Extra Commitment Opportunities

There is a channel through which gifts can be designated for specific items that support the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s work around the world. These are called Extra Commitment Opportunities (ECOs). You can give directly to an ECO account online or by mailing your check designating the name and account number of the particular item you have chosen to:

PC(USA) Individual Remittance Processing
P.O. Box 643700
Pittsburgh, PA 15264-3700

Your gift will go directly into the ECO Account designated, and you will receive a letter indicating that your gift has been received and will be used for the purpose intended.

Below are some ECOs related to Cameroon. For a complete listing visit Mission Funding's Web site and type Cameroon into the search box.

Development

Central Africa Liaison

Funds will be used for operating expenses, travel and administrative expenses for the work of regional liaisons in helping implement agreed-upon programs with partner churches and institutions supporting PC(USA) congregations and presbyteries in direct mission involvement with partners. The liaisons also give practical, pastoral and culture/language transition support to other PC(USA) mission personnel serving in the region.

Disaster Response

Sahel Region, West Africa/Niger

This account supplements the One Great Hour of Sharing offering to enable a significant response for relief and disasters in the Sahel region of West Africa, including Niger, north Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal and Mauritania.

Education

Cameroon Christian College

Cameroon Christian College was the first secondary school to be opened for Africans in Cameroon. At one time the school was considered to be the "darling of the mission," and there were as many as 11 American Presbyterian missionaries on staff. Now there is a single International Subsistence Service teacher. While this represents a successful development of Cameroonian faculty, it has increased the burden of staff salaries to be borne by local sources. The need for support of Cameroon Christian College is great as it struggles to overcome economic difficulties and at the same time maintain academic excellence and Christian witness.

Cameroon Christian University, PCC

Firmly founded on the Christian faith and witness of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon, Cameroon Christian University commits to nurture life-long learners equipped to face the challenges of our time through innovative thinking, problem-solving and efficiency.         

Goal: $30,000

Faculty of Theology, Yaounde

Established in 1962, the Faculte de Theologie Protestante de Yaounde (Yaounde Faculty of Protestant Theology) educates approximately 150 French-speaking West African seminarians. The theological school offers a M.Div. degree and in conjunction with seminaries in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a doctoral program. Used for programmatic, instructional and faculty needs, funds from the ECO project will advance academic standards at the seminary and prepare students for their ministries today and in the new century. Stimulating Protestant theological education in Africa is a crucial challenge.

PCC Education Projects — Cameroon

Through a network of 55 preschool, primary and high schools, the Eglise Presbyterienne Camerounaise offers Cameroonian youth educational opportunities in a Christian environment. Years of economic crisis coupled with decreasing government subsidies have left the church struggling with poorly equipped and deteriorating schools. Teaching methods and materials need revision. This project will help the church implement small projects aimed at improving its management, facilities and quality of education.

Presbyterian Theological College, Kumba

Presbyterian Theological College in Kumba is an institution of the English-speaking Presbyterian Church of Cameroon. This project supports a variety of needs at the College, including library materials, women's training and academic supplies.

Health

AIDS Crisis Overseas

AIDS continues to be a crisis for entire families in many parts of the world. Gifts to this account will support congregation-based AIDS projects, prevention education, various forms of training and continuing education events, including the training of pastors, materials development, support of hospitals doing testing, counseling and training of staff among other things.

Cameroon Health and HIV/AIDS

The Presbyterian Church of Cameroon seeks support for the public health outreach and HIV/AIDS programs of its 23 presbyteries and over 1,300 congregations. The Health Services Department needs support for training its 200 pastors in HIV/AIDS prevention and counseling, developing programs for HIV/AIDS home-based care, strengthening 896 women's groups, initiating community health programs, and improving its three hospitals, 19 health centers and three rehabilitation centers.

Hunger

In northern villages of Cameroon recurrent droughts create cyclic food scarcity that threaten local populations. In response, RELUFA member organizations from that region have undertaken a campaign to secure food during the harvest times to store and sell during the lean period. In doing so they also protect local populations against traders who hoard and speculate on the commodities and aggravate the food crisis in the region. Donations to this account are sent to RELUFA to enable it to buy more food for existing granaries or to open new village granaries.

This account supports the establishment and operation of a micro-credit program by RELUFA, the Joining Hands partner in Cameroon, which is aimed at assisting member organizations in addressing hunger and poverty in their communities.

RELUFA

Gifts to this account provide general support for program activities by the Joining Hands partner network in Cameroon focused on environmental degradation caused by oil pipeline and extractive industries, corruption, human rights and food security/sovereignty.

Mission Personnel

Jeff Boyd is regional liaison for central Africa, with special focus on Congo, Cameroon, and Equatorial Guinea. A PC(USA) missionary since 1990, Jeff has served in Tanzania and Congo and is now based in Cameroon. Christi Boyd facilitates the Joining Hands Network in Cameroon. She has served for 17 years in Tanzania, Congo and Cameroon.

Shirley Hill, an ordained PC(USA) minister, works with the Presbyterian Church of Cameroon as a consultant for issues relating to HIV/AIDS in a country where 11 percent of the population is HIV positive. Shirley tells of a woman from India she met several years ago. “We took walks together, and as we did, I shared my Christian faith and she shared her Hindu faith. I learned how much God loves all people. I learned that at the deepest human level, we all desire to know and be known by God. The experience affirmed my love for and curiosity about people from different races, languages, cultures, religions, and countries.” This deep spirituality and love for all people inspire her to continue her important work in such a difficult context.

Leisa Wagstaff serves the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon as a teacher and trainer of teachers in the Presbyterian Teacher Training College. The Presbyterian Church in Cameroon recently opened a secondary school on the teacher training college campus. Leisa works directly with the twin institutions, teaching both content subjects (English, English literature, drawing and writing) and professional courses such as pedagogic supervision, child psychology and creating didactical materials. Leisa has also served as a mission co-worker in Congo, Lesotho and Zambia.

Other Support

Eglise Presbyterienne Camerounaise—General

Gifts to this ECO aid a PC(USA) church partner.

Presbyterian Church of Cameroun     

Gifts to this ECO aid a PC(USA) church partner.