August 2022 The BFL/CADAC Newsletter

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Here is your Bread For Life/CADAC August 2022 Newsletter, from Ernest Ehabe

Someone may ask, “…give thanks in EVERYTHING?” Not necessarily for the problems of life, but rather, we thank God in spite of the problems of life—thus, rising above them.

It’s been a challenging 12 month, personally and corporately, but I am thankful! COVID in March 2021; cerebral malaria in May and November of 2021; Multiple travels to the US and almost weekly when in Cameroon.

In November 21st three of my staff and I narrowly escaped death on our way to visit our integrated sustainable demonstration farm project in East Cameroon. It started well. Another great Sunday. I preached two service that Sunday morning. I had taken my two older children to the church with me and dropped them at home to start a four hours’ drive. Three hours into the drive we got into an accident that completely totaled our car. I was the driver. Although three of us came out unscathed, one of our team members, who sat in the front passenger seat with me, was left unconscious. We are thankful to God that after several months at home he is fully back on his feet and to work at our school.

Since the accident, I have struggled with severe back pain. From the X-ray report, a young doctor concluded that my back pains weren’t accident related but “age related.” Although funny, retirement age in Cameroon is 55 years and the doctor is surprised that, at almost 60, I am still very active. I am thinking the back ache has a lot more to do with stress. For the almost 30 years of BFL’s existence I haven’t been able to take any protracted time off. With a focus to develop sustainably, my responsibilities have also increased.

The accident of November 21st trauma has kept me thinking about the frailty and ephemerality of life and the need to live ‘significantly.’ So much to be thankful for? You bet! I am thankful for another lease on life. Thankful for another new year and thankful that I can now sit still and finally send out a newsletter. Lastly but not the least, I am thankful for praying and supportive friends. Truly, “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.” Lam 3:22

Serving Him with you,

Ernest Ehabe

We began 2021 by prayerfully setting several lofty and “God-sized” goals. Through a challenging year, we continue to be surprised and encouraged by the many ways God chose to meet the needs of His work and His people.

God used several “one-time special gifts” to surprise and encourage us. A major gift of $21,000 was stretched and over 30 acres of virgin forest land was developed at our integrated sustainable demonstration farm, Bulahland Farms. A gift of almost $4,000 was used to purchase 20 solar panel and three solar batteries to power our farm. A gift of $3,000 was used to buy much needed equipment for the farm: equipment that extracts oil from soya beans and peanuts and a 5,000-egg hatcher. A Toyota Highlander was donated by the family of a supporter who has gone to be with Jesus. Sadly, the car was totaled in an accident a month after we cleared it from the Port of Douala.

Several crops were planted at Beulahland Farm for use in feeding our birds and animals. We fell short of our goal of planting 300,000 pineapples suckers by the end of December 2021, however, we were able to harvest almost 100,000 pineapple suckers from our existing plants. Unfortunately, we were unable to meet our goal of getting the farm to a place of full sustainability. A lot of work and investment still needs to be done to reach this lofty goal.

A forty-foot container loaded with a Kubota tractor and its accessories, equipment, tools, furniture, books, etc. was shipped out of Kerrville by dear friends from Hill County Church of Fredericksburg. They were instrumental in raising most of the over $25,000 that went toward shipping and clearing the container. Four additional containers with donated items were shipped out of Atlanta and Dallas which included over 700 chairs and tables donated by several churches in SC and Graford ISD in Texas. More than half a container was donated by City Serve Ministry out of Little Rock which included several building tools and household items. The last container was recently cleared from the port of Douala. These donations have been a huge blessing to our school, the farm, and two new church plants, as well as several churches and ministries in Cameroon and the country of Chad.

God has worked powerfully in the prisons as Emmanuel Chongwan and the team ministered in across the country of Cameroon. 7,689 inmates were exposed to the gospel and 3,907 become followers of Christ. Work in Cameroon prisons entails a wholistic approach of feeding them both physically and spiritually. Almost 2,000 prisoners are now being discipled weekly!

Several other timely gifts made a huge difference at our school, farm, and other related ministries. Revenues in 2021 more than doubled as a result of special “one-time gifts.” We are opportunistic with each gift that God entrusts to us, while also thoughtful, measured, and sensitive to His leading; investing each gift for greater impact as we position generations for a future of hope.

After almost 30 years at BFL, I am still convinced that the key to eradicating both spiritual and physical poverty is not throwing more resources at the problem. The key, we believe, is work, service, sacrifice, and intentionally positioning a new generation of leaders daring enough to dream that they can change their nations and continent through the work of the Holy Spirit.

The vision of BFL may seem beyond reach today but your partnership is bringing change in various spheres that seem unbelievable. I encourage you to visit us in Cameroon in 2022 or 2023 to see the difference our collective partnership is making.

Thank you for being a part of all that God did in 2021. Let’s continue to dream and build to the glory and honor of the ONE who came so we may all have BREAD FOR LIFE!

In January 2021 fire ravaged a section of Yaoundé. Several businesses were burnt down including Eglise Ekklesia, a church BFL helped plant eight years ago. The church lost EVERYTHING. This was a vibrant growing church of about 200 people in a very poor section of town. Their monthly giving averaged about $600, barely enough to take care of pastor, pay for rents/bills on rented land, etc., but they made it happen. They had dreams of growing and more impact. All of this ended when they lost everything. Yes, no insurance and even when you have it, it doesn’t work.

We are hoping to rebuild a temporary structure on rented grounds for the church in October this year. We praise God for gifts that enabled us assist in buying a small piece of land, send a container load of foldable chairs. We are envisioning, as provisions come in, to eventually build a multi-purpose building that will house the church, an all-inclusive school, and a medical clinic that will help the church have maximum impact through services and ministries as well as generate revenue for impact in and around the city.

As I write, land preparation is ongoing. Rains did not come as expected in March and we experienced a major drought. Consequently, we were not able to plant. The situation has recently changed with a lot of rainfall in July. We will take advantage of the rains, but we will need a lot more funds to quickly develop land, hire temporary workers and plant. We would like to plant 300,000 more pineapples this year, so we have a total of 500,000 by the end of the year. Each pineapple sucker cost about 5 cents and can be sold, after 12 months, for 20 cents or more. With 500,000 pineapples planted by December we can anticipate an income of about $100,000 from them alone next year. This will be more than enough to pay over 30 farm workers and supervisors and for us to be able to reinvest in land development in 2023. We also need about 6 additional houses for staff, animals, and birds. Each house cost about $12,000 to build. Using mostly local materials our biggest cost is the roofing and cement.

We are making progress at the school, albeit slowly. To move the school to a place of sustainability we have made the school all-inclusive and focused on providing quality education to both neuro-diverse (special needs) and neuro-typical (‘normal’) learners. We now have over 20 neuro-diverse and about 70 neuro-typical learners with a staff of 30. The school occupies three small buildings that were not built with a school in mind and which we have outgrown. Our monthly cost for rents alone is almost $4,000 for all three buildings

Tuitions now average about $500 a year per student. We generated close to $60,000 from paying students last year. This amount did not cover the salaries for our staff of 30 with the average a salary at $250 per month. (To attract better teachers, we may have to increase that to $300 per month.) This, with the cost of rent and other expenses, has us running over $60,000 in deficit each year. This year we were been blessed with a major gift each month, but we are still way behind. In all this, we took a major step of faith a few months ago and began erecting a new building at one of our rented houses properties. Our vision is for eight to ten classrooms that can accommodate 20 students each. With the recent cost increases, it is projected to cost about $10,000 or more to build each classroom.

For almost 30 years, I have been privileged to wear many hats at BFL: Vision bearer, vision caster, newsletter writer, director of development, church planter, networker, you name it. A ministry which does what we do typically has an active board that does fundraising, a director of development, a team of grant writers, etc. Although we have a great group of board members the role of fundraising has largely rested on my shoulder. Not something I have any training or liking for, even though, God has used my two annual visits to the US to bring awareness and often these visits have somehow translated to more funds as God Himself touches hearts.

Now, after almost 30 years on being on the road and on the go, and with an indigenous staff of 50 plus, God has seen it fit to bless us with some help in the US; Dr. Kathleen Holland. Kathleen is a 76-year-old who has visited Cameroon at least four times since the early 2000’s. She was part of the group that initiated our Medical Outreaches in the early 2000s. She has been an integral part of BFL for 25 years and her home has served as a base for my family and team from Africa for over two decades.

After her solo trip to Cameroon in January this year, Dr Holland was burdened to see some weight lifted off me and she volunteered to take on the position of US Executive Director. In this new role, she will be responsible for coordination our US operation and corresponding with you – our friends and supporters. Additionally, she will make two yearly visits to Cameroon as well as help plan my US itinerary.

Dr. Holland’s walk with Jesus began in the early 80’s. Shortly after she began her practice of Pediatrics in Kerrville, she discovered that the nurse she had hired was creating patient emergencies, which resulted in two children dying. After two years of battles with false media coverage, and ill-founded suspicions, she was instrumental in the conviction of the nurse for murder. She continued to practice and serve the children of Kerrville for 34 years before retiring from practice.

Please join me in welcoming Dr. Holland. You can reach out to her via email at: khollandmd@breadforlife.org

Your financial contribution to BFL allows us to carry out the various ministry endeavors to which God has called us. Funds for the general ministry of BFL will be directed to the areas of most need with the purpose of supporting our daily operations, strengthening our infrastructure, allowing for the flexibility to respond to new or changing conditions, planning for the long term, and investing in staff and technology.

Recurring monthly gifts should me made out to CTEN and sent to:
Commission To Every Nation (CTEN)
PO Box 291307, Kerrville, TX 78029
(830) 896-8326
www.cten.org/breadforlife

Special/Project gifts should be made out to Bread For Life International and sent to:
Bread For Life International
207 Oak Lane, Kerrville, TX 78028
www.breadforlife.org • www.cadacameroon.org •
Email: khollandmd@breadforlife.org

Please do not reduce your giving to your local church to support Bread for Life.

BreadForLife.org ~ Bridging the gaps. Changing Mindsets. Transforming Our Culture ... To The Standard Of Christ!

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ernest@breadforlife.org

CADACameroon.org – Awareness + Innovation + Action =DEVELOPMENT!Website

ernest@cacacameroon.org

RayofHope-Academy.org – Cultivating the minds of tomorrow-today

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Commission To Every Nation • PO Box 291307 • Kerrville, TX 78029

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Contact Us:

USA / CANADA:
830-896-5262
Commission To Every Nation/BFL
PO Box 291307
Kerrville, TX 78029

AFRICA
+242.682.365
email: info@breadforlife.org

Yaounde:
885, Rue Obobogo
PO Box 1296
Yaounde, Cameroon

Douala:
Denver-Bonamoussadi
Douala, Cameroon

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