Ma Grace Te Suffit
Mbongo, Cameroon
Sometimes in Christian ministry the most important factor that gets you into a church isn’t the church at all. In Dr. Patricia Dimene’s case, it’s the clinic.
“More people pass through hospitals than in churches,” said the director of the Ma Grace Te Suffit clinic in M’bongo, Cameroon, who views the clinic as her way to evangelize.
After 11 years attending medical school and working in Senegal she returned to her native Cameroon in 2020 with a clear vision from the Lord to work in Mbongo.
Dimene began her ministry out of a rented plank building she retrofitted into a clinic. Construction of a new clinic building in 2024 will expand the medical offerings.
The clinic offers services in maternity, outpatient care, general consultations and laboratory testing. Dimene also visits the elderly in area villages.
In addition to bringing the Gospel to her patients, she hosts an evening prayer time once a week and also does a Bible study in the community.
Name: Ma Grace Te Suffit
Location: Mbongo, Cameroon
Director: Dr. Patricia Dimene
Partnership: 2021-present
Staff: 4
About the ministry
About Cameroon
Population: 28.5 million
Size: 457,440 sq. km, or slightly larger than California
Capital: Yaoundé
Borders: Nigeria to the west; Chad and Central African Republic to the east; Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea to the south; Atlantic Ocean to the southwest.
Religious groups: Catholic, 38.3%; Protestant, 25.5%; Muslim, 24.4% Other Christian, 6.9%.
Primary language: French and English
Literacy (age 15+): 77.1%
Physician density: 0.09 doctors per 1,000 people.
Population below international poverty line: 37.5%
Life expectancy: 62.8 years
Infant mortality rate: 50.1 deaths per 1,000 live births.
Major exports: Crude oil and petroleum, lumber, cocoa beans, aluminum, coffee, cotton.
Climate: Varies with terrain from tropical along the coast to hot in the north.
Terrain: Coastal plain in the southwest; dissected plateau in the center; mountains in the west; plains in the north.
