This may be your opportunity as Covenant World Mission seeks a Christian couple to serve as UBAC (Ubangi Academy) Hostel parents for about a dozen missionary children attending the Rain Forest International School (RFIS) in Yaounde. Covenant missionaries Paul and Sheryl Noren, who currently serve in that role, hope to conclude their service, in which case the new youth hostel parents would begin their service next summer.
The international school was started in 1991. Ten years later, Covenant World Mission and the Evangelical Free Church Mission partnered with SIL (the international organization of Wycliffe Bible Translators) in the ownership and governance of the school.
The school serves an important role in providing an education for the children of missionaries who do not live near a school – they send them instead to live at the UBAC Hostel and attend RFIS.
“For a number of reasons, home schooling their older children does not work for many missionaries,” says Pete Ekstrand, Africa regional coordinator for Covenant World Mission. “If this option was not available, these missionaries would not be able to live and minister where they do. Thus, having a good Christian couple or family to serve as hostel parents at UBAC is critical to our ongoing ministries of outreach and compassion in central Africa.”
The international school, coupled with the youth hostel that provides a wholesome living environment, has a big impact on the effectiveness of the various ministries that the missionary parents of the students are able to carry on. For a look at a typical schedule of activities during a given week, see Daily-Weekly Schedule.
“Most parents (missionaries) with full-time ministries are not able to home school their kids at the same level of teaching that they would receive at RFIS,” the Norens believe. “Also, the opportunities for sports, choir, choir tours, drama and numerous social events are nearly non-existent in the home schooling situation,” the Norens add. “Yes, some parents are excellent teachers and some students will excel without having peers, but for most of us, we were not trained or feel qualified to teach junior high and high school classes. We also cannot provide the same type of interaction with other teenagers. By attending RFIS, students are taught by qualified teachers. RFIS has a very good reputation and follows both the American and British school systems so everyone is exposed to both types of classes and tests.
“This makes a big difference to the students’ parents as they can be assured that their children are getting a good education, and are living in a good home,” the Norens continue. “This enables the parents to work full time in their current ministries.” To read a more detailed overview of the youth hostel parenting ministry through the Norens’ eyes, please see “UBAC Hostel Ministry – An Inside Look.”
“When our son, Eric, was in sixth grade, I home schooled him in Bangui, Central African Republic,” recalls Covenant missionary Florence Gustafson, who with her husband, Keith, served in ministry some 500 miles from Yaounde. “It was not a very fun year for either of us!” she says. “Keith and I decided that for seventh grade we would send him 500 miles west to Yaounde, Cameroon, where he lived with 11 other teens (one was his brother Trevor, then a senior), in the home of a wonderful Christian couple. Eric wrote us emails many times and thanked us for letting him be there.
“Both Trevor and Eric thoroughly enjoyed their school years at Rain Forest
International School and their years living in the UBAC Hostel,” she continues. “They lived in a very caring home, and the couple in charge treated these kids as their own. And they certainly fed them better than I feed them at home!
“Of course, it was very hard to have our kids away from us. I say it’s one of the hardest things we’ve done. But, I also can see how important it was for our kids to be with other kids their age, both for the challenge academically, but also just for the fun of having friends who are like-minded,” Gustafson says. “When we knew they were happily settled, it made it easier for us to do our work – part of that time was in Central African Republic, and part in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It also made travel more possible and gave us the freedom to be where we needed to be, and for Keith and I to go together.
“We thank God for couples who have been willing to have this ministry. It takes some special gifts to care for 12 teens in your home!”
Another Covenant missionary, Aleta Danforth, echoes the Gustafsons’ sentiments. “We are a family and nothing can take that away,” she says. “But, oh what a wonderful assurance to know that our kids were in God’s hands through the dorm parents’ hands, that they were being loved and nurtured and supported in our absence. Hard to do, but possible because of the Lord working through others.”
Those interested in applying for the position as hostel parents should complete an application form at Short-Term Mission and send it, along with a cover letter, to Lana Heinrich, Covenant World Mission, 5101 N. Francisco Ave., Chicago IL, 60625.
Editor’s note: The top photo shows Paul Noren and some of the students, including (from left) Hannah Cleek, Danielle Carlson, Noren (hostel dad), Anita Sturn, and Anastasia Carlson. The lower photo, taken during a birthday party, shows (from left) Rachel Smith, Eliane Hoyt, Anastasia Carlson, and Sarah Weber. For other activities, see More Photos.
