Apostolates – The Order of Friars Minor Capuchins Cameroon
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THE APOSTOLIC LIFE OF THE CUSTODY

The custody of St. Francis of Assisi is richly blessed with great apostolates through which brothers reach out to the needy. Some of these apostolates are carried out in Parishes, in schools, in hospitals, in the prison, in our own farms, in the Emmaus Center, spiritual excercises to Religious communities etc.

THE EMMAUS OUTREACH CENTRE (EOC) OLD-TOWN BAMENDA

“Come to me, all you who labour and are overburden, and I will give you rest”

(Mt 11:28).

What is EOC?

The Emmaus Outreach Centre (EOC), Bamenda, is a centre that caters for the mentally impaired and homeless persons. It reaches out to those who have been marginalised by their families and by the society, in most cases because of mental disabilities. It is a place of welcome, friendship and support. It stands as a witness to the Gospel values that we preach. Remember that Jesus reached out continually to people in need, some of whom were mentally disturbed like the man living in the cemetery in the country of the Gerasenes (cf. Lk 8:26).

Our society largely neglects, rejects or scorns the mentally impaired persons, even to the extent of blaming them for their conditions. Unfortunately such non-Christian attitudes abound in our society. The EOC helps to break down these non-Christian attitudes.

History of the Emmaus Outreach Center

The EOC was initiated in the year 1997 by a Saint Patrick missionary priest, Reverend Fr. Byrne Brian, living and serving in the Archdiocese of Bamenda in fulfilling the Catholic Church’s mission of evangelization. After formally proposing to the then Archbishop Paul Verdzekov (of Blessed memory) his project of setting up an Emmaus Outreach Centre – Bamenda, the Archbishop accorded his consent and approval for setting up such a centre to fulfil the Gospel of Christ by meeting the needs of the homeless and dejected persons of the society. This Centre is for Christian Charity not a profit making organization. With the help of his Mother house back in his country, he ran the EOC till August 2005 when he was transferred from Bamenda Town to Bafmeng. He then solicited the help of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchins (OFM Cap.) living and working in the Archdiocese of Bamenda to take over the charitable apostolate. The OFM Cap. willingly accepted to continue with this apostolate because it was in line with their charism – to welcome the lepers of our time – as St. Francis of Assisi our Founder welcomed and embraced the lepers of his time.

The EOC project was a personal initiative of Fr. Brain Byrne, but upon taking over from him by the OFM Cap. and being also in accord with the then Archbishop of Bamenda, His Grace Paul Verdzekov, it was made clear that the EOC is a project of the Archdiocese of Bamenda under the direct care of the OFM Cap.

The development of the project

This project started in rented houses till the time of the handing over from Fr. Brain to the OFM Cap. Since the population did not want these people to live close to them, and the cost of renting houses kept increasing as a way of exploitation of the situation, we then turned to the government for help and we were given this land that is outside the residence of the population and not far from the town, for these people love going out to the streets in town. In 2007 with the help of our missionary brothers and some benefactors mostly from Italy, the centre was constructed in the new site above GBHS Down-Town Bamenda, where we are presently.

The Residents and the Assistances

The mentally impaired persons living in EOC are called Residents and those staying and helping them are called Assistances. Presently, we have 20 Residents, with two Assistances, 3 workers and the Director, a Capuchin Brother, Fr. Pascal Fomonyuy OFMCap.. In the centre we assure the feeding of the Residents, they have their rooms to sleep in, they have good water supply and there is a psychiatric nurse who follows each case. Many have come here in the past years and were healed and went back home. Some have gone and come back again since Psychotic disorders are so complex and you cannot claim to treat it once and for all. Some are off and on. It takes a very long time and some are for life. Some of the residents were brought here by charity groups with no information about their family background. These ones have become permanent members of EOC because they have nowhere to go after their treament. Some have even died in the centre. We buried some and some families took back their relatives to bury. Some families bring the brothers or sisters to us who are sick, we also invite some that we see on the streets or we provide them with something to eat on the streets. Some sick persons come by themselves.

Means of survival

The EOC, is a complex reality that lives only from charity. For now we have no income generating activity to support the EOC. Thanks to our Missionary Brothers for their help and support through their benefactors abroad who are very much interestd with the idea of the centre. With the passage of time, the missionary brothers are getting old and the number coming to Cameroon has greatly dropped. The funding for this charitable activity has greatly dropped. This also is due to the current COVIT 19 pandemic and the socio-political crisis in the North West and South West Regions (Anglophone crisis), of Cameroon that is affecting us very badly.

Influence of the Anglophone Crisis in Cameroon

With the current Anglophone crisis, many people have been calling the centre with so many traumatised cases. There is also so much drug abuse amongst the young and calls keep coming for more help and a place to keep these affected persons.

Major setback

Our major setback for now is the presence of the DDR centre very close to the EOC. The ex-combatants are very free and so, some of the Residents turn to follow them and sometimes accompany them to smoke. We need a strong fence that can keep the centre very secured.

We have a big land for farming and so we have engaged ourselves in farming so as to support the centre with fresh food from our farm. We intend to extend the farm and even to keep some animals. Some of the Residents are willing to work and others are not just ready to do anything. Our vision now is to buy less vegetables and to cultivate much using natural manure and less chemicals.

Because of insecurity around the Town of Bamenda now due to the anglophone crisis we prepared some personal batches for the Residents to help them as the move around in town.

The water situation of the centre is relatively stable. The centre is enjoying a constant water supply from the hill in the centre. Some maintenance work is needed to be done in the water catchment areas. Our neighbours depend on us for water and so if there is no strict control it may not be enough for us and for them. Our sources of water have greatly reduced and the demand from the outside community is really high. We are looking forward to work more on our water sources for next year. The demand this year is really high. The population around the centre is depending on us for water during the difficult moment of the dry season.

Other foreseen works to be done in the EOC are:

the road at the main entrance to the centre is very bad and need serious repairs at the beginning of the raining season.

Levelling of some places and planting of flowers and grass in the centre to make the place beautiful, welcoming and a good place to live in.

The beds and the rooms of the Residents need to be arranged. Lots of repair works is needed.

The centre is in need of a good car for running its activities.

Gratitude

I render thanks to all the Capuchin brothers especially in the missionary centre in Milano and the benefactors who have been helping us all this while in the centre. May God bless you.

Bishop Angelo Pagano visits the Emmaus Center

Br. Pascal (the director of the Emmaus Center) together with Br. Donatus Moshuimo, daily celebrate the Holy Eucharist with the in-mates.

The Emmaus Center Family relaxing with their director after the Sunday celebration.

The feast of our Seraphic Father, St. Francis of Assisi, celebrated in a grand style, enriched by the presence of the Franciscan youth choir in October 4, 2022, on the hills of the Emmaus.

Br. Pascal FOMOMNYUY OFMCap.

Cel: 654 784 224; 696 314 258

(bifomonyuy76@yahoo.com; cell 00237 654785224)

Director Emmaus Outreach centre

The Capuchin Organic Farm

The Capuchin organic Farm is a project followed up by Br. Cyril Kerla.

What we do

Saint Anthony of Padua’s College Mbohtong

For quality Education

Background

The project of Hope whose initial intention was to give a dignified life to the poor is gradually extending its arms to redress a dimension of poverty that can be classified as one of the major root causes of poverty in Africa, intellectual poverty; When a child is deprived of the possibility of a descent education, that child becomes a burden to the society because his or her potentials are not developed to a degree that can assist him or her give to her community the best he or she could. This is basically the reason why some people are generally dependent on others to the point that the absence of them on whom they depend becomes the genesis of misery. Thus, a school that cater for this need fits into the Franciscan program of life especially when we recall the passion Francis, our Seraphic Father had when it came to bringing the Good News to unbelievers, taking care of the underpriviledged like lepers etc, facts which presented him as warring against ignorance and misery. Even when we look at world history we realize that the Friars have always won the admiration of the people in their efforts to cater for people in difficult situations especially during post war calamities or during outbreaks of epidemeic diseases. Our society is infected with terrible ideologies that are ruining many who cannot detect the flaws they contain. Thus, the friar, who is convinced of his vocation, will never be at peace if he cares less about the needs of the poor people of his time, for if our life should strip off its orientation towards charity (charity at the expense of our convenienceà, the edifice we build will not be catholic or franciscan. if we have to continue bearing the name of Friars of the people, we must be people who are deeply connected with the social Gospel which imparts both spiritual and good social values to the poor. we all know that if we take care of the physical needs of a person without worrying about the spiritual destiny of that person, it would be an incomplete job since it will enable the person to become socially fit to an extent that spiritually wanting and he who is lacking in one of these dimensions cannot manage well in life. A school setting gives us the opportunity to build and offer to our society a generation that is balanced, owning a spiritual and a good social orientation and thus capable of overpowering the social ideologies directed towards the corruption of youth and society.

The origin of the School

This project, which was initially taken care of by the members of the St. Anthony’s Community in close collaboration with some Friars, left its intention open to modifications so as to give an appropriate anwser to the needs of the changing times. That is why it has evolved from a center taking care of the social status of single mothers to a rehabilitation center and finally to a comprehensive college, the Cecilia memorial college. The successes recorded by the school risked being halted by administrative difficulties since the running of the school depended solely on the goodwill of the teachers and some benefactors. The St. Anthony’s community finding it difficult to continue the running of the shcool then proposed that the administration of the school be taken over by the Friars and as God would have it, that same year the Bishop of Kumbo decreed that all Catholic Colleges in his diocese be run either by his priests or by religious congregations. The option to take over the management of the school ad experimentum, portrayed some great advantages as it will first of all, ensure the employment of those sisters who had been our long time collaborators and secondly, the friars will have the freedom to develop the peice of land next to the school according to their needs, something which may not be possible if we allow the bishop to take over the shcool or its environs. To this effect, the academin year 2010-2011 was managed by the Friars. This temporal taking over saw some few modifications such as the name of the school being changed from Cecilia Memorial College to Saint Anthony of Padua Catholic Comprehensive College.

The College and life in the college

The Beautiful campus

Students in the refectory

Students enjoying their school

The school laboratory

Students on an excursion

Br. Joseph Mengven, the principal of the College, enjoying the Campus.

The Principal

Br. Joseph Mengven

Tel: +237 678 171 838 or +237 672 899 530

For the school: +237 681 722 162

Vice Principal

Br. Peter Bernsah

Tel: +237 651 03 35 36