Rekindling hope among Cameroon’s students

By Claudia Torres – Yaoundé

Pope Leo XIV received an enthusiastic welcome at the Catholic University of Central Africa in Yaoundé, on his last full day in Cameroon. Students danced, cheered and waved Vatican flags as the Holy Father arrived in a black SUV. Some 8,000 people, including professors and religious men and women, attended the festive event on Friday, 17 April. Many of the students gathered in the grassy areas surrounding the pavilion, where not a single empty chair remained.

‘Protagonists of the future’

Speaking with Vatican News, Houlcaou Iklaou Nina Amandine Ladouce, who is completing a Master's in Nursing Science (Research Option) at the university, said it was an honor to see “the person that has been sent by God to represent him.” After obtaining her Master’s degree, she plans on continuing with the PhD program to do research, and to engage in leadership programs and teaching, “elaborating theories and protocols for the enhancement of the nursing science field.” Although her dream is to someday go abroad, she seconded Pope Leo’s appeal to young people to be “protagonists of the future” in their home country. “It's a question of gaining notions, knowledge, outside, and then coming and implementing it” in Cameroon, she said.

Students at the Catholic University of Central Africa, in Yaoundé, Cameroon, during the papal visit   (@Vatican Media)

Renewed hope and vision

Among those present were also university alumni, like Sister Seraphine Ghong Nsen, a Tertiary Sister of Saint Francis from Bamenda, who studied biochemistry and pharmaceutical science three years ago. She expressed her gratitude for the Pope’s visit. “I know it has activated many young people and rekindled their hope and vision,” she said, explaining that many were just going to school because they had to, but with no real vision for the future. Now she is hopeful that the situation will improve. “Every visit of a pope in our country has been a blessing,” she said, appreciating the Holy Father’s encouragement. “He speaks like a father. He gives you what you have to do, and it's up to you.”

Youth unemployment

Students and teachers were not the only people in attendance. Sister MarÍa de Lourdes López MunguÍa, a Franciscan Missionary of Mary from Mexico City, whose congregation has a residence near the university, was eager to listen to the Pope speak. She explained that one of the biggest challenges they face in Yaoundé is unemployment. “There are many young people on the streets,” she said, often even those who have received an education. But “the doors of the community are open,” she said. “People come and share with us and we are able to enter into dialogue with the people.”

Sister MarÍa de Lourdes López MunguÍa attends the papal event at the Catholic University of Central Africa in Yaoundé

In this challenging context, Pope Leo’s words to academics can become a powerful catalyst for change. As he affirmed, “Africa can make a fundamental contribution to broadening the overly narrow horizons of a humanity that struggles to hope.”