The Central African Republic: What About the Future?

Two months ago, on March 24, 2013, the government of the Central African Republic was overthrown by a coup. All the Lutheran missionaries evacuated to neighboring Cameroon. We left, but the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the CAR is still there. Western CAR (where the Lutheran Church is most active) has been spared the worst effects of the coup, but still there has been some looting of both personal and church property. The former German Station in Bouar, now used as rental property by the church, was looted. A pickup truck used for vaccination campaigns and a computer were taken from the Lutheran Health Center at Gallo. Homes of personnel and guest housing at the Bohong and Gallo Health Centers were looted.

 

Because of fear and the insecurity, people have fled to their home villages and often stay in their fields at night, instead of in their houses. Fuel is difficult to find. The banks are closed, so money cannot be transferred into the country and salaries cannot be paid. Without much of a functioning government, there are bandits on the road, just like in the Old West. Consequently travel is both difficult and dangerous.

 

Still the Evangelical Lutheran Church of CAR continues to work. Students and professors of the Bible School and Seminary are continuing classes. The Catholic girl's school at Maigaro, where ELCA sponsors over a dozen scholarships, has moved into Bouar for security; their classes are continuing at a youth center there. Some of the Lutheran Village Schools are in operation but without transportation, no one can actually check on them. The health programs continue, but people have great difficulty getting to the clinics. Other projects, such as the Water Management Project, that rely more on fuel for transportation, are having difficulty accomplishing some of their objectives.

 

Today, the church in the Central African Republic needs our prayers and support more than ever. One of their biggest fears is being abandoned: by their church partners and friends in the West. We ELCA missionaries have reassured them that we will be back as soon as it is safe, and that ELCA stands ready to help them in any way possible. Please pray for the church in the Central African Republic. Pray for the government of CAR. Pray for peace and stability, so that the work of the church can continue and grow there. Thanks!

 

Joe and Deborah Troester

ELCA Missionaries to the Central African Republic

Temporarily relocated to Yaoundé, Cameroon

 

Photo Credit: Map showing the location of the Central African Republic in Africa.

 

Joe and Deborah are ELCA missionaries in Baboua, CAR. Joe serves as technical advisor for PASE, which provides safe drinking water and promotes good hygiene and sanitation for villagers. Pastor Deborah teaches at the Theological School in Baboua. Their daughter, Christa, is a sophomore at Rain Forest International School in Yaoundé, Cameroon.

A Mother’s Day Tribute from the Central African Republic

A Mother's Day Tribute to the Central African Republic's First Female Ph.D. in Theology, Rev. Antoinette Yindjara-Beanzoui: Mother, grandmother, wife, and pastor

Despite all the bad news coming from CAR lately, there are a few bright spots. One of them is the success of a special woman—and mother—Antoinette Yindjara-Beanzoui. Next month Pastor Antoinette will receive her doctorate in theology from the Protestant University of Central Africa (U.P.A.C.) in Yaoundé, Cameroon. She will be the first woman from CAR to achieve this distinction and only the ninth woman to be granted a Ph.D. from this institution, which has been training pastors in the heart of Africa since the 1960's.

Antoinette is the mother of eight (four biological and four foster children), and recently became the proud grandmother of a baby girl. Yet somehow with all these responsibilities she was able to earn both a master's and a doctorate—an astounding accomplishment in a country where it's estimated that only a quarter of girls attend any school at all, and those who do, usually leave after only a few years of elementary school to help out at home or to get married.

Although she hails from northwestern CAR, her parents sent her to Bangui, CAR's capital, to complete high school. While there, her pastor, André Zoulé, encouraged her to enter the Lutheran Theological School in Baboua to become a pastor. She followed his advice, graduating in 1998. She and her husband, Pastor Felix Beanzoui (who graduated together with her) then served pastoral internships at St. Timothy's Lutheran Church in Bangui.

Following the internship, she was admitted to U.P.A.C. where, thanks to a full scholarship from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) she earned a master's degree in theology in 2004. In that year, she became the second woman to be ordained in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of CAR. In 2008, she returned to U.P.A.C. for doctoral studies, again with a grant from the ELCA. After more than four years of hard work—including a semester abroad in Montpelier, France, she successfully defended her thesis this past December. She has returned to CAR, amid all the turmoil resulting from the recent coup and has joined the faculty at the Lutheran Theological School in Baboua, where she is teaching practical theology and sociology.

She is expected to receive her diploma in June. Join us in wishing Pastor Antoinette a wonderful and well-deserved Happy Mother's Day!

Deborah and Joe Troester

ELCA Missionaries to the Central African Republic

Temporally relocated to Ngaoundéré, Cameroon

Photo: Pastor Antoinette holding her new granddaughter.

Deborah and Joe are ELCA missionaries in Baboua, CAR. Pastor Deborah teaches at the Theological School in Baboua. Joe serves as technical advisor for PASE, which provides safe drinking water and promotes good hygiene and sanitation for villagers. Their daughter, Christa, is a sophomore at Rain Forest International School in Yaoundé, Cameroon.