Page 82 - Senior Link Magazine Spring 2024 - Online Magazine

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SENIORS

My Journey of FAITH

in Education

by Sam A. Foncham PhD

I
have been blessed with an
abundant life that I call “a journey
of faith.” It has so many levels
of proof of divine Providence that
I hope to pull it all together in an
autobiography someday. Along the farmers modern agricultural techniques and to serve as
way, I have learned that God is trustworthy if I look to liaison between researchers and farmers. We were each
Him. This is just one part of my story. equipped with a motorcycle capable of plying the rough
terrain of Ndu.
The year 1982 is one that I will never forget. It was
a turning point in my life as I graduated from the I loved the people of Ndu, and the paycheck was great,
Regional College of Agriculture (RCA) in Cameroon, but after four and a half years, I listened to my gut
West Africa. RCA was the equivalent of a junior college feeling that it was time to give up position, possession,
in America but with no direct transfer of credits to and power as a prerequisite to attaining my God-
Cameroon’s two main agricultural universities at that ordained destiny. I took a three-year leave of absence to
time. Going to the university meant that you had to further my education at Texas Tech University where a
start all over. Graduates from RCA were destined to be cousin of mine had gained me admission.
life-long technicians with little chance of advancement.
That was January 1987, and I had just gotten married
My greatest concern about attending the university in July 1986. I came to the US first, and my wife
was that I would need to study in French.
Anglophones, who are the minority in
the country, are often faced with that
challenge. I wanted to study agriculture in
English because I hoped to attend one of
the renowned (English-only) agricultural
universities in Africa someday.

Upon graduating from RCA, the government
appointed me the chief agricultural officer
for Ndu, a town in the northwest region of
Cameroon. My jurisdiction covered 25-30,000
inhabitants, and I was responsible for a staff
of 20. Our job was to teach local peasant

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