Berkley Center

Islam and Christianity are the country’s major religions. The presence of Christianity is more widespread in the center of Yaounde. There are a great variety of denominations represented. On my trek to school each day, I walk by a Baptist church, a Catholic church, and frequently encounter a truck equipped with loudspeakers encouraging passers-by to accept Jesus into their heart. My host family is Catholic, and this past Sunday, I accompanied my host mother to Mass.

In these first few weeks, every day has presented new challenges. I’ve found that even the most basic tasks—hailing a taxi, washing my clothes, buying food—have been struggles. I grew up Catholic, and the familiarity of the Mass (albeit in a foreign language) was very welcome. This week, I will begin classes at the Catholic University of Central Africa, which is host to a sizable Jesuit community. The few Jesuit administrators who have helped us transition into university life have been very excited to hear that I am a student at Georgetown. This international sense of community rooted in faith has been an unexpected and reassuring aspect of my experience.

The Muslim quarter of Yaounde is located on the outskirts of the city. This neighborhood has a completely different feel than other parts of Yaounde. Life here runs to a different tempo;– the call to prayer is heeded five time a day. There is a sizable Senegalese community in this quarter. In a few weeks, I will have the opportunity to travel to the extreme northern province, which is majority-Muslim. In my course on contemporary Cameroon, most of the social divisions which have been discussed spring from language divisions (Cameroon is divided between Francophones and Anglophones). I am interested to learn more about any religious representation issues in the social and political arena.

Through conversation with my Cameroonian peers, I am also learning more about the role of indigenous beliefs in society. Mysticism plays a big role in Cameroonian culture. My peers of a variety of religious convictions have expressed their belief in the supernatural. A few days after we arrived, a major news story involved infanticide at the hands of a vengeful ghost. Although the American students were quick to laugh it off, my Cameroonian friends accepted the story as truth. They explained that ghosts exist when they have been wronged in their lifetime. Two of my Cameroonian peers believe that they have encountered ghosts on the streets of Yaounde. They did not understand why the concept of ghosts and spirits was so hard for us American students to comprehend. They also did not understand why some of us (myself included) found the concept of vengeful ghosts a little frightening. For my peers, these beliefs are part of the fabric of life here. They too play a role in maintaining the order of society.

I am interested to learn more about the intersection of indigenous beliefs with Christianity and Islam. Although I have only been here for two weeks, I can feel the myriad subtle ways religion inserts itself into daily life. I am interested in exploring this more within the context of Cameroon’s diversity.