GHAP Meets the Need in Cameroon
In February 2008, GHAP sent a team in response to requests from the leaders of the Lutheran Church and health care system in Cameroon. One of the team members, Rev. Jerry Paul, is currently the President and Chief Executive Officer of Deaconess Foundation, a faith-based foundation in the St. Louis metropolitan area focusing on the improvement of health in the region, especially for children in low income neighborhoods. An ordained clergy in the United Church of Christ, Rev. Paul, also has a Master degree of Healthcare Administration from the Washington University School of Medicine.
5,000 miles and two continents away is a small African country called Cameroon. Located on the west coast, next door to Nigeria, Cameroon is a former French colony whose primary language is French and whose currency is “francs.” The sights, sounds and texture of Cameroon’s culture are the stuff of National Geographic Magazine. So far away, and so different.
Yet, Cameroon is also the home of something that feels “close to home,” the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Cameroon. With a membership over 250,000, ELCC has ministered to the people of that region for several decades. And it has done so with a host of services that are critical for the whole society, and not just the church.
One of those services is the church’s health system. With three small hospitals, and a dedicated staff of medical professionals, the hospitals provide a range of acute and preventive care services.
From all over the region, families bring loved ones for treatment and then remain at the hospital to assist with their care. They stay in one-room family dormitories and cook their meals over open campfires. Nearby, women scrub clothes on large stones, just as they have done for generations.
Scattered around the shaded hospital grounds are the whitewashed buildings bearing the names of the services found inside. Much of the equipment has been provided by Global Health Ministries and continues to meet the needs of the physicians and patients long after others declared them obsolete. In the hands of skilled professionals they bring healing to countless people in need. And in the same hands patients and families experience the love of Christ.
Though the distance is great, the language is foreign and the customs are unfamiliar, the old adage surely applies: people are the same wherever you go. The faith we share and the dreams and aspirations we have for our families and communities are not that different. And neither are our struggles to organize our work and institutions in ways that are effective and efficient.
Global Health Administrative Partners recently sent a small delegation to Cameroon to see if they could assist the church in redesigning its hospital governance structure. The need focused on how to give the health system needed autonomy, without the church losing control.
From the outset, everyone agreed that the health system must be free to respond to the changing needs of the community in a timely manner. It was also agreed that this ministry must continue under the umbrella of the ELCA communion.
Under the current structure, the president of the church was charged with managing the health system, as well as all other aspects of the church. He did not have the time or the training.
A series of meetings was held with key leaders, during which the discussion revealed misunderstandings, miscommunications and personal anxieties. At times, tensions threatened to control the dialogue. But in time a path emerged that seemed to make sense – shared authority. Everyone agreed to give the hospital control over all health system operations under the leadership of the medical director; and the church will approve the appointment of the health system director, its board and its by-laws. Both sides got what they needed.
In one week, with the guiding of the Holy Spirit, what seemed potentially insurmountable became an opportunity for reconciliation and renewal. Indeed, it was as if the vast distance between us was reduced by several thousand miles!
The Church is a remarkable gift. Where two or three are gathered together in His name, never mind differences of nationality, culture or language, Christ is among us. Blessings abound!
Written by Rev. Jerry Paul