The enthusiasm of the Cameroonian people that accompanied Pope Leo XIV on his journey from the airport, on his return from Douala, to the Catholic University of Central Africa, saw the participation of the Community of the Sisters of Charity of Saint Jeanne Antide Thouret, present in Cameroon since 1971, working in the fields of education, healthcare and the advancement of women, particularly in the capital Yaoundé and in Ngaoundal, in the centre of the country, where they operate through the activities of the women’s training centre thanks to a project supporting girls, even very young ones, who are trying to escape forced marriages – sometimes even before puberty – and the prostitution network.
In Ngaoundal there are also two clinics and a hospital opened exactly ten years ago by the nuns, a point of reference for tens of thousands of people, regardless of race, ethnicity or religion, and very active in the fight against tuberculosis, malaria and child malnutrition.
The Pope’s comfort
“We Sisters of Charity,” says Sister Agnès Ndjab, head of the community in the capital Yaoundé, “in the days leading up to the Pope’s visit, we joined the entire community of Cameroon in prayer and adoration. We welcomed his message of peace and comfort with great joy; the country needs reconciliation after so many difficult years, and this is what the whole people are waiting for: to be able to start living together again as we once did.”The Sisters’ commitment
The mission of the Sisters of Saint Jeanne Anthida is to work with the poorest and the sick. “We listen to their problems, we reach out to them through our charitable work, seeking to help them. We work intensively in the field of early childhood education, devoting particular attention in our schools to the most disadvantaged; in the health sector, we support all those who cannot afford medical care, whilst also seeking to bring them spiritual and material comfort, as our foundress, Saint Jeanne Antide Thouret, asked of us.”
Reproduced from VaticanNews
