CAM's History

In March 1996 Claude and Marilyn Meyers did a survey trip to see if there was a need for a missionary Christian school, and there was.

The Meyers returned to USA and began raising funds and acquiring everything needed to start a school and filled a 40ft container and shipped to Mozambique.

The Meyers arrived in Mozambique in August 1996 with 16 boxes of Abeka textbooks to begin a school, the rest was in the container, which arrived in November 1996.

A Portuguese home at 1170 Kenneth Kaunda was found to rent which became CAM school until 2000.

Two weeks after the Meyers arrival, the field leaders, Bruce and Mabel Callender arrived.

Christian Academy in Mozambique officially started on 12 September 1996 with 12 missionary kids from US, Canada and Brazil.

Larry and Susan Weil arrived two weeks later to “help” at CAM for a year as volunteers.

The school year ended with 18 students and each year more students joined from the business and embassy community until we had 43 students in the school year 1999-2000.

The school/home became too small with the rent increasing which necessitated finding a bigger school to buy.

In 2000 the French elementary school at 3005 24 de Julho was purchased for $280,000 with the ability for CAM to grow to 70 students. The Meyers, Callenders and Weils took up the faith challenge to raise the funds and in less than a year the school was paid for by generous donations from around the world

Claude and Marilynn Meyers were the first CAM school directors and in June 2006 retired after 10 years.

Susan Weil became the director for the next 13 years (2006-2019).

This school building in Maputo was a blessing for 10 years until we reached 70 students and again had to decide either to close the school because we couldn’t continue to increase tuition or find a larger facility to accommodate more students and space for sports.

God had already prepared the way for finding an affordable property in Machava which was owned by missionaries with Boa Nova Para Africa.  The Hulseys were the only missionary family remaining on the property and became too difficult to maintain. They wanted to sell, and we needed space for a school to grow and housing for missionaries.  It was God’s provision.

OMS and CAM had a good relationship with Boa Nova Para Africa since 1996 but the roads were very difficult and wasn’t a likely choice for a school until 2010 when CAM had their annual end of year picnic at Boa Nova Para Africa campus.  The road was beginning to be paved making it now possible for students and teachers to get to the campus.

On January 26, 2011, the agreement was signed to purchase the full property for $550,000 with five years to pay.

In February 2011 construction began to convert the church into classrooms and offices, build bathrooms and level the field for a soccer field.

With much faith that construction could be done in six months, Melvin Kelly took on the task to oversee construction to make it possible.  School did have to be delayed a couple weeks to finish bathrooms.

In 2012 the old CAM school building was put up for sale and was sold for $1.75 million dollars cash giving enough funds to purchase the entire property, build 4 more classrooms, build an auditorium in 2015/16, and have a generator large enough to run the entire campus with the many power cuts experienced.

 For the last 10 years, CAM continued to grow each year until we reached the highest total of 136 students from over 18 different countries in 2018. 

Over the years as fewer missionary teachers were here, finding qualified local teachers was extremely challenging.  CAM has still been fortunate to find just enough teachers to meet its needs.

New curricula were integrated over the past several years to supplement the Abeka curriculum as the needs of the school changed.

2019 was a transition year as Susan Weil was no longer the school director. Larry Weil was also invaluable in the administration of the school. A temporary management team was set up to help transition the school forward.

Near the end of the 2019 – 2020 academic year, the whole world came to a standstill due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Lessons halted for a while until staff were back again to prepare to teach online.

As the infections reduced, a blended program (part online, part on site) for classes was implemented for the 2020 – 2021 school year. Near the end of that school year Mr. Duane Pass was announced as the new school director. Further curriculum changes are underway and we trust God for the future.