Studio at Radio Maranatha as it appeared in 2003.

(June 5, 2013 - by Penny Hughes) Many parts of Africa are immersed in the practice of voodoo, and according to National Geographic's website, "some anthropologists estimate that voodoo's roots (began) in Benin, West Africa … and may go back 6,000 years."

Benin, a country on the Gulf of Guinea, is also home to Radio Maranatha, a partner ministry of HCJB Global that has been broadcasting the gospel in the capital city of Cotonou for 15 years.

In early May, Steve Iwan and Jeremy Maller from HCJB Global's Sub-Saharan Regional Office in Accra, Ghana, traveled to Benin to help Radio Maranatha install a newly refurbished 2,000-watt Crown transmitter, upgrade the station's voltage protection and improve the grounding.

After completing the exhausting 10-hour trip via commercial bus, twice crossing borders, the two men arrived in Cotonou and met with the local partners.

Upon inspection of the radio equipment, designed to provide a clearer, stronger signal that would enable the station to reach more people, problems surfaced. The new transmitter was not compatible with the equipment currently in use, so the team decided to try the original Crown transmitter that had been replaced with a 650-watt unit due to overheating and issues with instability.

Through a series of tests and painstaking work on the radio equipment, the team experienced success. The original transmitter was discovered to work well in the now-air conditioned environment. But the new equipment quickly began to malfunction. Engineers at the HCJB Global Technology Center in Elkhart, Ind., helped diagnose the problem, and the team removed a broken part that was causing the malfunction.

HCJB Global missionaries Steve Iwan (standing) and Jeremy Maller (kneeling) with Radio Maranatha staff members Marcellin Zinsou Fadjinou (standing) and Pascal Wetchemè Sogbossi (kneeling).

Although the new transmitter cannot operate at full power until the faulty module is repaired, Radio Maranatha is again operating with a "stronger (signal) than the one they had been using and … it is very clear," said Iwan.

Despite the oppressiveness of spiritualism and animism in Benin, he said it was rewarding to see believers "continue to forsake the spiritualism of the region for the gospel of Christ. The spiritualism that is practiced here is spiritualism that is behind Haitian voodoo.

"We continue to praise God for Radio Maranatha and its staff. They are among the few broadcasters in the country that proclaim Christ," Iwan explained.

Iwan and Maller were able to have many conversations with their host, Pastor Gervais, who noted that "in the course of our conversations it was brought out that as a result of Radio Maranatha's broadcasts over the years, many in the listening area have come to Christ."

Sources: HCJB Global, www.news.nationalgeographic.com {source}
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