Friday, April 13, 2012

Holy Week & Easter


It's been a busy few weeks. I was planning on having a nice quiet holiday, just staying in Tatum and marking papers.  I was in Kumbo when I sent my last post and a little while after I sent it I met up with a friend (Peter) from the Diocese Education office who also does music with the Diocese Youth. I ended up getting invited to go to the World Youth Day gathering that the diocese was holding in Shisong (a parish/suburb in Kumbo where there's a big hospital). That was on Tuesday, March 27.

So I marked papers on Wednesday and on Thursday before Palm Sunday, I went back down to Kumbo and spent the whole weekend at the World Youth Day, hanging out with the band and the sound technicians. I stayed with some priests on the campus of St. Augustine's College (SAC) so I didn't have to travel back and forth from Tatum every day.  That's where Frank teaches but we didn't get a chance to meet since he went out of town for the holiday. The weekend was a lot of fun and I got to know several of the people working on the Diocese Youth commission, including the new youth chaplain, Fr. Paul, who just returned to Cameroon from studying in the UK last August. I've been invited to help with the youth events including a week-long retreat during the long holiday (summer vacation). The mass on Palm Sunday was outside because of all the youths (I heard an estimate of about 3000).  It was a nice sunny day and I forgot my sun block so I got a little bit of a sunburn - as did Jan and Rafaela (German volunteers who were also there). I didn't get back to Tatum until late afternoon on Monday.

I spent Tuesday marking papers again and then on Wednesday went back down to Kumbo with Br. Ivo for the Chrism Mass. Now that was something to see. The cathedral was as packed as could be. The music was great. (After hearing them on Palm Sunday, the bishop had asked the youth musicians to play for the offertory.) I don't think I've mentioned this much before, but for important events the offertory is often in "kind" more than in "cash" - meaning that people give goods instead of money. Also, everyone processes during offertory, bring their gifts to the altar (instead of just sitting in their seats and putting money in a basket). So the offertory procession includes people carrying all sorts of goods - usually farm produce. It's common to see corn, carrots, sugar cane, potatoes, yams, etc and on really special occasions you see chickens, goats, and sheep. Well, for the Chrism Mass, there was all that, plus wine, hosts, bottled water, and all sorts of other things, including eleven cows (Br. Ivo's sister-in-law counted). The offertory procession alone took over an hour. After the mass, we were getting ready to head back to Tatum when the Bishop saw Br. Ivo and insisted on him going to the Bishop's House for lunch.  Since we (bro's sister-in-law, another teacher, and me) were travelling in Brother's car, we all ended up eating at the Bishop's house as well.

And then it was the Easter Triduum. The services in Tatum were very nice. During Easter Vigil, there weren't any adult catechumens but about a dozen babies were baptized. The students came back to school on Monday and classes began again on Tuesday. This term is only about a month for the secondary school (official closing date is May 21). The TTC & ENIET have an additional month, but that is mostly exams.  All the students should be gone by June 23.

Oh, and during Holy Week the raining season finally started. (Yeah for rain!)

Monday, April 2, 2012

Second Term Completed

Well, I made it through the second term. We're now on holidays for two weeks. Classes start  again right after Easter. In the third term there are only about 2 weeks for actual classes; the rest of the term is testing and the like. The secondary school finishes in mid-May and the teacher training colleges finish in early June.

I'm spending my holiday in Tatum. I am marking exams for the TTC in ITC (information and communication technology) and Religion.  I don't teach either subject, but the teachers both asked me to help them and I had the time.

The rainy season was supposed to start last week, but didn't.  As I mentioned when we had the early rains, people are concerned when the rains don't come as it greatly affects their crops. Speaking of which, we're planting some in my garden - the carrots have been growing for a while (and people keep stealing them) and I think Nico has planted beans, potatoes, corn, and jama-jama (the greens that are eaten with fufu).

Nothing much else to write. Keeping busy as usual.