Interviewed by Mirabel Azangeh Tandafor Fru
The Queen of Angels Parish Bojongo in the Buea Diocese, the cradle of Catholicism in Cameroon and the birth place of the Catholic Women’s Association, CWA, recently played host to a 3-day National Leadership Seminar, aimed at providing the recently elected CWA executive members with required leadership skills. At the end of the seminar, L’Effort Camerounais caught up with the Diocesan President of CWA in the Buea Diocese, who threw more light on some of the issues that came up for discussion during the seminar. Excerpts
What was the reason for the assembly you recently held in Bojongo?
Actually, what we had in Bojongo was a National Leadership Seminar. There was an election in the CWA this year and we had our National Congress in Bafoussam where the national executive was voted. Thereafter, the respective provinces had their provincial elections. Buea Diocese had its own election in September. After that, we decided to come together for a leadership training seminar so as to arm the new executive members with the necessary skills and keep them abreast with the spiritual directives to be followed. All our spiritual directors were in Bojongo to help us and to impart the necessary skills that will permit us to direct our respective diocesan groups.
After the national leadership training seminar what next?
In the days ahead, we would be training leaders of the respective zones and branches of the CWA. The reason is that it is at the branch level that the spiritual growth of the members would really take place. Back in the different dioceses, we would train local leaders at the respective branches, zonal and divisional levels so that everyone would have an understanding of the new national work plan. This way, every CWA member anywhere in Cameroon would have learnt the same thing such that if I leave Buea to attend a CWA meeting somewhere in my village, I will not feel lost.
What were some of the major highlights of the seminar?
The highlights were both spiritual and intellectual. You know Bojongo is the cradle of Christianity and Catholicism in Cameroon. Since it was both a leadership seminar and a pilgrimage, alongside the moral talks and discourses, every evening we had the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, a penitential service and a Holy Mass. We also worked in commissions where a lot of practical demonstrations were made to properly arm us. There was a lot of sharing and communion. The theme of the seminar was “Blessed are the peacemakers. They shall become the children of God.” In this light, we did everything to ensure that peace, harmony and love reigned in our midst and between the new leaders. That was the first time this was happening.
Who were your guest speakers?
We had four guest speakers with rich and varied backgrounds. Rev Fr George Nkeze, Spiritual Director for the Buea Diocese presented two papers: one on leadership and responsibility and the other on conflict and conflict management. Rev Fr Zepherinus Mbuh, Spiritual Director of the Diocese of Kumbo presented a paper on leadership, truth and peace. The Spiritual Director of Bertoua Diocese gave a talk on the theme: “Plan with God, Jesus and Mary”, in which he cautioned us to always put God at the centre of all our endeavours if we really want to succeed.
Who participated in the seminar?
Participants came from all over the nation. The national executive was there. Provincial executives from all the Ecclesiastical Provinces of Cameroon were there. The diocesan executives from all the dioceses of Cameroon also attended.
As Diocesan President, could you present the CWA in Buea Diocese?
The CWA in Cameroon started some 43 years ago in the Buea Town Mission. Its first members, who were mostly old women, felt inspired to start up such a group. So, CWA Buea Diocese is the mother of CWA Cameroon; and by virtue of its age, the group has grown and is today present in every nook and cranny of the Diocese. Presently, the Buea CWA has 18 divisions, 68 zones and 224 branches. After this seminar, Buea may not have only one branch seminar, but two or three because of its size.
The first will target only branch presidents and the second and third will train zonal and divisional presidents, in that order. CWA Buea, by the Grace of God, is waxing strong. During our term of office, we would follow the objectives of our association closely, so that women would learn many more things about social life, education and live by imitating the Blessed Virgin Mary who is our Matron and our Mother, God being our helper.
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Posted by: tbhzm atgbdrk | July 09, 2008 at 10:03 PM