Christians of Cameroon have long struggled against sporadic attacks from Boko Haram and to fit in with a culture that is 95% Muslim. However Christians endear themselves to the community with charitable works, educational institutions, and a prized healthcare system.
In an interview with Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), Monsignor Bruno Ateba, of the Diocese of Maroua-Mokolo, explained that much of the improved outlook for Christians has been due to a shrinking of Boko Haram. The group is not as well equipped as it once was and the attacks they carry out seem more concerned with acquiring food and daily necessities.
Still the threat of sporadic attacks means that few Christians in Northern Cameroon sleep peacefully. Many leave their homes to sleep under trees so that they won’t be around if Boko Haram raids in the middle of the night and when Msgr. Ateba travels, he requires a military escort – which he calls his “guardian angels” — to ensure he is not abducted or harmed.
Rather than combat a now weakened Boko Haram, however, the priest suggested that the best way to deal with them is to keep them from recruiting and brainwashing new members. To accomplish this, he suggested that the key is to offer young people better prospects. With this in mind he noted that he wishes to create a pastoral center for human and spiritual formation in Mokolo.
He said the center would teach couples St. John Paul II’s Theology of the Body, and be a place of learning for young women, many of whom are married in their early teens and stop pursuing education. He told ACN:
“In our culture, it’s common for a girl to have to marry around the age of 13. From then on, she generally stops going to school. In this center, therefore, we will start by educating the parents. When you have formed a mother, you have formed a nation.”
Education is one of the diocese’s ways of reaching out to provide a valuable service to the community and it has made great headway in interfaith relations. In Cameroon Christians are a 5% minority, but their schools are well attended, even by Muslim children. Msgr. Ateba noted that Muslim parents appreciate Christian schools for their discipline and good education. In addition it has left a mark on the general outlook towards Christians in Cameroon:
“The Muslim children are often the best in the catechetics course! At home, they recite the Our Father and the Hail Mary, and the parents don’t have a problem with that.”
He said that the Bogo health center that’s run by the Missionary Sisters of Jesus Christ has had a similar effect on the community. Muslim women tend to prefer going for checkups at the health center because they can be examined by female doctors, as well as for the high quality of treatment.
The center has become so pivotal that when they almost had to close due to threats from Boko Haram, a Muslim leader pledged to protect the center that had become so important.
“We try to provide a witness. The Muslims respect us because of our works. When you take care of the poor and children on the street, you don’t ask whether the person is Muslim or Christian. We are all children of the same Father.”
