CVAI's Flagship Academy

March 15, 2009

In the year 2000, a pastor from Cameroon, Rev. Daniel Ndimantang, WTS M.A. '02, met a couple who are former missionary teachers to Nigeria. He shared a burden that he and other church leaders had for the hearts and minds of the youth of Cameroon. This meeting led to a series of conversations and meetings with a larger group that lead to our first trip to Cameroon.

The unemployment rate in Cameroon is estimated to be 30 percent in the general population and much higher among youth. In this Central African country of sixteen million French and English speaking citizens, only 20 percent of the youth are able to attend school past primary school. Many of the youth who are able to complete secondary schools find that they don’t have employable skills.

In 2002, a team of Christian educators from the Philadelphia area made the first of yearly trips to Cameroon. They have met with church and government education leaders to discuss the needs of the youth. They found the need for quality secondary vocational training to be valid and worthy of further action.

After returning to the U.S., this team formed the 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization Comprehensive Vocational Academies International known as CVAI . They designed CVAI as an organization that would promote religious, academic, and vocational skills to provide a comprehensive education in developing countries that will prepare young people to influence their culture and their nation. Now, dozens of individuals from Cameroon and the U.S. have become involved in this need.

Plans for a Christian comprehensive vocational school continue to be developed. In 2004, a partnership agreement for a new school was signed with the General Secretary of the 100,000 member Cameroon Baptist Convention.

Imagine a school in Cameroon that can address these problems of the youth. Imagine a boarding school where young men and women from various parts of Cameroon and from various religious backgrounds receive excellent training from dedicated and knowledgeable teachers in practical, employable skills: skills that are urgently needed by communities throughout Cameroon.

Biblical teaching would need to be an integral part of the training so that these truths would be engrained into the hearts of the students. Students who are trained with integrity and with diligence in how to serve others will have a powerful impact on their community.

It is the goal of CVAI to build the new school, Christian Comprehensive Vocational Academy of Cameroon (CCVAC) in five phases. CCVAC will serve as a model for other schools that will be built in other developing countries.