Our International Peacemaker's Visit

Addressing the Congregation

As we drove home from dinner with our Cameroon families Tuesday night, our last evening together I said to Jaff, "You are my swan song."  Then I asked Eileen to explain the idiomatic expression, as I was driving.  She explained swan song as a last meaningful project before I retire from active ministry.  What a joy it has been for me to coordinate, host and escort our new friend, Jaff Bamenjo from Cameroon these past few days.  Jaff is one of twelve international guests visiting in churches across our denominatio this September through the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program of the P.C.(U.S.A.)

Jaff has a wonderful way with people and quickly formed a deep bond with all who met him.  Last week I posted his photo and itinerary schedule.  Unlike that photo, the Jaff we met and came to love is charming, engaging loving, sensitive and kind.  The planned program went smoothly without a hitch for which I praise God.  The photos and report below tell the story of his visit to the Pine Island Presbyterian Church in  Kalamazoo and the Presbytery of Lake Michigan.

Addressing Presbytery of Lake Michigan

I met Jaff at the Kalamazoo Airport Friday afternoon.  We ate a bite of lunch at Cafe' Meli then went to the church to get oriented for Sunday, toured our Hope Garden, and then relaxed the rest of the evening at home.  We quickly bonded as friends.

Saturday we attended the Presbytery meeting hosted by the Fairplain Presbyterian Church in Benton Harbor.  Following the meeting we drove to the Bluff Park in St. Jo overlooking Lake Michigan.  On our way home, we stopped at the First Presbyterian Church of Benton Harbor, which had just completed a building renovation adding a large foyer/narthex with a new front entrance and new roof.

Giving the Message at Pine Island Church

Sunday morning Jaff addressed the Pine Island Church at worship and fielded questions following worship.  Jaff's story resonated deeply with our congregation as many of our members immigrated here because of the difficulties imposed on English speaking regions of Cameroon.  What Jaff described, our Cameroon members have experienced and continue to experience as they hear from family and friends back in Cameroon.  

Telling Cameroon's Story

Engaging the Pine Island Congregation on
the challenges of Cameroon

Konjoh immigrated to the the U.S. and Kalamazoo back in the 1990's.  He was forced to flee Cameroon and sought asylum when students like himself were persecuted for their participating in a Student's Movement protesting the unfair treatment of the English speaking students.  Since then he and his wife, Justine have welcomed their family members to join them assisting them in getting established in Kalamazoo and in the Pine Island Church.

With Odette, Konjoh's mother

With Lem, Celine, Pastor John, Oliver

Sunday afternoon, we rested then gathered at the home of Richard and Celine Finjap for a Cameroonian feast with their extended family.

Leading a discussion around the fire circle

Jaff engages a teen standing
outside the circle.

Sunday evening,
Pine Island hosted the Kalamazoo Area Presbyterian
Youth Group at our Q Ave. property.  Jaff masterfully engaged our youth sharing about life in Cameroon.

Monday morning we relaxed by touring the Gilmore Car Museums, which served as a marvelous introduction to our American culture and history.  We ate lunch at the diner there.

Monday afternoon we toured AACORN Farm in Scott, MI, a nonprofit organization which provides community and programing for adults living with Autism.  My daughter Leana works on their staff.  They recently purchased 40 acres from Tillers International, which is located just around the corner in Scots.  I learned from Charlie Hammond, that he used to own shares in this property with other Upjohn employees, and that his daughter and son-in-law lived in the farm house now occupied by Chris and her son, the caretakers of AACORN Farm.  Small world.  Learn more about AACORN at https://aacornfarm.org/  I will be volunteering here in my retirement.

We then visited with the executive director and the public relations manager of Tillers International. 

About Tillers International from their website: "We’re a 501(c)(3) dedicated to teaching woodworking, metal working, animal handling, and other skills that can be used for personal fulfillment, professional growth, or international development. Our primary mission is to collaborate with small-scale farmers in developing countries to improve food security concerns in their communities. Many of the skills we teach and use in these efforts we also teach in at our school in Scotts, MI. A portion of all tuition goes to support our international work." To learn more about Tillers: http://www.tillersinternational.org/

This became a potentially important contact for Jaff.  He serves as coordinator of RELUFA, a networking to address root causes of hunger.  Most Cameroon families are farmers.

We ended the afternoon with a presentation and conversation at WMU sponsored by the International Government Program and hosted by Professor Paul Clement and member of First Presbyterian Church, Kalamazoo.  There were students from China, Afghanistan, Ghana and the U.S, including an alumnus of the Political Science department and State Representative Jon Hoadley's staff person.  Jaff shared the historic colonial rule of Cameroon by Britain and France as the context for present day cultural clash of the majority French region and the minority English speaking regions of Cameroon.  Today's injustices are not new, but continue to erode as the government imposes crippling policies and practices on the English speaking people.  Upon independents, the British and French left behind two cultures with different language, educational and legal systems.  The government's military treats any protest as terrorism and in return imprisons, or intimidates with violence, and the burning of homes and villages.  This growing humanitarian crisis has received little to no international attention or intervention.   Sorry no photos of these visits, as my photo battery died.

After a quick turn around at home, we joined some Pine Island members for dinner at Martell's Restaurant.

Sharing with the Men's Fellowship, FPC

We began Tuesday Morning as daylight was emerging at First Presbyterian Church, Kalamazoo meeting with the Men's Fellowship Group.  FPC has a long partnership with a church in Ghana, begun when they met a WMU student from Ghana.

FPC, Men's Fellowship

After a quick breakfast at Studio Grill, we walked to U.S. Representative Fred Upton's district office in downtown Kalamazoo.  Using our brief time wisely, Jaff used the time well in concisely sharing the facts of the humanitarian crisis in Cameroon perpetrated by unjust government policies and appealed for the intervention of the United States, the United Nations and the international community.  People around the world look up to the values of the U.S. He also pointed out the U.S. interest in doing so as Cameroonians are fleeing the country to Ecuador, which does not require a visa.  Then they are making their way north through the jungles of Central America and the deserts of Mexico to seek asylum in the U.S.A.  Over 3,500 Cameroonian are now at the U.S.A southern border with Mexico.  I pointed out that that congressman's constituents, and members of my congregation are Cameroonian political refugees, who have fled these atrocities and are now productive and aspiring citizens in his district.  They seek ask for his inquiry and advocacy in seeking resolution to these issues.

We returned to First Presbyterian and met with Rev. Chrissy Westbury.  As she will be the lead staff

person in providing pastoral care in Pine Island's future with FPC, we oriented her to our Cameroon families, who is related to who, and how what Jaff has shared relates to them.

We then ended the morning at the Presbytery Office.  Co-Transitional Leaders Fran Lane-Lawrance and Calvin Bremer gave a tour of the office suite, then hosted us at lunch.

Tuesday afternoon was devoted to rest after a full few days...I prepared liturgy and music for Sunday worship.  I think Jaff did some emails addressing matters back at his office.  We ended the afternoon watching a powerful movie, "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind," streaming on Netflix.  It is based on the true story of a 13 year old African boy who responded to the challenge of drought and climate change with wind power, persevered resistance, and transformed his family and community's economy, preserving lives.  It conveys powerfully to life of the typical African family and village.

We ended our day with dinner hosted by Konjoh and Justine.  What a fitting farewell. 

This morning, Wednesday, I accompanied Jaff to the airport.  He travels today to the Presbytery of Baltimore, which will be followed by visits in Scioto Valley Presbytery in Columbus, Ohio, concluding with a visit with the Presbytery of Black Hawk in Illinois.  Let us pray in thanksgiving for the gifts and ministry of our new friend Jaff Bamenjo; for safe travel; more meaningful engagements; for open minds and hearts of those he encounters; for other new friendships; AND for appropriate interventions by our government and the U.N.: for political solutions to political imposed problems; for long awaited transformation in this beloved country some of us call home, Cameroon.