Just returned to yaounde after almost three full days of meeting various hierarchy of the Cameroon customs to dispute the hefty levy they had given us as a result of a few boxes of expired medicines they found in our container. These expired boxes were probably mistaking put in by one of our donors. Some had expiration dates of 2012 and others expired in July and October of this year. As usual, it was turned into a major issue. It boiled down to us either compromising and giving bribes ( the normal thing to do) or paying hefty penalties. After days of reasoning with them and letting them know our position with bribery ( we ont) and after days of seeing one big man after another and from one office to another, the penalty was finally dropped to less than 10 % of what was initially levied. PTL!!! For those who do not know about our shipping component and the rationale behind it, let me use this opportunity to give you a small background and to enlist your prayer support. Beulah Group Shipping: Doing Business as Mission In a needy continent like Africa, empowerment must take many forms. That is why Bread for Life International has engaged in a wide-variety of ministries. While we are grateful to God for using our Western brothers & sisters to meet many of our ministry and development needs, the question invariably asked is, “how long?” Will Africa ever be on the giving end too, not just on the receiving side? How? How can a culture and a continent with a long history of dependence move to self-sustainment? In more than two decades of ministry, I have been involved in several “tent-making(Business As Mission or social enterprises) efforts to meet personal and ministry needs. A few of them have been, buying USBs, Cameras and laptops (at reasonable or discounted prices) in the USA during my yearly visits and making them available in Cameroon in a similar reasonable rate. Most of the proceeds from such sales go into ministry. Of recent, we have taken a bold initiative to develop a “living” farm (Beulahland Farms) among the Baka Pygmy community in the Eastern part of Cameroon and by March 2015 will initiate a similar project in the village of Muambong on more than 500 acres of land!. God continues to bless each venture. The result has been the proliferation of similar ventures by others in and around our country, for which I am thankful! Sadly, because of the burden of personal and community needs, in the absence of hope and opportunities, there is no motivation for creativity. The entrepreneurial spirit is not present. Ideas are simply duplicated until the specific market is saturated, and businesses fail (classic example: tens of thousands of motorbike taxis). A few years ago, because of the cost of flying with stuff and the limit in luggage and weight by airlines, I began looking for cheaper ways to ship stuff to Cameroon, both for the ministry as well as for my family and associates. I found out there were a few freight forwarders who shipped stuff to Cameroon. Not only were their fees prohibitive, customer service was horrible and most of the stuff shipped either got lost or could not be cleared through customs because of the exorbitant duties, clearing process and the ever present bribery. Then came the idea to find a cost saving way to send stuff: why not rent a container, load it with donated ministry and personal stuff and have others join in sharing the cost. We did the first, the second, the third, forth... until it has become a yearly event. We Are now providing the service to Cameroonians in diaspora and to the missionary community, and BFL stuff gets to go for free or for a fraction of what it would usually cost! Last year, we sent donated stuff worth tens of thousands of dollars for ministry in Cameroon. The foldable chairs for the two new church plants in Yaoundé this year were in that container. So was a donated truck for our farm. In August this year, another container with a donated van from Believers Community Church of Batesville ( David Insell, Joe , Gene ), and tons of ministry items was sent, almost 70% of the container were BFL items. We were still able to generate from the Cameroonian, donors and missionary community a little more than $6,000 which enabled the container to leave the USA. The container arrived Douala a little over two weeks ago and has already gone through Custom inspection. We have had major delayed because of the aforementioned situation. Now that the issue has been resolved, we need to work fast to get the container out to avoid more demurrage and other related charges that are already accruing. This container contains several farm tools, about 5,000 bag packs for our bags to school outreach and several other ministry items! We are so thankful for recent provision of almost $4,000 which has already gone towards the clearing process. What is left now is about $7,500 to finish the clearing process, pay penalties and to pay duties and clearing related charges for the donated van. Would you join us in beseeching the One who owns the cattle on a thousand hills for a few castles? If you are interested in helping defray the cost, you may give via paypal or through our mission agency cten.org/breadforlife In the Spring of 2015, we will be looking at shipping two ministry containers out of Atlanta and Dallas. These containers will mainly include major farm and hospital equipment. Continue to pray for this social enterprise (bulahgroup) that is connecting the Cameroonian community in the USA with families back in Cameroon and simultaneously enabling BFL ship items at a fraction of the market value! In the past few years, I have driven donated items across the USA to be loaded in Atlanta. With our growth and the volume of donation of practical items that continues to come in, there is now a great need for a team of volunteers to drive donated items from various cities in the USA to Atlanta and/or Dallas. In August we had three volunteers from Batesville who drove about 11 hours to deliver a van and a car to Atlanta. Another group (Roxanne Cheek, Brenda Luna, Patrick Gaughan) drove six hours from Jacksonville, Florida to Atlanta. What a blessing. Last month,Ed Sheffield and Ron Emberton respectively drove loads of stuff from Huntsville & Conroe, Texas for a container we shipped out of Dallas. That container is expected in early December. Would you continue to pray for and with us that this as well as the other efforts of BFL? A few other happenings to be praying for: 1. From December 1 to the 6th, we shall be conducting a community wide outdoor evangelistic crusade in the Mendong area of Yaounde. This crusade will culminate with the planting of a new community church ( Ekklesia) in Mendong. 2. In mid January, we will carry out a major medical mission, agricultural outreaches as well as evangelistic crusades. We are also planning on an outreach ( training) with the Cameroon a Police and possibly other arm forces. 3. In February we will be conducting our annual pastors and church leaders expository preaching conference in several cities across Cameroon. 3. On Friday, March 28, 2015, 300 to 500 folks across the USA and other parts of the world will converge in Kerrville, TX to celebrate BFLs 20th anniversary, BFLs Board of Directors will also have our annual meeting in Kerrville and a team building training. If you are not yet signed up, there is still room. Kindly email me. On another note, to celebrate our 20th anniversary, we are asking those who you who have been associated with BFL in one way or the other to send us write ups of your experience as well as photos for our commemorative magazine. That can be sent to my email: ernestehabe AT gmail DOT com Every blessing!
Posted on: Fri, 14 Nov 2014 20:19:27 +0000
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