George Wirnkar is the regional director of French-speaking Africa at Human Life International, and continues to serve as the director of HLI Cameroon. Born into a Catholic family with nine children, George received his education from Christ the King College Tiko and Bishop Rogan College/Junior Seminary in Buea, Cameroon. He then entered St. Thomas Aquinas Major Seminary Bambui and received a Bachelor degree in Philosophy. After spending several years in seminary training, George discerned a vocation to the married state, and he now lives with his wife and daughter in Cameroon. Before beginning pro-life work full-time, George taught for two years at Bishop Rogan College/Junior Seminary and for one year at St. Paul Junior Seminary Mbalmayo in Cameroon.
In 1996, George was invited to HLI’s leadership training course in Johannesburg, South Africa—along with Emil Hagamu and about 30 other pro-life leaders from 11 sub-Saharan African countries. Not long after this, he, like Emil, officially merged his pro-life work with Human Life International and became an affiliate. George has a good working relationship with the Church hierarchy and provides ongoing pro-life programs in his country. He has been especially effective at coordinating and providing a strong educational program for seminarians in Cameroon and in all of French-speaking Africa. Along with HLI-Central’s Joseph Meaney, George has expanded HLI missionary activities—especially in seminaries—in Rwanda, the Congo, Burundi, Mali, Senegal, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Benin, Togo, Burkina Faso, the Ivory Coast, Central African Republic, Chad and Gabon.