July 2009
Seven and a half years down the track as a Lotus Notes specialist and IT project manager in the Bern office of Ernst & Young, 32 year-old Christoph Berger decides to give up his job at Ernst & Young and turn his life around.
Together with his wife, Sara Berger, he plans to work for one to two years in a bush hospital in Cameroon.
The pair came up with the idea before their wedding. Now they are married, they want to fulfill their longstanding dream of helping people in poor countries and disseminating the knowledge acquired here in the west. Instead of romantically spending their honeymoon lazing on an idyllic beach, they work for more than two months in two hospitals in northern India. On their return, they dedicate all their time to working towards their big goal.
Christoph Berger‘s main activities at the Mbingo Baptist Hospital for the Cameroon Baptist Convention (CBC) (see the facts and figures at the end of the text) will be to supervise the local IT infrastructure and manage other projects.
His wife intends to undertake further training in the field of tropical diseases and then take the specialist medical examinations for tropical medicine.
«This is something completely different – we keep wondering what it will be like and how we will cope with the African mentality. (If not straight away then at some point in the future…)»
October 2009
After three months of waiting for the letter of invitation to be issued by the Cameroonian authorities, the big day is finally here: they are able to book their flight to Cameroon and collect their visa. Now, there is nothing that can stand in the way of their adventure!
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October 2010
Time passes quickly. Christoph and Sara Berger have been in Cameroon for a whole year now.
Thanks to the warm welcome from the western missionaries and the native workers, the couple has quickly settled into their house.
«We are very happy with the housing standard with a warm shower, electricity (apart from the many round-the-clock power cuts), internet, etc. and we don't really feel like we are in the bush at all. On the other hand, we have to contend with spiders, cockroaches and large beetles. We miss our comfortable Swiss mattresses however and both often wake up early in the morning with sore backs. »
They have also decided to employ a household help, not out of laziness but for two other reasons:
1. Housework takes much more time than it does in Switzerland.
Washing is still done by hand here, chickens are bought live from the farmer and then have to be slaughtered and gutted at home.
2. By creating a new job, we are supporting another family indirectly through the opportunity to earn money.
At first, Christoph Berger had trouble getting used to the different working hours and limited resources.
• 06:40 to 15.30, work starts with a 20-minute morning prayer and subsequent assignment of work
• Tools are either manufactured cheaply in China or shipped to Africa as secondhand goods, computers are rarely newer than five years old and to buy spare parts (without a guarantee) you have to travel to Bameda (approximately 45 minutes by car from Mbingo).
Compared to his job at Ernst & Young, Christoph’s work in Cameroon is more varied as he is not only responsible for the project management at the Mbingo Baptist Hospital, but also for countless administrative tasks, such as laying cables, mounting plugs and repairing various electronic devices.
Generally, he tries to invest as much time as possible in training hospital personnel as he believes this has the most long-term value and is the best way to help the local population.
«I held a three-month computer course this spring teaching nurses and teachers how to operate a computer. This was very interesting, but also very challenging as most of them had no (absolutely zero) prior knowledge. This meant that I had to start with switching on the computer and operating the mouse before I could even begin to explain the basic functions of Word and PowerPoint.
When explaining the mouse, I didn’t pay enough attention to the lack of prior knowledge and held up the mouse in the air so they could all see how the mouse should be moved. Of course, the class copied me and wondered why the pointer didn't move... »
He is frequently conscious of the fact that the clocks tick differently in Africa than they do in Switzerland. Jobs which he could do in no time at home take quite a bit longer in Cameroon. Sometimes it is because the responsible person cannot be found, or because materials are missing or more often than not because something or someone gets in the way.
Christoph Berger has also noticed that the work ethic and efficiency of the employees are different to the Swiss mentality because the culture in Cameroon is people rather than goal-oriented. This can become particularly frustrating when something needs to be done as quickly as possible.
«On the other hand, my colleagues also always have time for a chat and are very helpful - there are two sides to every coin... »
The first year in Mbingo is slowly coming to an end. After a short stay in Switzerland, they are on their way back to Africa in November for a three-month voluntary stint in Kenya.
They liked their first year in Cameroon so much that they plan to return to Mbingo for a further year of unpaid work.
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If you would like to keep up to date with Christoph & Sara Berger’s experiences in Cameroon, we recommend the following blog:
http://bergfrieden.blogspot.com/
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APPENDIX
Facts and figures:
CBS
Q: What is the Cameroon Baptist Convention (CBC) and when was it founded?
A: The CBC is the umbrella organization of the Cameroon Baptist community and was founded with the support of the North American Baptists in 1931. The first Baptist missionary was Alfred Saker, an Englishman who founded the city of Limbe (originally called Victoria).
The CBC comprises the following three sections:
Evangelization: responsible for the churches, two theological seminaries and for evangelization in Cameroon by publishing books and articles, as well as through a radio station.
Education: the CBC runs over 100 schools which provide instruction to some 34,000 young people at primary and secondary school level.
Health services: Health services are an important part of the CBC’s work. The organization runs three hospitals (Banso, Mbingo and Mutengene) and 21 health centers. The medical department aims to offer medical care to everyone as an expression of the love of Jesus Christ and to give them the opportunity to hear the Gospel.
Vicars visit the day clinic and sick wards every morning to preach the Word of God and talk to patients and their relatives. Naturally, all patients are treated equally, regardless of their tribe or religion.
Hospital
Q: When was the hospital founded?
A: Mbingo was founded as the Bamenda New Hope Settlement for the treatment of leprosy sufferers. In 1964, the hospital was renamed Mbingo Baptist Hospital to emphasize the hospital’s expansion in terms of medical care.
Q: How big is the hospital?
A: Mbingo Baptist Hospital is a 250-bed clinic divided into the following departments: men, women, maternity ward, surgical ward, children and ulcers (e.g., varicose ulcers).
Q: What are the ten most frequent illnesses?
A: See table
| Illness | Number |
| Malaria: | 74,573 |
| High blood pressure: | 23,427 |
| Stomach ulcers/gastritis: | 25,393 |
| Cystitis: | 32,085 |
| Epilepsy: | 12,531 |
| Arthritis: | 12,553 |
| Respiratory disease: | 15,743 |
| HIV/AIDS: | 10,367 |
| Worms: | 10,918 |
| Amoeba: | 10,110 |
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