MCWA was established 25 years ago to serve the people of the Far North Province of Cameroon by providing medical care and church planting.
MCWA (UK) came into being 20 years ago to fulfil the needs of sending equipment to the hospital and also short term personnel, mainly doing their medical electives.
Hopital de Meskine, situated in the French speaking Far North Province, was opened as a bridge to reaching the Fulani people with the Good News of Jesus Christ.
There are some 13 million Fulani in West Africa, stretching from Senegal in the west to Sudan in the east. Traditionally they have been nomadic herdsmen and many still have large herds of cattle today although some have settled down as farmers and merchants. There are over one million Fulani in Cameroon.
Over the years small numbers of Fulani have been reached via the means of Hopital de Meskine. However, much seed has been sown, and to date there is an embryonic church established in Meskine.
During the past 20 years MCWA (UK) has sent out a variety of equipment items including oxygen concentrators, portable ECG monitor, microscopes and pumps for the theatre. More recently we have contributed a significant sum towards purchasing Digital X-ray Equipment. During the years many elective students were sent for 3 – 4 months as part of their training.
Several years ago the Boko Haram was active in the Meskine/Maroua area and the missionaries were told to leave by both the British and American Embassies. They have relocated to Ngaoundere which about 8 hours south of the hospital. The hospital continues to provide a good service and witness to the peoples of the Far North Province. This is overseen by the missionaries via the telephone and also by occasional visits with armed guards.
At the beginning of 2020, it became necessary for Cameroonian doctors and nurses to serve in the hospital. To this end, the hospital has been gifted to the Cameroon Baptist Convention, which has a medical arm as part of its ministry. The information we have so far is that the hospital is working well although patient numbers have dropped possibly due to Boko Haran’s activities in the area.
In Ngaoundere, the missionaries are making contacts with the Fulani in that area and have established some Bible reading groups.
Crawley Baptist Church has been supporting MCWA since 2011 through David and Linda Molden, who have established links with MCWA (UK).