The people of the West-central Africa Division are pretty much like people everywhere.
They enjoy good food. They like to shop
They like to play They like to sing
And their smiles can warm your heart. Welcome to the West-Central Africa Division.
The West-Central Africa division covers a vast territory stretching from the island
of Cape Verde to the Central African Republic, and from Mauritania to the Republic of Congo.
More than 350 million people live in the 22 countries that make up this Division. Of these,
some 850,000 are Seventh-day Adventists--one out of every 390 people.
In 11 countries, Islam is the dominant religion. Minarets dominate the skyline from the many
mosques throughout this region. Every day devout Muslims visit the mosques to pray and
study the Koran. Christians are a majority in 10 of the 22
countries. This territory is home to one of the largest Christian churches in the world--the
Catholic Basillica in Yamassoukro, Cote d'Ivoire. In spite of having one of the largest churches,
Christianity is a minority religion in more than half the countries of this division.
For many people, local and tribal religions are still very much a part of their lives.
In the country of Togo, more than half the population practices local religions, and
in Benin it's nearly a third of the population. People worship at temples dedicated to spirits
and animals such as snakes. This region is home to the voodoo religion that was carried
to the West Indies. As recently as 1996, voodoo was made an official religion of Benin.
Along the shores, traditional fishing boats ply the waters in search of fish. And you
can still see the sobering memorials to the slave trade that once plagued these shores.
This building in Senegal is known as the "door of no return," once a departure point for
slaves heading for Europe and the New World. Other memorials stand as mute reminders of
the horrors of war and struggles for power that tore at this region in the not too distant
past. For those interested in history, this territory
includes the city of Tombouctou (Timbuktu), once part of the trans-Saharan caravan route
that stretched from Constantinople, now known as Istanbul, to Timbuktu, linking the middle
east and north Africa. The Adventist church has grown rapidly in
countries such as Ghana and Nigeria. Some areas have proven more challenging. Gary Krause,
director of Adventist Mission spoke with Zakari Kassoule, when he was Global Mission director
of the Sahel Union one of the most challenging territories in the division. Today Pastor
Kassoule is the Adventist Mission coordinator in the West-Central Africa Division.
What countries are in the Sahel? We have 11 countries, and most of them have
many culture, many challenges. Do you want me to list the countries?
No we won't go through all of them, but we have countries like Mauritania, Burkino Faso,
Mali, Niger
Timbuktu is in the middle of the Sahel. And a lot of this region is desert; it's a very
poor area. Very, very poor.
And we really only have a handful of believers. How many believers in all of these 11 countries.
Ah, about 40,000. 40,000 among millions and millions.
What are the major challenges that we are facing as a church?
The main is a lack of resources, and if you consider 11 countries, we have a different
mentality, different opinion, different way to enter into the country, so it's not easy
for each country, you have to develop own strategy to enter the country. This is a big
challenge we have. Some 20 years ago, Pastor Kassoule became
the first Seventh-day Adventist in his home country of Niger. Although he
was not a Christian, he became interested in Christianity and joined another Christian
denomination. He learned of the Adventist message when a friend introduced him to Adventist
World Radio. Later he met an Adventist who was working in Niger and became an Adventist.
He went on to attend an Adventist University and became a pastor.
Like many areas of the world, the Adventist Church in Western Africa operates schools
that provide a quality education while teaching Christian values.
Here in West-Central Africa, the church operates more than 1,000 primary schools and some 60
secondary schools. These schools play an important roll in training
future workers for the church. The quality education they offer also attracts many students
from non Adventist homes. As students study in class or socialize on
campus, they have an opportunity to learn about Jesus' soon coming and the Seventh-day
Adventist Church. There are also three Adventist Universities
in this division. One of these, Babcock University in Nigeria is one of one of the largest Adventist
Universities in the world with an enrollment of more than 5,000 students.
Graduates from these schools carry their hopes and dreams with them as they leave these schools
to work in countries throughout the division, across the continent, and around the world.
Health and medical care are another way the Seventh-day Adventist Church touches lives
in West-Central Africa. In the extreme North of Cameroon, you can
still find family compounds made up of distinctive round huts. Each hut is like a room, and new
huts are added as the family grows. Although there are cities in the north, this region
is one of the most culturally diverse areas of the country with many people living in
traditional homes and maintaining traditional lifestyles.
Hospitals are few and far between. It's in this setting that the Seventh-day Adventist
Church operates Koza Adventist Hospital. The hospital was established in 1949 by R.
Bergstrom, and his wife, Adventist Missionaries from Sweden .
Originally called North Cameroon Mission hospital, today this 140-bed hospital still serves a
large area with medical care. You know you have 200,000 people who live
in this place, and we have some persons who come from Nigeria and Chad and you don't have
one big hospital like this hospital that we have here. And we bless God because we have
two doctors.... and we receive many patients and we have the opportunity to help the community.
From West-Central Africa's crowded cities to remote villages, people are searching for
answers. Answers they can find in the Bible.
Answers they can find in Jesus. Thank you for supporting the mission offerings
that help make it possible for Global Mission pioneers, local workers, and missionaries
carry a message of hope to the West-Central African Division.
www.AdventistMission.org