“Now on a personal basis, it has been a wonderful opportunity for me to experience what grassroots work involves, I mean being in the field, working with people, knowing how to hold a brainstorming session. These are things we have been doing in the past but we have never known that they could be done in a more professional way. It was wonderfully invigorating to work as a team to discuss problems, challenges, ideas and come up with working solutions. Just going out on this tour has helped to build a capacity within me which I did not have before. It will help me function well with the people in communities.”
NYUMNLOH David
This initiative of Operation Go to the People is a welcome initiative because in the past it was as though TBF was working with communities from a distance. And we cannot work with communities from a distance and be able to understand their needs and their abilities. The results gotten from this initiative is going to be of great help to both TBF as well as the communities in which TBF is found.
From the Torches we have met during this tour my impressions are very positive and I believe that from now on TBF will witness an invigorating transformation. With some of the Sub-divisions that we visited, we were surprised to learn that we had many Torches recorded on our documents but unfortunately the number of people we met in the field did not reflect the actual number being reported to the home office as was the case in Njinikom. Apparently membership participation had fallen down. I would appeal that we work closely with the local Facilitators and even directly with a few Torches in that area to see that there be revival of the TBF ministry there. a paragraph. Click here to add your own text and edit me. I’m a great place for you to tell a story and let your users know a little more about you.
At the same time, we were curious to learn of the many needs of the Torch groups. We knew that there were many Torch projects that were experiencing wonderful successes and having important impact on people’s lives. We also appreciated that there are many projects in the prayers of our Torches that are experiencing challenging struggles.
It is important for the national office to be aware of these challenges in order to adjust our program to fit the needs of the membership community. Another critical goal of the trip is an audit of the accounts of the Torch treasurers. We wanted to see that seed money is being collected, properly recorded and beneficially utilized to help the prayerful needs of the community. Although our visits would be short, some time was also taken to provide some basic training to local Torch leaders. All in all, we wanted to evaluate just how good a job Torchbearer Foundation is doing for our membership and learn how we can improve the delivery of our mission of Christian community development.
Traveling in two vehicles over at times terrible roads from the Foundation’s national team members Sharon Davis, Yusimbom Randolph, Tarla Divine, Chiambah Magnus, Nyumnloh David, Tangko Laura, Beri Blessing and Ndintek Kennedy. It was a challenging yet exciting moment of learning from our many members in the different sub-divisions across the North West region of Cameroon. Beginning in Njinikom on January 11, the national office team received first-hand information from Torches relating to their felt needs, their solution plans to solve the identified felt needs, their date of creation, membership, achievements, and how they were managing their finances. Other sub-divisions visited included Belo, Tubah, Kumbo, Nkum, Ndu, Nkambe, Bum, Ako and Fundong. This tour marks the beginning of a new age of impactful ministration in the lives of Torchbearers and their communities. Here are some thoughts from your leadership on the tour.
The Torchbearer Foundation national office staff embarked on an outreach mission in January of 2012 we call “Operation Go to the People”. The 3 week-long tour of the North West Region of Cameroon had many goals.
First and foremost we wanted to meet and pray with as many members of Torchbearers as possible. Not only did we want to meet the Match leaders, Facilitators and Coordinators that are participating in Torchbearers, but we also wanted to meet as many of the members themselves as possible. Torchbearer Foundation is going through some important changes this year and one of the primary goals of this tour across Cameroon was to introduce to our Torchbearer members the new staff of the Foundation. a paragraph.
Operation “Go To The People,” Big Success
Torchbearer National Office Team Reaches Out to our Membership and Learns Much