Missionary actions of the Congrégation de Notre-Dame - Cameroon: interview with Sister Solange Monfet
Sister Solange Monfet recalls her experience as a missionary of the Congrégation de Notre-Dame in Africa.
She recounts how she arrived in Cameroon with five other companions in 1970. She and three other companions worked at the collège de Makak. At that time, Cameroon had been an independent and developing country for ten years. Young people wanted to complete studies that would give them access to the government positions left vacant by the departure of the Europeans.
But given the African culture at that time, in which women did only domestic work, it was very difficult for the students to imagine that a Sister, even though a member of the Congrégation de Notre-Dame, was able to give the same quality education as a man. The Sisters took up the challenge.
The Congrégation had chosen Cameroon in order to give girls easier access to education. At the same time, it wanted to show that women could take their place in society. Over the years, there has been considerable progress in this regard.
Sister Monfet points out that, in addition to teaching, the Sisters have supported many other developments. They have encouraged the activities of youth groups such as World Youth. They have supported the development of such projects as building huts for those suffering from leprosy and, with the financial aid of uvres du Cardinal Léger and Development and Peace, they have supported drilling projects for artesian wells. Given the success of the latter project, the Cameroonian government became involved and, today, almost all villages have wells.
Sister Monfet concludes by mentioning that the Congrégation was involved in the promotion of cooperatives to set up mills. This experience proved to be very beneficial because the number of mills throughout the country multiplied.
