One
hundred years ago, the first missionaries came to the Kumbo area. (To be exact,
the Sacred Heart Fathers from Germany arrived in Shishong on December 31,
1912.) So the whole diocese is celebrating the centenary of faith in the
diocese -- which is really cool since Pope Benedict XVI declared this to be the
"Year of Faith". The festivities culminated on Friday, January 25
with a big mass and feast at Saint Augustine's College (SAC) Nso. There were
about 15 bishops present (including the retired Cardinal and the Papal Nuncio)
and I would hate to try to figure out how many priests were there.
I
came down to Kumbo from Tatum on Thursday evening in time to get to the
cathedral for the arrival of the Papal Nuncio and vespers (evening prayers). I
got the blessing because I happened to go in the entrance next to the sacristy
just as the nuncio was heading there to vest for the service.
It's
wonderful seeing how alive the faith is here.
Aside
from the centenary celebrations, I've been busy with school as usual. School
re-opened on January 3. But I guess I overdid the holiday because, as soon as I
got back to school, I came down with a bad cold and couldn't work very well for
a few days. And I had to finish up the school magazine in order to get it to
the printer which turned into a bit of a fiasco.
It
was suppose to be done for the PTA meeting on the 19th, but since I was sick I
didn't have it ready until the 13th. That should have been enough time. Now,
usually they go to Bamenda to get it the magazine printed, but we decided to
try the Diocesan printer in Kumbo this time. So on Monday (the 14th) I took my
thumb drive to Kumbo. I met with the manager of the print shop and he agreed
that they could get it done by Friday. I copied the data onto his hard drive
and went back to Tatum for the rest of the week. On Friday (the 18th), I
returned to Kumbo with Br. Isaac to pick up the magazines (assuming they were
done). However, it turned out that they hadn't finished printing the covers and
pictures (the only pages in color), but they promised to have it done on
Saturday morning. The PTA meeting was scheduled to begin with Mass at 9am on
Saturday. They worked all night but then the color machine broke in the morning
before they had finished. So... there
was no school magazine for the PTA meeting. The main reason for the
school magazine is to advertise the school and secondly to be sold to parents
as a fundraiser. Since we didn't have it at the PTA meeting, we couldn't sell
it to the parents.
The
magazine is now done (the chaplain went to pick it up with afternoon). And
we've decided to hold on to it and try to do it as a fundraiser at the
graduation(s).
Oh,
I will now be teaching Form 1 English Language. The original teacher left at
the end of first term to go back to school and the principal couldn't find a
full time teacher to replace her. I had to collect the students' notebooks to
find out how far they had gotten. We have tests this coming week, so I decided
to include on the test only what she had covered with them before I going on to
anything new. It should be interesting because the Form 1 students still
sometimes have difficulty understanding me.
Update
on what actually happened during the holidays, as opposed to what I expected.
The new parish priest for Kikaikelaki is Fr. Andrew who spent the last several
years studying in Germany. He invited me to lunch on Christmas day at the
Education Secretariat where he is currently staying. There were a mother and
daughter (Sonja & Elinor) visiting him from Germany who I met on Christmas
morning. We connected pretty much instantly. I ended up spending not just
lunch, but pretty much all afternoon at the Secretariat and then we spent the
evening at the Youth Center. Fr. Paul invited Sonja & Elinor to the mass
with the altar servers the next day (the 26th), so I met up with them there and
then we went over to the market (Mbve) where they bought a lot of fabric (since
they like to sew). We didn't finish up there until late afternoon. For the rest
of the holiday, I spent almost every other day with them. We even took a trip
down to Mbiame with Fr. Paul and Fr. Joe
for a 50th wedding anniversary celebration. The mass I was expecting at the
youth center on New Years Eve didn't get planned, so it didn't happen. Also, I
haven't gone on the radio with Fr. Paul yet. He still wants me to do it, but
because of school it probably won't be until either Easter holidays or summer
holidays.
For
the Easter holiday, I'm planning to go to Bamenda for the first week. We have
mock exams for the TTC during the second week.
Monday
kicks off National Bilingualism Week, so we'll be missing some classes
especially on Monday and Friday. February 11 is Youth Day, so again we'll be
missing classes. That's the way the second term goes.
