Mission
Statement
Mission Statement
Hello, we are Thom & Ellen Schotanus. Ellen and I are serving as missionaries to Cameroon with the Baptist General Conference. We work in cooperation with the Cameroon Baptist Convention, along with two other mission-sending agencies, the North American Baptist Conference, and World Team.
The Cameroon Baptist Convention has many different areas of ministry, divided up between three boards, the Health Board, the Education Board, and the Evangelism Board.
The Evangelism Board oversees the churches, two seminaries, and various other ministries ranging from publishing, theological education by extension and Christian broadcasting.
The Education Board oversees over 100 schools that teach children from primary school through High school, in all fields of education. There are some 34,000 students within the CBC education system.
The Health Board oversees the medical aspect of the CBC ministries. These include the two main Hospitals, Banso Baptist Hospital and Mbingo Baptist Hospital. They also have 21 Health Centers, White Cross Supply, and a Central Pharmacy that manufactures many medications, creams and ointments, as well as IV fluids, in their sterile production unit. It is the mission of the Health Board to provide medical care to all who need it as an expression of Christ's love, and to provide those who come for care with an opportunity to hear the gospel.
Ellen and I serve with the Cameroon Baptist Convention Health Board, and we are stationed at Mbingo Baptist Hospital, a 250-bed hospital located in a rural area of beautiful Northwest Cameroon.
Mbingo Hospital began 50 years ago as a small bush clinic for leprosy patients. It has grown into a full-service hospital that still serves as a major leprosy treatment center, but has grown to include an Eye Department, Physical Therapy and Prosthetics, X-ray and Ultrasound, and an operating theater which performs about 170 major operations each month and countless smaller procedures. There is an outpatient clinic 6 days per week, as well as a complete maternity ward and maternity village where expecting mothers who live in remote areas can spend the final weeks of pregnancy, especially if there may be difficulties expected. We also have a Community Based Rehabilitation program that assists persons with disabilities in developing skills that will enable them to provide for themselves.
Here is a bit of an overview of some of our own activities (although not complete, I'll try to give a good picture):
Thom's work is involved with all phases of construction. From designing and overseeing projects, to teaching different aspects of building management and computer aided design. I am also involved in introducing appropriate technologies in the areas of waste management and maintenance. I also try to involve people from our supporting churches whenever possible in short term missions to contribute even more to aid the work here by training Health Board staff.
I also have a weekly Bible study with a group of men who I work with. We use materials called TEE (Theological Education by Extension), and is written within the African cultural context. There has been wonderful growth in the lives of these men, and one man even gave his life to Christ after one of the discussion times.
Ellen is the Rest House supervisor for all the CBC Health Board rest houses, of which there are five located in the Northwest, Southwest and Central Provinces of Cameroon. Her work in this area is to distribute White Cross supplies, give advice, and have periodic seminars on subjects like proper food handling and preparation, and general house cleaning.
Here in Mbingo, she has several areas of involvement. She assists in teaching at the CBC Integrated School for the Deaf, in the deaf section. There are now more than 90 deaf children in classes 1 through 4. She is also helping the teachers in our new Primary School for hearing children with some new ways of teaching. At this time, she is focusing mainly on the area of phonics, where in the past they taught primarily rote memorization.
This Primary School all came about as a result of her starting a small school at our house about two years ago. Many of the staff children who attended the local school were unable to read, even after class seven. She began with just a couple of kids, but her class soon grew to two classes with a total of 25 children. She had to turn away countless others.
After several months, these children began to read, and it created quite a bit of excitement within the hospital staff community, since the education of their children was a huge concern for the parents who worked here in Mbingo.
So, in a few months the idea was conceived to build a primary school here on the hospital property for the children of the hospital staff. A short-term doctor and his wife were excited about this and have raised a large amount of the support to build the school. Others have contributed as well. Now, although the school is still incomplete, it is serving over 190 children in classes 1 through 7.
Ellen also has a TEE class with a group of women who are growing in leaps and bounds spiritually, which she is very excited to see. She also advises in the Embroidery Room. This is a small enterprise that was started many years ago to offer an opportunity for former leprosy patients to provide for themselves. Her help in this area is primarily to help them with color schemes that will appeal to a Western clientele, who make up the predominant customer base for the business. The women also make badges for 3-H Clubs and different items for women's groups within the Cameroonian community.
Just recently, Ellen and I both have begun to get involved in a small church in a village called Baicham, that is about six miles into the bush from where we live. This small church was closed about 8 years ago when a church split took place in the area. Since then, there has been no other church in this village way down in the valley.
About a year ago, a young man from the village, named Johnson Mbi, began to meet with a couple of people as a prayer group, and after a few months he asked the Fon (local chief) for permission to reenter the long vacated church building.
Several months ago, Ellen and I were visiting another small church that sits on the side of a mountain. From the back of the church, I could just see a small cluster of mud brick homes way down below and asked someone what that was. They told me that was the village of Baicham. At that moment, I had a desire to know more about that place.
It is interesting how God works as he brought Johnson and us together. We hope to work with him and another man, Wilfred Ngwabi, in helping this church to develop a firm foundation for their faith through discipleship. Then our vision is that this church will reach the remainder of their small village, and move on to the next, a village called Saicham.
One very exciting thing is that we had the opportunity to be involved in leading a total of 9 people to Christ in the last month. Now the prospect of being involved in helping them to grow spiritually is very exciting too!
Thom's construction experience has been extremely varied. From Residential, and commercial, to industrial, and institutional. From individual Doctor's offices, four New England Eye Centers, X-ray rooms to ICUs, and several years of diverse work in three different hospitals, this experience has provided a great deal of knowledge in the specialty requirements of medical construction work. Also, lots of commercial work involving steel and concrete construction is helpful, since this is typical of Cameroonian building. As an employer, an easy going management style with an emphasis on teamwork has always provided a productive and pleasant work atmosphere.
Ellen's skills have also been custom tailored to the requirements of her job description. Working in the restaurant business for 18 years, she has had experience in many areas of the service industry. As a head waitress, she provided training in "on the job" conditions. As a manager, she oversaw the operations and staff. While a cook and waitress, she learned how to deal with people under sometimes less than favorable circumstances. At church, she had been involved with a women's Bible study, with one-on-one discipling, with youth activities, and teaching Kindergarten Sunday School.
Cameroon is a needy nation. Poverty is everywhere. Many things we take for granted cannot be found, or are in very short supply. The following statistics will demonstrate some of these urgent needs. They are listed in a comparative manner with the United States:
| Cameroon | United States | |
| 57 | 77 |
| $650 (47th poorest) | $26,980 |
| 11,996 | 421 |
| 59% | 10% |
| 60% | 15% |
AIDS is also rampant, not only in Cameroon but in all of Central Africa. These needs, as well as many others, are addressed in the many areas of ministry that have been established by the Cameroon Baptist Conference, as they work closely with the BGC and NABC.
This is where God provides the opportunity for His people to demonstrate His love through them.
The Cameroon Baptist Convention Health Board is a non-profit organization. They wish to provide medical care as a means to share the gospel. Because of the poverty in which most Cameroonians live, the cost of health care is kept to a minimum.