PENTECOST SUNDAY IN BUEA TOWN

HOW I SPENT PENTECOST SUNDAY

An Early bird?

It was an early day for me because I had taken an appointment for the Buea Town Congregation of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon (PCC). One reason was to see the Pastor, the Rev. Ngwa Hosea. The other was to share my book on HIV AIDS sensitization, Say No to AIDS, with congregation members in the quest to make the message about HIV AIDS awareness go far and wide into the community and not only among the schools for which the Ministry of Secondary Education has recommended the book. The third reason was to worship – for the first time – in Buea Town.

Coincidence

My visit coincided with the presentation to the congregation of a blueprint aimed at giving the church building a facelift. An architect was brought in to unveil his artist`s view of the new look building and a discussion opened up for people to air their views and make suggestions. Reasons given for the need for refurbishment of the outfit included its unsightly external façade, the need to make the altar area more imposing and the fact that as the congregation nearest to the Synod Office (seat of the PCC Moderator and headquarters of the church in Cameroon) the church edifice needed to demarcate itself from others. Details of the project will be worked out later.

Some unexpected faces

I met surprise faces at the church – surprise because prior to going there I had not known that was where the people worshipped.  These included Chief Endeley who is the Paramount Chief of Buea; Prof. Joyce Endeley who was formerly Deputy Vice Chancellor in charge of Teaching and Information Technology at the University of Buea but was recently appointed the pioneer Director of the Technical Teachers` Training College in Kumba. Also in attendance was Mr. Njie Samuel Kale who is Education Secretary of the PCC.

Meeting with a primary school classmate

When I left the Buea Town church, I went down to the St. Anthony Parish House of the Catholic Church to meet with the Parish priest whom I had been told was Fr. Tobias Wirmum, a classmate of mine in primary school at St. Francis Bambili. Since my visit was unannounced, I expected to spring a surprise on him by asking him to guess who I was. Much to my surprise, he was the first to call me by name. It was a joyous meeting. We first met when his elder sister and my father both worked at the Agric. Farm (today IRAD) in Bambui. Since then, we went our separate ways. He looked very happy in his job as priest – a vocation for which I have never felt called –and I praised him for that. I also asked him when the idea of becoming a priest first struck him. I was surprised that it was as early as in primary school.

The message of the day

When I arrived at the Catholic Church, the two English language masses were over and the French mass was on. However, I realized the service was too far gone for me to interrupt it. But from outside, I could follow the sermon. This was corroborated by the day`s Sunday Newsletter I obtained from Fr. Tobias. The sermons of the Presbyterian Church and that of the Catholic church centered around the same theme which was the Holy Spirit that descended from Heaven and dwelt among the disciples as earlier promised by Jesus. Both churches exhorted the faithful to seize the opportunity offered by this commemoration and renew their spiritual relationship with God, bearing in mind that God in his infinite goodness made the ultimate sacrifice by sacrificing his one and only son for sins which we committed.

 

A lesson I learned on that day

It was a big one, if you ask me. The first is from the role Prof. Joyce Endeley played during the service. Previously, I had known her only as my boss at the university and never saw her closely unless it was necessary. Here today in church, I found she was not only one of the Elders but one of the most down-to-earth. They were all clad in their immaculate Elders` uniform. She was very dynamic and active: singing with others, serving congregation members, making a contribution to the refurbishment project, supporting congregation members in one way or the other, willing to lend an ear to anyone wishing to talk to her. This was Prof. Endeley as I had not seen her before. When I went over to her at the end of the service and told her how moved I was, she encouragingly told me: “That`s what keeps me going.”

I now understand why her career progression has been rapid. It is because her altar is the altar of God. When I joined the University of Buea, she was Director of Academic Affairs. Later she was promoted to Deputy Vice Chancellor in charge of Teaching and Information Technology. Recently as we know, she was appointed head of the newly created Teachers` Training College in.

As I was down at the Catholic Church, I realized that other people had made progress in life by also using the God-centered approach. One of those was Prof. Theresa Nkuo-Akenji who recently replaced Prof. Joyce Endeley as the University of Buea`s Deputy Vice Chancellor in charge of Teaching and Information Technology. Prior to that appointment, Prof Nkuo-Akenji was Dean of the Faculty of Science of the University and one of only two female Vice deans at the university, as far as I can remember. That was not all, while at the Catholic church, I realized from the plaque commemorating the golden jubilee of the Catholic Women`s Association (CWA) that the current national president of the association was none other than Prof. Theresa Nkuo-Akenji. That was a position first held by Mrs. Anna Atang Foncha, wife of Former Cameroon Vice President, Dr. John Ngu Foncha.

Another person whose life appears to have been guided by the Holy Spirit is Mrs. Rosaline Menga. She was CWA National President prior to Prof. Nkuo-Akenji. Furthermore, she is a member of the Supervisory Committee of the EoC Credit Union of the Diocese of Buea created by its bishop, Mgr. Immanuel Bushu. Mrs. Menga is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Catholic University Institute of Buea (CUID). At a personal level, she owns a very successful Nursery and Primary School as well as a College in Buea.

My concluding prayer

Although we may say that these people are blessed by the Almighty, we must also acknowledge that they worked for it. Personally, I see them as examples to emulate.