CULTURE-CAMEROON: Celestial Solutions for Material Problems

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Sylvestre Tetchiada

YAOUNDE, Aug 9 2006 (IPS) - Crumbling campuses, inadequate equipment, a lack of bursaries: the problems facing Cameroonian students are numerous – and they’re not only compromising the education that students receive. These difficulties have also laid the ground for sects and religious groups to flourish on campuses.

“(Students) in search of an ideal, a reason to live or something else that they themselves cannot define…quickly fall into esoteric circles or sects that…guarantee well-being, success and a bright future,” says Mireille Kamgang, co-ordinator of an educational non-governmental organisation based in the capital, Yaoundé.

Take Armande Bedoumé, a student at the University of Yaoundé I.

“I resisted joining the ‘Divine World’ (a sect),” she says, describing her initial reaction to the group. However, matters changed after Bedoumé failed for the second time.

“My friends, showing me the benefits of religion, invited me to give myself to God. This was how I came to join ‘Divine World’, and I passed the supplementary examinations.”

She’s now waiting to hear her latest results, but claims not to be apprehensive about them. “Even if I don’t pass all my courses, I believe I am on the right path,” she says.

Nonetheless, joining a sect can have dangerous, even fatal consequences – with the Cameroonian media regularly reporting on pupils and students who have died, allegedly through the actions of sect followers.

Kamgang cites the case of Gédéon Ombede, a 21-year-old law student at the University of Ngaoundéré in northern Cameroon, who passed away in hospital last month after being physically abused by a sect called the ‘Celestial Army’ – this during nine days of prayers for deliverance and exorcism.

A source at Ngaoundéré also notes that about ten students at the same institution were hospitalised at the end of June, after abuse by sect followers who accused them of being possessed.

Twenty-year-old Anatole Djomo, a student at the University of Yaoundé I who claims to have been abused in March this year, described sect members beating their victim while singing, for hours. Water seen as being blessed is poured on the person being abused, Djomo added.

Students who are victims of sect violence seldom tell their parents about it, particularly when they have attended religious meetings without parental consent.

For their part, university authorities have taken steps to exclude sect members from the institutions. At Ngaoundéré, where sect violence rose sharply in June and July, several students accused of perpetrating abuses were also imprisoned.

In addition, universities note that an effort is made to keep campuses as secular environments by requiring those who set up and run associations there to get authorisation for doing so.

But, sects still operate under the pretext of being cultural clubs, says Isaac Célestin Tchého, head of the Division for the Promotion of Dialogue and University Solidarity at the Ministry of Higher Education.

“The followers of the sects…conduct their activities under cover,” he told IPS.

“To outwit…authorities, the followers of sects present documents that are in line with regulations,” Tchého added. “University authorities only become aware of this when incidents or accidents arise.”

A university lecturer interviewed by IPS further alleged that teaching staff recruit followers for sects amongst their colleagues and students.

“I know colleagues who defend sects and mystical groups in class,” recounted the lecturer, who declined to be named – adding that staff also passed students in instances where they shared the beliefs of their teachers.

“This contributes to making the academic environment at the university deteriorate further,” he complained.

Observes Clément Mbassi, a lecturer at the University of Yaoundé I, “Sect supporters chant (about God) at the tops of their voices using the terms ‘saviour’ (and) ‘redeemer’ – which are referred to everywhere on notices inviting students to meetings of deliverance.”

Such initiatives are “nothing other than a bid to influence those who are easily swayed,” he adds.

Sects also hold an appeal for people in other walks of life, says Jean Marie Nzéale, a psychologist and lecturer at the University of Yaoundé I.

“They are…people who have lost their employment, or who are in search of easy riches, women who have lost social standing,” he told IPS, noting that the groups also attract those who desire instant success.

These persons “gravitate towards sects where gurus take advantage of their naivete and promise them the happiness they have not found elsewhere,” added Nzéale.

According to the Cameroonian Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation, there were about 50 recognised religious denominations in the country as of April this year.