Nkendemem Forbinake
17 March 2009
The Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province has the advantage of having received the early Pallotine missionaries. From Douala where the first team, led by Father (and later Bishop) Henry Vieter set foot in 1890, several out-stations were created within the next 20 years. In today's Bamenda Church province numerous relics exist and many other structures built between 1890 and 1910 are still in use today.
The Catechist's training school in Sasse (1907) and the first church in Bonjongo (1894) were the first modern structures put up at that time. The Sasse College Chapel and part of the Catechist's training centre are still in use today. Other outstanding monumental structures built at the time include the Bota parish church opened in 1908 just as the Cathedral built in Soppo. Before Sasse (1907) and Bota (1908), the Ikassa station in today's Ndian Division had been opened in 1906. Ossing was the last station to be opened in 1912 shortly before the Pallotine priests left the country.
The Mill Hill missionaries and other religious groups are responsible for numerous other church houses, hospitals, schools and convents beginning from the 1930s. The best known are the St Joseph's College, built in Sasse in 1939, the country's oldest secondary school. Several other important mission stations were opened: Shisong, Fiango, Njinikom, Bafut, Mbetta, Mamfe, Mankon, Bafut, Mukuru-Wum, Bambui, Tiko etc.
In most of these places, structures built at that time are still in use.
The Province has some of the best mission secondary schools in the country, almost always scoring 100 per cent in certificate examinations SJC-Sasse; SHC-Mankon, SWC-Fontem, OLLSS-Mankon, BRC-Soppo, SFC-Fiango, CKC-Tiko, SBC-Ashing, SAC-Kumbo etc, are well-known institutions. The mission hospitals in the ecclesiastical province - located at Nguti, Fontem and Shisong are among the best in the country.
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