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Co-Operating
Out Of Poverty Project Underway
Rene Njamnshi, Missionary in Ndu Sub-Division, has
initiated the Co-operating Out Of Poverty
project in the village in which he grew up. Rene and his wife,
Adeline with their three children, have moved to Ndu in order to
begin to develop Christian community, which is the primary goal
of the Torchbearer Foundation.
Rene attended the School of Community Economic Development at
Southern New Hampshire University last summer in order to obtain
a Master’s degree in community development. As part of his work
there, he developed the Co-op project, which he submitted to the
Manchester Rotary Club and received a grant of $500, making it
possible for the CO-OP to acquire the first stock of goods for
the CO-OP Store. The CO-OP Store is a vital complement to the
CO-OP and is a virtual store for the moment. Unlike other stores
in town, as it does not yet have any building of its own. Goods
are either taken from where they are purchased to their
destinations, or temporarily kept in the local TBF office.
The CO-OP Store’s slogan, The People’s Business, reflects that
the primary aim of the store is to serve the people. Part of
the profits will be used to improve the capacity of the store
and part to meet community needs.
Results of a community needs assessment, carried out with 18
Torches in ten out of seventeen villages in Ndu Sub-Division,
endorsed the need for a cooperative form of business as an
effort in the fight against poverty and hunger. Seven out of the
eighteen groups from six villages were selected for a semi-pilot
test. The project took off with high momentum on December 5th,
following a meeting and training session with representatives of
all seven pilot groups at the Torchbearer Foundation local
office
Co-operating Out of Poverty Project in Ndu
Rene
and village women purchasing goods from CO-OP
The Chief of Sop Village Overwhelmed with Joy
Blessing Mangoh, leader of the Young Widows Torch of Sop
village, could not contain her excitement when she received her
Torch’s first consignment of goods in December. Blessing
unleashed her excitement as she in- formed their Field Pastor
and their Chief of the good news. When Rene and his team arrived
at Blessing’s compound, they met a large number of widows, and
to their amazement, His Royal Highness, the Fon of Sop showed
up, too.
After prayers of thanksgiving were given, CO-OP goods and the
entire Torchbearer Foundation were dedicated to God. Then the
chief expressed his excitement by declaring that he would join
the Torch for the day and called on all his subjects to be
witnesses of what God was doing in the village.
Every Torchbearer project has as its goal
self-sustain- ability. Funding from the states is strictly for
start-up, not for long-term financing. Every project is set up
so that the Torch prayer cells involved will contribute
individually in seed money to do their part. While “seed money”
is minimal because of a poor economic base, the families who are
involved in the CO-OP project are meeting the
Challenge
in giving their widow’s mite.
Seven Torch representatives attended a training
session on simple bookkeeping, including making orders and
understanding delivery information. All seven paid a $15
registration fee, which went into the start-up cost of the
CO-OP.
The TBF CO-OP could not have gone operational
with- out the CO-OP Store. A Rotary Grant, membership
registration fees, and trade credit from a local businessman
made it possible for the CO-OP to acquire the first stock of
goods for the CO-OP Store, which totaled almost $2,000. More
than 100 families have started to tap the benefits of the
program, and the news of the CO-OP is traveling around the
villages!
The
Challenge
is to finance the project. The need is great, as
more groups would like to be part of the project, but local
credit has its limit. To arrive where we want to be by May, an
outreach target of at least 40 Torches or 500 families, the
project will need at least $10,000. This will enhance the
profitability of the Store, as it will permit purchases in
greater bulk for CO-OP supplies such as farming tools, seed,
palm oil, soap, fertilizer, salt, rice and kerosene, and allow
more people to participate in the CO-OP.
Praise God! A
Challenge
gift of
$5,000 has been given by a local donor. We need people like you
to help meet this challenge. Your donation to the CO-0P project
will be multiplied in Africa, and you will truly affect many
lives!
President’s Report
An African proverb stays, “If you want to go
fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” Africa
will not go fast and neither will she go far in the pursuit of
development, if the masses of poor village widows and their
children are left behind.
Stop for a moment and contemplate the fate of
these masses of poor village widows and their children who are
so desperate that they often surrender to means of survival,
which are destructive emotionally and physically. Many are
forced to turn to prostitution or even to selling their children
to slave labor. Imagine that with your help their situation
could be significantly improved.
The Torchbearer Foundation’s Co-operating Out Of
Poverty (CO-OP) project has great potential for community
mobilization at the grassroots. It is an effective tool for
evangelism and discipleship. To some people mercy, compassion
and spiritual conversion may seem like inadequate tools for
solving social problems.
Some are tempted to accept ideologies
that use violence and manipulation to carry out their programs
and impose their vision. They want to go fast. In Africa, Islam
seems to be going fast. While they sometimes produce what
appear to be success- es, these successes do not last. Violence
and manipulation, preferred tools for Moslems, have nothing to
do with true human development and the defense of human dignity.
Torchbearers have never planned to start welfare
projects that remain permanently dependent on foreign sources
for their long-term financial survival. Consequently, those
benefiting from our CO-OP are expected to pay for the resources
that they have received, when they harvest and sell their farm
produce. It is a slow process to get any business to stand on
its own feet. Co-operating Out of Poverty is a financially
self-sustainable ministry project that catalyzes the
transformation of individuals from the inside out and the
development of communities from the bottom up.
The great forces which shape the world –
politics, the mass media, science, technology, culture,
education, industry and work – are precisely the areas where
people are especially competent to exercise their mission. If
the forces are guided by people who are true Disciples of Christ
and who are at the same time wise in the world’s ways, then
indeed will the world be transformed from within by Christ’s
redeeming power.
TBF’s Cooperating Out Of Poverty project is
enabling the formation of Torches for prayer, Bible study and
discipleship work stations where Christian
disciple- ship happens and employment is provided to these
disciples. Yet as they begin their work of tilling the soil and
planting seeds, they lack the very basic tools to have a
fruitful harvest. They lack farm implements and fertilizer.
Those things are often not available, and when they are
available, they are unaffordable.
This is where we are asking the help of our
faithful supporters. Though the Torchbearer Foundation is
presently meeting the needs of its ongoing budget, we simply do
not have the resources to fund projects like the CO-OP. Our
missionary in the field, Rene Njamnshi, has moved his family to
the Ndu Sub-division to oversee the TBF ministry among the
villagers there. Through prayer and the Lord’s leading, he has
developed the CO-OP vision as a means of alleviating poverty
especially among the widows and their children. So many have
lost the heads of their households because of HIV/AIDs and other
diseases. The funds generated from this project will enable
their children to attend school and give them a means to provide
food and other necessities.
This CO-OP project is the work of several Torch
prayer cells. As these faithful disciples carry out their roles
as citizens of both the earthly city and the heavenly kingdom,
then are the words of Christ fulfilled, “You are the salt of the
earth…you are the light of the world.” Mt 5:13-14 Hope and light
are being brought to the people in Ndu and to the surrounding
villages.
May the Lord bless you even more as you
prayerfully consider an extra gift to our Co-operating Out Of
Poverty Project.
Yours for a better Africa through
Christ,
Martin Niboh, Ph.D.
Thank you, Partners,
for your gracious support!
May you
be exceedingly blessed this Easter as you celebrate the
good news
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