just before Christmas he had visited the Central African Republic for a week. Since the civil war that had started in 2012 violence has been surging again and again. Often it is not even possible to travel without risking being in danger. So we are even more excited about Magloire being able to visit again last year to see projects that we keep supporting faithfully in the middle of all challenges. His visit was a great encouragement for the leaders in the churches and in the projects. The unstable situation also has had an affect on churches and for years they were not able to organize big conferences. Travels and meetings were too expensive and too dangerous. In the past year however some events were able to take place and at the Baptist Union Conference of the UFEB a new church leadership was elected.

It is great that Magloire was able to travel to several meetings with the new leaders and ensure them of our support of their country, their people, and their churches:

Beside visits, sermons, and Bible studies in over a dozen churches and meetings with pastors, Magloire writes about visiting the project Maison Dorcas which quite impressed him. In addition to supporting three theological training centers with €20,000 annually, Maison Dorcas is an important project of the Baptists there. In this center young women are being trained in different areas. Director Anne Moussa reports about how currently 91 women are getting training there and how many interested parties had to be refused since there is no possibility of training even more women. The school has another facility about 200 km away from Sibut. It’s about three hours by car outside the capital Bangui. There they are training another 45 female students. Trainings are in the areas of literacy, housekeeping, and sewing.

Magloire finished his impressions of the project with these words: “The work that the director in Bangui and Sibut is doing is very encouraging. The leaders of the church have confirmed that it is only possible because of her vision and her engagement to continue leading both centers in these difficult times.”

Matthias Dichristin according to a report by Magloire Kadijo