NOVEMBER BAMENDA COLLECTION BOOSTS DIOCESAN LINK WITH AFRICA!
Fr Ron Hishon writes:
A BIG THANKS to all who gave so generously on BAMENDA SUNDAY (Nov. 2nd) to support the Archbishop, priests and people of our twinned Archdiocese of Bamenda in Cameroon.
Did you see this year’s ‘Bamenda Briefing, which was distributed free to all Parishes? It had a good summary of our current activities and needs. If not, then go on line to our website at www.bamendaandportsmouth.com for all the details.
In recent years, this collection has resulted in more than £30,000 annually. In addition we are grateful to a number of schools and parishes who raise money to help Bamenda in different ways. Some adopt a hospital or Church or clinic or help sick children or those in prison. We have been blessed too, with legacies from those who have remembered Bamenda in their wills. That is how we have been able to allocate more than £70,000 over the year.
Just one example of our work is our support for the new Church in Ndop (a large rural parish with fourteen Mass centres in which a number of our Portsmouth priests have served). They are struggling to build a large Church in the Main Mission, to accommodate the large and growing number of mass goers. A year ago, they had put up walls, but had no money for timber to begin building the roof (see picture on the left). In February we allocated them a grant of £3,000 to add to money they had raised themselves. Two months later, Matthias Muenyi, the chairman of their building committee, sent me news that the rafters had been put up (see picture on the right). In October our committee, realised that the rafters without zinc roofing would soon deteriorate, and agreed that a further £3,000 should be sent to them.
THIS IS JUST A SMALL TASTE OF WHAT IS HAPPENING IN OUR TWINNED DIOCESE. If your parish, group or school would like to know more, why not ask for details or a Bamenda presentation for your parish, group or school – contact Fr Ron Hishon at: ronhishon@btinternet.com
Bamenda Priest Father Joseph Dufe survives shooting.
(Adapted from an article first published 9th October in L’Effort Cameronais, newspaper of the Cameroonian Episcopal Conference – see www.leffortcamerounais.com)
Please keep in your prayers Fr. Joseph Dufe, a priest of the Capuchin friary at Bambui (Bamenda), recently shot while on the road between Bambili and Bambui. Father Dufe, known for his preaching, narrowly missed death after robbers shot him on the head and thigh.
He had gone to celebrate the Feast of the Ramadan with his Muslim friends in Bambui. When he was returning to his parish, he decided to stop just at the entrance to the Tubah District Officer’s Office and inform his friends that he had already passed the danger spot at Mile 4.
Just as he was about to call, someone opened the door of his car, pulled him out and started molesting him. Father had two cell phones and a wallet containing about FCFA 25,000 (about £30). Not knowing who his assailants were, he decided to fight back. The area was not lighted as a result of the blackout that had paralysed Bamenda recently. This only made a sufficiently bad situation worse.
The three bandits engaged him in a serious fight and succeeded to overpower him. One of the bandits gave a command to shoot. The first bullet caught Fr Dufe on the thigh; the second caught the back of his head. It was at this point that Father Dufe surrendered and the thieves disappeared with his phones and wallet.
He managed to get back to the Friary, where the brothers rushed him to a local hospital where he spent the night. On the morning of October 1, the Shisong Hospital Ambulance came down to Bambui and whisked him off for treatment at the Shisong Catholic Hospital. Father Dufe, who is now able to talk, says he owes his life to the Almighty God who has given him a second chance on earth.
Some of the bullets are still lodged in his thigh.. In spite of his predicament, Fr Dufe attended Mass on Sunday, October 5 though in a wheel chair. The biblical allusion "Touch not my anointed and do my prophet no harm," applies here. This incident came barely days after armed robbers attacked four banks in Limbe (South West Province) getting away with huge sums of money. One person was killed from the cross fire between the robbers and the forces of law and order. Fr Dufe's assailants are still at large.
BACK FROM BAMENDA!
Fr Ron Hishon writes: Mgr Vincent Harvey (representing our Bishop Crispian), myself as Chair of the Portsmouth Diocesan Bamenda Committee, and two other Committee members, Doctor John Hughes from Bedhampton and Colm, Lennon from Wokingham, have recently returned from a whirlwind 10 day tour of our twinned Archdiocese of Bamenda, as guests of the Archbishop Cornelius Esua.
We received such a warm welcome from our host Archbishop Cornelius Esua, and from parishes, schools, health centres and Diocesan projects, and such appreciation of Portsmouth’s support that we came back happy to use the columns of Portsmouth People to share with you their thanks and their urgent needs.
Our Mission was threefold: to maintain the 35 year old ties of friendship and cooperation with our twinned Diocese, to review of all the projects our Parishes and schools have been supporting, and to explore new challenges which we could ask you to support.