The good book tells us that “where there is no vision, the people perish…”(Prv.29:18).
Rev. Babila George Fochang is not a world renowned person, but he has been able to create a positive impact in the people around him. His pioneering vision came through the urge to serve others beyond the church by spreading the word beyond denominational confines and to offer practical services and empowerment to the underprivileged.
Rev. Babila Fochang has been minister in the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon (PCC) where he is currently completing a one- term five year mandate as Synod Clerk, the second in command of this two million strong denomination. Apart from the fact that he has served in big congregations of his church, his visionary drive had been on reaching more people with the gospel of salvation.
To achieve this, he started a daily Facebook Morning Meditation which presently have above twenty-three thousand followers. This has extended to many WhatsApp groups and has become a daily breakfast for many English Cameroonian families, both at home and abroad.
Rev Fochang himself coming from an underprivileged background knows exactly where the shoe pinches in underprivileged communities. In 2013 he initiated God’s Grace Vocational Centre (GRAVO) to empower particularly young single parent drop out girls in his village Bali Nyonga. At GRAVO young people are offered vocational trainings in Computing, Hairdressing, Tailoring and Designing, Embroidery, production of liquid detergents etc.
Rev Babila Fochang is a great orator, motivator and inspirational preacher and speaker. He was opportune to teach at the Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Kumba, 2005 – 2011 as full time lecturer and is presently part-time lecturer there. By adopting the African Knowledge System (AKS) of storytelling as a didactic approach, he has been greatly admired and revered by his students whose lives he has impacted so much.
Rev. Fochang is a prolific writer whose African oriented writings continue to be sources of motivation and encouragement to many.
Rev Fochang remains true to his calling as a faithful servant of the gospel who is not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He remains convinced that the teachings of Jesus Christ are the veritable tools of social transformation, having the ability to break all social barriers and create equity and equality in all areas of human existence.
He believes and promotes peace as the outcome of justice based on the word of God for a holistic world.
The political crisis rocking the English regions of Cameroon since 2016 can leave only the people stone-hearted and indifferent. To this end GRAVO has extended its scope to wider humanitarian activities by opening its doors to internally displaced youths. It does so not only by offering them free training in the trades already mentioned above, but by pre-financing them to set up their own petite trades.
Rev Fochang was supported in all his endeavors by his lovely, unassuming and devoted wife, Rebecca whom he fondly calls, Ma Becky. Becky is a pupil’s teacher who enhances the training at GRAVO with liquid detergents production, juice making, cloth colorings etc.
Their greatest desire is to leave the stage knowing that they improved upon the lives of some, thus assisting to make the world a better place than they met it.