The teaching team consisted of White, who is executive director and publisher of BMH Books and the Brethren Missionary Herald Co. in Winona Lake, Indiana; Greg Burgess, who is with Editions Cle publisher in Lyon, France; Jean Bugnano, of Macon, France, who taught photography; Didier Millotte, a free-lance illustrator and author from Lyon, France; and Jules Ouba, publisher with CPE, a Christian publishing firm in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.

This group participated in the writer's seminar in Bangui, the capital city of Central African Republic. Instructors were from USA, France, and Cote d'Ivoire. One purpose was to find and train contributors for a new pan-African Christian youth magazine, Jouv Afrique, and another was to encourage indigenous enterprise to generate African material written by Africans, in African thought patterns, rather than to rely on translations of western material

White said that in the Central African Republic, classes were held in the capital city of Bangui. Participants included pastors, students, and staff members from Christian organizations such as Wycliffe, SIL, and others.

Greg Burgess of Editions CLE organized the trip. "Greg has been instrumental in founding a magazine for Christian youth in sub-Saharan African countries, entitled Jouv Afrique, and part of the purpose of the trip was to train and recruit writers, photographers, and illustrators to contribute to the magazine," White said.

White continued: "It was my first trip to this part of Africa (I'd been up north before). With her permission, we used a portion of Sharon Mumper's Magazine Training International curriculum on writing the magazine article."

Asked about highlights of the trip, White said: "Certainly meeting and seeking to inspire young Africans who have talent and want their writing to be used for the Lord. They are so handicapped because the postal system doesn't work and there are very few periodicals for which to write"

White explained the students were very capable and were grateful for the training opportunity.

"In the Cameroon there is better access to the Internet and outside communication channels than there is in Central African Republic. CAR, as a country, is in a very desperate situation regarding security and working infrastructure," he said.

"Nearly all the commentators I'm reading now are saying that the center of Christianity has moved to Africa. Europe is 'way past being post-Christian, and the USA is very nearly there.' Therefore the 'ripe harvest' area for the near-term future is likely to be these African countries where there is still a regard for absolute truth."

White has no current plans to return to that part of Africa, "but we will be in touch with several authors to encourage the creating of book manuscripts by Africans, in African thought patterns, and geared for an African audience. One of our main purposes was to stir indigenous publishing, rather than continued dependence on translated materials from the West."

White concluded: "I was humbled by the difficult conditions under which so many Africans work -- their villages are not secure, they have little or no access to the Internet or even to electricity, and still they live with hope and optimism about the future. We have much to learn from them!"

For more information regarding the Jouv Afrique magazine project contact Terry White at tdwhite@bmhbooks.com.  

** Michael Ireland is an international British freelance journalist. A former reporter with a London newspaper, Michael is the Chief Correspondent for ASSIST News Service of Lake Forest, California. Michael immigrated to the United States in 1982 and became a US citizen in September, 1995. He is married with two children. Michael has also been a frequent contributor to UCB Europe, a British Christian radio station.