Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Team Cameroon: Monique Bessomo

(Photo: Monique Bessomo with Julie Anderson and Silas Nfor)


The Harvest Project will work through 2 Christian organizations in 2 cities in Cameroon


In the capital city of Yaounde, we will be with Monique Bessomo, the Founder and Director of the League of Solidarity of Handicapped Women of Cameroon. She tells her own story. . . .


It’s not easy for me to explain why I had the idea to make the center to take care of handicapped persons. In some ways it’s the result of what I lived through.

 

It all began with the hard blow I had in my life: I was hit by a car when I was 13 years old. I was bedridden for a long time, undergoing surgeries in my upper and lower limbs, which left the joints of my right shoulder and right hip fused and unbendable.

 

This suffering since my youth placed in my path certain people who spoke to me particularly of the Gospel. These persons--my family, my friends, and some missionaries--helped me understand that, without a doubt, the Lord Jesus Christ wanted me to offer Him my life as it was, and that I should ask Him in prayer [what He wanted me to do]. It was thus that the idea of helping others came to me.

 

I got together some handicapped women and some other people to form an association called “League of Solidarity of Handicapped Women of Cameroon”.  


Profiting from my professional experiences, including training as an occupational therapist in France and 30 years in the Handicap Center of Yaounde, we created a rehabilitation center for the handicapped--men, women, and children.


No comments: