PAACS EXPANDS  November 17th, 2005 Trip Report by Dr. David Thompson

In Cameroon, I visited three, large (250 bed) Christian hospitals: Banso Baptist Hospital, Mbingo Baptist Hospital, and Ngaoundere Protestant Hospital. I travelled many miles over paved and dirt roads, flew over high mountains in an SIL plane, and finished my tour of the country in a Boeing 737, operated by Air Cameroon.

At Banso, in western, English-speaking Cameroon, I found Dr. Eugene Cleek hard at work operating with, training and discipling his five residents. For those of you who prayed for him during his serious illness in July, he is once again healthy. At Mbingo Hospital, 90 miles away, newly-arrived Dr. Steve Sparks is preparing to open another PAACS training program on January 1. Far to the north in central Cameroon at the Ngoundere Protestant Hospital, Dr. Tim Nelson hopes to begin training PAACS surgeons as soon as he can find someone to take his place, since in 18 months he and his family will need to return to the U.S. for their childrens' educational needs. There are Christian candidates waiting for these positions to open so they can begin their training under PAACS, so please pray with us that God will bless Dr. Sparks' efforts and call someone to volunteer long term to serve at Ngaoundere.

The predominantly Muslim population in central and northern Cameroon has high regard for the Ngouandere Protestant Hospital, run by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Cameroon. The church and hospital administration were so pleased with PAACS' strong emphasis on evangelism that they invited me to speak at the opening session of their annual synod meeting.

On November 10, I met with the PAACS Board in Louisville, Kentucky to discuss the written agreements I had negotiated with the three hospitals in Cameroon, to chart the organization's course over the next year, and to ask God to provide funds to support a growing number of surgical trainees. Among other things, Bongolo Hospital was approved to train five residents at a time (we currently train four, with one often away on outside rotations). We have housing for only four residents, so we will need to build another apartment. By this time next year, PAACS could be training as many as 17 residents at five hospitals in Africa. By 2008, the number could double. Our goal by 2010 is to be graduating every year 10 Christian surgeons with a heart for world evangelism. To many it sounds impossible, but our God loves to do the impossible!