Ecumenical Service Held for Mimboman, Yaounde Ritual Victims

Women's Empowerment Minister was at the "Marie Auxillaire Don Bosco" parish on Saturday.

It was a rather gloomy atmosphere at the "Marie Auxillaire Don Bosco" parish in Mimboman, a Yaounde neighbourhood, on Saturday February 23, 2013. The event was an ecumenical church service in memory of the victims of recent killings in the locality. The service brought together leaders from the Catholic, Protestant and the Muslim faith.

The victims Pierre Emmanuel Nkoa Eloundou, 8, Loyse Mendjima, 16, upper sixth student, Claude Michel Mballa Mvogo, 18, upper sixth student, Marthe Chrsitelle Ngah Ondoua, 19, mother of one child, Marie Margueritte Ndzie, 25, mother of four children, Stéphane Nze Koho, 26, Caliste Carolle Momo, 28, and Agnès Magne, 30, mother of three children between. The residents of Mimboman, in general, could not hold back their tears as they listened to sad testimonies of the relatives of the victims.

Apart from the victims of Mimboman, the congregation also remembered the Mrs Fotso née Yoube Anne, 37, and Pauline Myriam Ngongni, 21, who were killed in the West Region as well as an 18-year old girl who was stabbed to death by her friend a few days ago in Ngaoundere in the Adamawa Region. The different men of God prayed that God should comfort the bereaved families and take the souls of the victims to his kingdom. As members of the congregation sang, they waved flags of different colours: black representing death, white for peace and red stands for to say no to any form of violence.

Speaking during the occasion, the Minister of Women's Empowerment and the Family, Marie Thérèse Abena Ondoa said she came with a message of peace and comfort to the bereaved families. She said the ecumenical service was an opportunity to pray to God to strengthen the families of the victims to be able to go through this trying moment of their lives.

Marie Thérèse Abena Ondoa equally called on all families to be vigilant as the enemy is always at work. "The enemy never sleeps. They have struck and they will continue to strike. We just have to be extremely careful wherever we are," she advised. Prior to the ecumenical service, Minister Marie Thérèse Abena Ondoa, paid a condolence visit to the bereaved families in the Mimboman neighbourhood on Friday February 22, 2013 to comfort and encourage the families. Organised by the Ministry of Women's Empowerment and the Family, the event took place in the presence of officials of Mfoundi Division, Yaounde IV Municipality, traditional as well as religious authorities and guests.