The MOJ-missionaries’ educational apostolate is booming, spreading wide the fire of excellence in youth character formation! We are happy to announce that the poor, abandoned, and less privileged children of Notre Dame Primary School in Bafang, Cameroon have won 1st Place in the National Children’s Day competition held on the 11th of February 2015!
When the MOJ Missionaries took over at Notre Dame in September 2014, the children responded well to our teaching methods. At first, we found it very difficult to communicate with them due to language and cultural differences. So, we improvised by using sign language in our communication with the students. In the end, the “Sous-Prefect” (the sub-divisional officer of the region) recommended us for the award.
I was overjoyed when I saw the children so jubilant when the Mayor of Bafang announced their 1st place award over all the participating primary schools. They were so excited and even wept for joy! The whole Diocese of Bafang and the villagers marveled at the achievement and expressed gratitude to the MOJ Missionaries for working so well with their children.
Our award proves that financial poverty does not equal spiritual or intellectual poverty! Excellence depends on the opportunity afforded to each child along with the effort to make the most of it! And yet, their opportunity would not have manifested without the MOJ spirituality as taught by our founder, Leo Okonkwo. In the spirit of Jesus’ self-emptying (Phil 2:6-11), we went to these poor children in Cameroon rather than waiting for them to come to us!
Of course, none of this good news I share would have been possible without you, our co-missionaries and generous benefactors of HEAL! Your ever “green” support in the affairs of MOJ Missionaries has been our inner fire! You are always recommended in our prayers along with the abandoned widows, orphans, and poor children we serve in Nigeria and Cameroon.
May our stars and the stars of the poverty-stricken children among us continue to shine as we bloom with them where we have been planted!