Voices of Peace and Impact

By Alphonse Akouyu 

A leading Cameroonian prelate once said ‘if we keep the youths busy during the day, they would sleep at night’. Religion is part and parcel of every day in Cameroon and there has been a massive entry of youths in to different aspects of Religion be it in a negative or positive direction. 

A few meters from the University of Bamenda is the Our Lady of Fatima Parish Bambili which is under the Catholic Archdiocese of Bamenda. I have come to visit the Our Lady Queen of Peace Choir (OLQPC) which one out of many youth led choirs within the parish but in their own little way impacting the society they live in. Founded in 2011 by Catholic youths from the University, OLQPC has grown from strength to strength with the choir currently the highest in terms of enrollment. Majority of the choristers fall under the age of 27 and most of them are students in the University. 

It was 3p.m in the afternoon and choristers started arriving to begin their normal routine in preparation to sing at mass on Sunday. The day started with Bible sharing and one of them gave a talk on C.H.O.I.R= Commitment, Humility, Obedience, Indispensability and Responsibility. In her words ‘we should be committed, humble, obedient, responsible and indispensable assets for this choir’. What a brilliant talk from the young lady I said to myself!. Then practice started till about 6.pm. Then the president said it was time to carry out their Bible sharing task for the week and this was to visit the sick in the local neighbourhood. So we started walking towards the house of the people they were to visit that evening. The streets were dark with few rays of light coming from different angles. 

We walked and walked but it looked like a journey without an end and the streets even became darker as we walk but they knew where they were going and after trekking for about 30minutes, we reached the first house. We move in to see an old man who was lying on his sick bed accompanied by his wife. There we prayed for the sick man and based on what we were told by his wife, he was suffering from cancer. The choir offered his wife cubes of soap which had been bought with goodwill contributions from members. They old lady was so happy with this gesture given that it was coming from youths, in fact she was surprised by the number that came. Then we started walking again this time to visit a sick old woman. We had use to translator to speak to her in the dialect because she neither understood English, French nor Pidgin. The same gesture was repeated there and she was overjoyed by our presence. I thought it was over but the journey had just begun. This time around we trekked for 45minutes to see another sick man and there the same gesture was repeated. In total the three visits had taken us about 2hrs 30mins plus the 3hrs for practice meaning the choristers had sacrificed 5hrs:30mins. It was then that I understood why so many call them the best in the entire parish because doctors tell us the care we show towards patients is important in the recovery process. During the visits, you could feel the joy and the happiness on the faces of the patients and those caring for them. Indeed by their fruits you shall know them. 

The efforts of the OLQPC members have not gone unnoticed and the parish priest has reminded his congregation on different occasions that they sing like professionals. Their efforts have also being acknowledged by other stakeholders with some saying ‘we know we can always count on OLQPC because they can never fail’. These praises require more work and the man at the helm Francis Nyuydine told me ‘we are a group of people brought together by education and united by our passion. The group has grown bigger and younger and this is because we are family and we treat everybody equally’. 

OLQPC would be on stage come the 22nd of May in their annual concert which they hope would inspire many to join them in these honourable tasks. OLQPC is one of many youth led choirs using their voices to impact the lives of others and it is therefore hoped that from their name, they would become active agents of peace in society.

About Author 

Akouyu Alphonse is a Volunteer and Correspondent at WM Media Pty. Ltd. He is also Commonwealth Correspondent based in Bamenda, Cameroon since November 2013. Alphonse hold a Bachelors of Science degree in Banking and Finance (Second Upper Honours) from the Catholic University of Cameroon (CATUC) Bamenda. He is passionate about writing, talking, volunteering and travelling in order to learn and share experiences.