In trying to write this thought I am lost in images from my visit earlier this year to our sister diocese of Bamenda in Cameroon. Which of them ought I to hold up for your attention on Bamenda Sunday? Should it be the image of the children whose faces smile at us from the poster advertising this weekend? Everyone I met in Cameroon wanted their photo taken but these children wanted something more. They wanted answers to their questions about British life. Was it true that our country had many tarmac roads? Had I met the Queen? What did snow actually look like? Should it be the images I have in my mind of the operating theatre now under construction at Batibo Government Hospital? Our financial donation, their second largest, should ensure that the piece of string for people to grit their teeth on can be replaced by newer methods of coping with physical pain. Should it be the image of Paul Verdzekov, Bamenda's bishop since 1970? Having dared to oppose the dictatorial regime that claims to run a Cameroon democratic government, he now finds himself described a "threat to national security". If such humility and compassion as he showed during our visit be considered a threat then, I say, long may he live! Should it be the image of Prisca Ezigha, a physically handicapped young girl? Her face lit up upon meeting in me someone from "Portsmouth Diocese." Our fund-raising efforts have given her not just the help that is her right but the determined courage to live because others care. Should it be the image of the happy evening I spent at the home of a couple I thought were called Mr and Mrs Fundong? That turned out to be not their name but that of their town. They laughed until tears ran down their faces but in our goodbyes were insistent: "please, do not forget us. We need each other." Those images, and the people that fill them, compel me to urge you to be generous this weekend. The money we raise throughout our diocese on this Bamcnda Sunday is, as I saw, well-used and much appreciated. Let us continue to grow with Bamenda in being true disciples of the one Lord.
DG.