Recipes From Cameroon!

I have had lots of fun experimenting with recreating two of my favorite dishes from my time in Cameroon! (After coming up with the right amounts, I have made it for my family several times. Everyone loves it!)

I thought I'd share the finished product with you so you can have a 'taste' of Cameroon from here!


Angeline’s Cameroon Recipes

Njamma-njamma
In Cameroon, Njamma-njamma is the name of the plant that this dish is made from. Here in Canada, other greens have to be substituted for Njamma-njamma leaves.
Ingredients:
2-4 tablespoons of olive oil
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 onion, finely chopped
1 tsp. cayenne pepper, red pepper, or pepe pepper (to taste)
2 (or more) pounds of greens: collards, kale, mustard greens, swiss chard, or spinach; stems removed, cleaned, torn or shredded
1 cup water (or chicken stock)
salt to taste (optional, I prefer it without)

Preparation:
Heat oil in a large skillet or pot. Over high heat, sauté onions and garlic for a few minutes. (Until tender but not brown.) Add pepper and stir for a minute. Reduce heat.
Add greens to pot. Cook over medium heat for several minutes. Stir greens often, but keep the pot covered.
Add water or broth. Cover. Cook over low heat until greens are tender and have sweat down in bulk-- ten to twenty minutes or longer. Add salt if necessary. Serve hot with fufu.


Corn Fufu
(This makes four balls.)

Ingredients:
1 cup corn meal
Water (Boil 5 cups, you’ll use a bit less.)

Preparation:
1. Boil water in medium pot. Pour all but about 2 cups of water into a separate container after it’s come to a rapid boil.
2. Allow water in pot to continue to boil while adding the corn meal, stirring constantly with whisk. (After this, use a wooden spoon.)
3. Add some of the reserved water and allow the mixture to boil for about 15-30 seconds, then stir.
4. Add more water, boil, then stir. Keep doing this until you’re out of water or have reached the right consistency. Cook until you smell the scent of roasted corn. You don’t want the mixture to be too thick or too runny. Then reduce heat and cook for 3-5 minutes longer.

To make the Corn Fufu balls: Form into four balls. Wrap each ball in plastic wrap and put them in a pot of already hot water on medium-low heat. This will keep Fufu hot until the Njamma-jamma is ready. To serve, place the Fufu balls in a serving bowl while still in saran wrap. Let people unwrap their ball when they are ready to eat, this will keep it piping hot!

To Eat Fufu and Njamma-njamma: This dish is eaten with the hands! The Njamma-njamma will be very hot, so a piece of the Fufu ball is pinched off and used to scoop up the Njamma-njamma.

Hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think if you try it! :)

Vision Trip 2009-Update

Cameroon Vision Trip 2009 Report

Dear friends and family,

We’re back, and what an amazing trip it was! Thank you so much for your prayers and support. What a blessing to have been sent on this Vision Trip on your behalf. We thank God for your partnership with us; without you sending us we never would have been able to go. Each of you was just as much a part of the ministry that took place on the Cameroon trip as Timothy and I were. Thank you for partnering with us in Christ. What a joy to have been placed in this immediate family in the family of God!

Right now I feel like Lucy in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe after she had just come back from Narnia and was trying to relay her experience. When I stepped off the plane in Cameroon I entered a whole new world. I learned things I didn’t know I needed to learn; I experienced things I didn’t know it was possible to experience. Like a child I am filled with awe and wonder at discovering this new world. Yet stepping back into Canada, it is as if no time has passed in my world while I’ve been gone. God is the same in both worlds, but like Aslan in Narnia, He seems to take a more visible form in Cameroon, waging war against darkness for the hearts and souls of the people. And like Lucy, I am filled with an indescribable love for God and compassion for the Cameroonian people. The question is, how do I pass the vision that God gave me on to you? I pray that God will give me the words to paint a picture for you of the amazing work going on in Cameroon.

The first people group we visited was the Baka. What an amazing first glimpse of God’s love for the Cameroonian people and the work He is doing among them! I spent a lot of time playing with the children, learning their words for the various bugs--and laughing with them as I fumbled to pronounce and remember those words! I enjoyed learning each of the kid’s names, and was struck by the fact that God knows each and every one of our names. How great the love of the Lord is for each of the people He created, and how great the privilege to be His tools to show that love to them! The missionaries with the Baka show that love through physical help, medical care through the doctor and nurse on the team, and agricultural help through an orchard. But not only are they providing the Baka with these much-needed services, they are bringing them the Word of God—in a language they can understand. The Baka are an oral people, they use stories to pass messages from person to person, generation to generation. One evening while we were with the Baka, we had the privilege of sitting around the fire with them and listening as a Bible story was shared with them in their oral tradition. The story was of Noah and how there was only one door to the ark. What a blessing it was to be there and see these people interacting with the story and the missionaries, hiding these truths in their hearts. The missionaries have been using storying to work their way through the Bible with the Baka. And how exciting it was to hear that they are very close to telling the Baka the greatest story of all time—the story of Jesus Christ!

The second people group we visited was the Fulbe, a Muslim people group. We heard about the water project that was started by a missionary years ago, which has created an opening for missionaries to minister to the Fulbe. We visited the Baptist hospital where the Jesus Movie is played in the waiting area, and the patients are prayed with daily. And that Sunday morning, what a joy it was to be able to sit in the “Prayer House” with Fulbe men and women who have given their lives to Christ, and worship God together! Books of Fulbe hymns that were well worn and falling apart were passed around. Singing along with these brothers and sisters in Christ, I could not understand the words, but I could hear the joy of Christ in each note! What sweet fellowship there is at the foot of the cross. The missionaries are discipling three of the Fulbe men, so they can go out as missionaries to their people.

The third people group we visited was the Oroko. The missionaries
to the Oroko are working on translating the Bible. (This is where Mike and Becky Scott, missionaries from the Prairie Tabernacle, have been working.) We did a translation simulation while we were there, and it was amazing to experience the process that every verse has to go through to get from English, to Oroko, to paper. The exegesis process was simply amazing! And what got me really excited was that the missionaries are not just sitting in their translation room, but men from all over the Oroko area do the various aspects of translation with their help. What an amazing discipleship and Biblical training opportunity! There are between 18 and 25 men who come once a month to do a “translation workshop.” They come from all over the area, from the ten different dialects of Oroko. We met a few of these men and they explained what they do in the translation process. We all ate lunch together later on, and one of the men shared his testimony with me, and how important translating the Bible has been in his life. It is a sacrifice for these men to give up a week of work each month, and for some of them to travel a long way to Bekondo where the missionaries live, but they do it because they see the great value of having the Bible in their language. And they see the difference that learning the Bible has had in their hearts and lives. An alphabet has been created, many key passages have been translated, and a few books of the Bible have been published in paperback. There are a couple primers that have also been published for use in the schools so that the Oroko will be able to read their language. God has flung opened the doors among the Oroko people, and more people are needed.

Prayer Needs:

The Baka
- The missionaries have come to the point where they are ready to tell them the story of Jesus. Pray that God would prepare their hearts to understand and receive the Gospel.
- Please pray for more people to come out as missionaries so that the current missionaries can pursue their vision to expand the work among the Baka.
The Fulbe
- Please pray for more people to come out so that as each of the Fulbe men the missionaries are discipling are ready to go out and minister to their people, a missionary could go and work with them.
- Please pray for someone to come out to work with the water project, and that the doors would continue to open there.
The Oroko
- Please pray for the Oroko people, that their churches would grow stronger, and that more people would come out to work with the literacy work and discipleship.
- Please pray for the Friesens who are working with the Oroko on their own right now while the Scotts are at home. And pray for the Scotts that God would continue to restore their daughter to health so they can return to Cameroon.

Everywhere we went, the field was white for harvest, and it was amazing to see and hear what God’s been doing and the opportunities He’s been opening up! God loves the people in Cameroon so much, and is moving among them in a powerful way. But more workers are desperately needed. We live in such a fast-paced world that I think we often forget to actually stop and ask, “Lord, do you want to send me?” I would challenge each of us to purposely set aside this next week and pray the Lord of the harvest to send workers, but at the same time, ask if that might be His plan for our lives. God’s not looking for perfection, He’s looking for a willingness to learn and grow.



A Personal Note From Timothy

Thank-you for your support, both financial and spiritual. During the Cameroon vision trip I have grown immensely in my spiritual life. Before heading out for Cameroon I had been struggling some with my belief. While in Cameroon my belief in the Lord and His work in my life was reaffirmed. I have learned much from the people there in Cameroon. Thank-you for making it possible for us to go.
Sincerely,
Timothy J. D. Bowman



A Personal Note From Angeline

Thank you all for your prayers and support! I have felt called to missions since I was young, and while I was in Cameroon felt called to go back as a fulltime missionary. It’s been exciting to see how God has continued to confirm that calling in my life! I have started the process of preparing to go out with World Team once I finish university, and can hardly wait to get back! I would appreciate your prayers for God’s continued leading in my life, and that I would be as soft clay in His hands as I seek to learn and grow in my faith so I can be an effective tool for Christ.
Thank you again for your faithful prayer and support in my life. May the Lord bless you abundantly!

Angeline Bowman