Our History

Our Story

The Creation of CABTA

Nationalism issues in the early days of independence caused the government of Nigeria to close down the work of SIL in that country. Many missionaries from Nigeria moved to Cameroon with a vision to set up a national organization with permanent residence in the country. Discussions in this light started in the late 70s. SIL members Karl Grebe, Ron Thwing, Ron Gluck among others held several meetings with Cameroonians like: Dr. Joseph Mfonyam, Dr. Pierre Emmanuel (P.E.) Njock, Rev. Festus Asana, Jonas Njang, etc. They also undertook a number of trips around the country to share the vision for the creation of such an organization with Cameroonian church leaders. A decision was reached to create CABTA in the early 80s.

Incorporation of CABTA

The incorporation of CABTA for recognition by the Cameroon government began in 1982 when a constitution was submitted to the Ministry of Territorial Administration. Dr. Njock, Dr. Joseph Mfonyam and Mrs. Germaine Douala Mouteng signed as officers of the association. This was before the law on the freedom of association that was enforced on December 1990. It therefore took the government of Cameroon five years to scrutinize and investigate before giving a legal status to this new organization in 1987. Once incorporated, it took CABTA another couple of years to get ready to start work in a little office provided by SIL in its compound and have a director in office.

Early and humble beginnings, 1989-1993

Dr. P.E. Njock, pioneer director of CABTA assisted by an executive committee headed by late Mr. Joseph Ndouop led the ground breaking phase. The key highlights during this era were: vision casting among churches in Cameroon and abroad, recruitment of first national workers and discussion with SIL Cameroon on how the work could be shared with CABTA. It was then that the Hdi and Kenyang language projects, formerly started by SIL were handed over to CABTA.

Spiritual Foundation and Vision, 1993 – 1998

 Mr. Jean Charcot Manfo assisted by an Executive Committee headed by Mr. Samuel Mabom headed this phase. CABTAL continued the recruitment of national workers and took over more projects from SIL Cameroon. Among these were Koonzime, Ejagham, Ngiemboon, Denya, Kom and Mundani. The Christian foundation of the organization was reinforced through annual gatherings of staff. It was during the 1995 meeting that the staff of CABTA agreed to give away 5% of their monthly income towards the acquisition of a permanent office for Cameroon Bible Translation Association (CABTA). The scope of the work of CABTA was also reconsidered with the view of formally adding linguistics and literacy to the task of Bible translation. Further discussions led to the restructuring of the CABTA with the following outcomes in 1998: CABTA became CABTAL and the Executive Committee was replaced by a 15 members’ Board of Governors.

Maturity and Visibility 1994 – 2004

This significant phase was headed by two directors (Mr. Daniel Martin Ngwanou 1998-2002); Mr. Eugene Tawe (2002-2003) and Mr. Tening Mongwa serving as Chairman of the board. In 1999, land was secured for the construction of permanent headquarters for CABTAL.  With the help of local and external partners such as SIL Cameroon, Wycliffe Associates, Wycliffe Bible Translators USA, the head office of CABTAL was developed and built with HEPPCO as local contractor and Wycliffe Associates as supervisor. The headquarters, which comprise an administrative and a residential block was named CABTAL CHAPMAN CENTRE, in honor of Bob and Ruth Chapman, distinguished and outstanding servant of God in Bible translation who were tragically killed in a plane crash in 1999.

Organizational Development and International Recognition, 2004 – 2011

Dr. Michel Kenmogne assisted by Mr. Tening Mongwa and Mr. Richard Lekunze (successive chairs of the board of governors) lead the oorganizational Development and International Recognition of the organisation. The main highlights of this period are: the recognition of CABTAL as member with voting rights of Wycliffe Bible Translators International, the setup of a strategic planning process that guides the work and growth of CABTAL; the adoption of a procedure manual to govern how CABTAL does its work and manages its assets; the hiring of many more workers, national and expatriate; the creation of a Church Relations Department (CRD) which builds the vision for the ministry of Bible translation within the Church in Cameroon; the expansion of language projects from about a dozen to about 30, etc.; the significant development of CABTAL has gained many invitations to share its experience with others.

CABTAL henceforth leads a course on Community Mobilization in the I-DELTA program set up by SIL Africa Area: Dr. Michel provides leadership to the Francophone Initiative which seeks to include Bible translation in the agenda of the Church in Francophone Africa. He also serves on the boards of Global Partner Link in Canada. CABTAL has also entered during her fourth phase into agreement with the Ministry of Youth in Cameroon for the implementation of the National Literacy Program and regularly consults with government ministries on mother tongue development and education issues. He is presently the Executive Director of SIL International.

Change of Paradigm, 2012 – 2018

This change was led by Mr. Efi Walters Tembon assisted by Rev. Mbiwan Daniel and Late Mme. Nanfack Delphine (successive chairs of the board). He led CABTAL to become autonomous at the level of its leadership.

The main highlights of these period were: taking away all ex-officio members from the board of CABTAL such that partner organizations do not dictate over its work. He pushed the issue of declaring nationals as consultants so that we do not wait for international consultants and slow down the work. At the level of projects, he brought the idea of community ownership. Communities had to own the project, meanwhile CABTAL came in as a facilitator. The work of CABTAL was split into three regions (Greater North, Greater West and Greater South) with two regional offices in in Bamenda (BRTC) and Maroua (MRTC) to add up to the headquarters in Yaounde. He setup guidelines to help the board of Governors govern better (Board Policy Manual). CABTAL moved from 22 to almost 60 projects in Cameroon.

New Beginnings

This period is led by the present General Director Mr. Keyeh Emmanuel Lufang and assisted by Late Mme. Nanfack Delphine and Rev. Dr. Ncham Godwill (successive board chair and vice).

The highlights and projections of this period are: The celebration of CABTAL’s 33 anniversary which was graced by international and national partners, the church and other partners. The Maroua Regional Training Center (MRTC) was inaugurated in October 2020, this center has office space for our staff and also accommodation for trainings, although not yet completed, we are hoping to do so once we have funds available for that. During this time, CABTAL is also consolidating its relationship with the Cameroon government’ international organizations, partner organizations and the church.

As concerns the Strategic Plan of 2019 – 2022, CABTAL projected starting and completing 30 projects. As of now, some Bibles have been dedicated, others pending dedication, some preparing for typesetting, and some have signed an MOU with CABTAL. In regards to funding, CABTAL is laying more emphasis on fundraising. We do not want to depend solely on our funders, we started the “Little Drops Initiative” where people give a minimum of 200frs to support the ministry. Many more initiatives are coming up that will help funds some of the projects.

Considering the fact that CABTAL General Director’s is chosen amongst the staff who could come from any region, we decided to construct a General Director’s residence which is ongoing. This will solve the problem of lodging. We also plan to start up with a recording studio that will help communities record their work and this can also raise some money for the organization.

Personnel:

CABTAL began its operations with its pioneer worker as Mr. Emmanuel Nkot and today it has a team of 97 staff serving at different levels all over the national territory. There are about 200 volunteers working on the field in the different language projects. The number of projects have grown from almost 60 to 97.

Some Important Dates

Creation and evolution of CABTAL

October 2020 ………. Dedication of Maroua Regional Training Center

August 2020 …………Launching of Little Drops Initiative

January 2020 …………33rd anniversary celebration

October 2013……….. Dedication of Bamenda Regional Training Center

January 2012……….. 25th anniversary of celebration 

2011…………………. Creation of the Department of Languages and Scripture Engagement

2007…………………. Dedication of CABTAL CHAPMAN CENTER

2005………………….. Creation of the Church Relations Department

2004………………….. Member of Wycliffe Bible Translators International

2002………………..… Installation of the CABTAL staff at its permanent headquarters.

1998………………….. CABTA becomes CABTAL

1990……………..…… Launching of the language project in Kenyang

1989……………………Official start of CABTA activities

1987……………………Authorisation agreement by the Cameroon government

1982……………………Request for authorisation

Années 1970…………  Naissance et partage de la vision

CABTAL Board Chairs

2021

2017-2020 ……………………. Late Mme Nanfack Delphine

2014 – 2017…………………….Rev. Mbiwan Daniel

2011- 2014 …………………….M. Jean-Paul Hamadou Baiza

2007-2010………………………Mr. Richard Lekunze Tekoh

1998-2007………………………Mr. Tening Mongwa

1993-1998………………………Late Mr. Samuel Mabom

1992-1993………………………M. Jean Charcot Manfo

1987-1992………………………M. Joseph Ndouop

 

CABTAL’s General Directors

2019 till date …………Mr. Keyeh Emmanuel Lufang

2018-2019……………. M. Fabien Liboth Magloire

2012 – 2018……………Mr. Efi Walters Tembon

2004 – 2012…………   Dr. Michel Kenmogne

2002 -2004 ……….….. Mr. Eugene Tawe

2002 – 1998……………M. Daniel Ngwanou

1998 – 1994………….. M. Jean-Charcot Manfo

1994 – 1989………….. Dr. Pierre Emmanuel Njock