{"id":328596,"date":"2016-09-30T02:00:27","date_gmt":"2016-09-30T00:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/fontem-and-the-light-of-mafua-ndem\/"},"modified":"2024-05-16T15:05:13","modified_gmt":"2024-05-16T13:05:13","slug":"fontem-and-the-light-of-mafua-ndem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/fontem-and-the-light-of-mafua-ndem\/","title":{"rendered":"Fontem and the Light of Mafua Ndem"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u00a9 CSC Audiovisivi – Caris Mendes<\/p><\/div> The<\/strong> nine traditional leaders<\/strong> (Fon) represented people from Nwametaw, Nwangong, Essoh Attah, Akum, Lewoh, Nkar and personalities of Bamenda and Douala. They were accompanied by Mafua Queens, two Mayors and other dignitaries from their kingdoms. The purpose of their journey<\/strong> \u2013 besides celebrating the Year of Mercy with Pope Francis \u2013 was to thank God for the 50th anniversary<\/a> of the first encounter between the Focolare Movement and the Bangwa people in Fontem. They especially wanted to thank Mafua Ndem Chiara Lubich<\/a> (Queen Sent by God) as the Bangwa call her, for all that she did for their people. She and the Focolare were actually the answer to a prayer of the early 1960s that the Bangwa raised to God when sleeping sickness threatened to wipe out the tribe with a 90% infant mortality rate. Now a permanent Mariapolis has arisen in<\/strong> Fontem <\/a>which bears the name of the Focolare foundress, and sleeping sickness has been nearly wiped out thanks to the intervention of doctors and nurses from the Movement. <\/strong>

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\u00a9 CSC Audiovisivi – Caris Mendes<\/p><\/div> The pilgrimage began at a <\/strong>general audience with Pope Francis<\/a> on St Peter\u2019s Square<\/strong> and a visit to St Peter\u2019s tomb and those of other popes. Then there was a tour of St Peter\u2019s Basilica. \u201cIt is my precise duty to continue to teach this spirit that has changed my people,\u201d said the Fon of Akum and vice-president of Fon Friends of the Focolare Movement, during a visit to the Focolare town of Loppiano<\/strong> which was the second stop on their pilgrimage. On that occasion the Regional Minister for International Cooperation, Peace and Reconciliation, Massimo Toschi, recalled the first time he visited Fontem, ten years ago: \u201cIn December we\u2019ll celebrate the 50th anniversary in Fontem, and we\u2019ll see the shining face of a \u2018field hospital\u2019 Church as Pope Francis described it.\u201d The third stop was on September 24th in the birthplace of Chiara in Trent. They visited the places she lived in and where the Focolare Movement began during the Second World War. They met some of the local citizens, representatives from different institutions, the Mayor and the Archbishop.

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Photo Credit: SIF Loppiano<\/p><\/div> T<\/strong>he last stop was a visit to the international centre of the Movement in Rocca di Papa where Chiara Lubich had lived for many years and is now buried<\/strong>. The Fon of Fonjumentaw recalled Chiara\u2019s last visit to Fontem in 2000 when she proposed a pact: a promise to love one another as Jesus would love. \u201cThis was Chiara\u2019s testament,\u201d he explained, \u201cher legacy that is not only for our peoples. After that pact we were not the same anymore. Now, I invite you today to make the same pact with each other in the name of all humanity.\u201d During the send-off meal, there were greetings, words of gratitude and gifts that several Fons and Mafuas offered to the Focolare. One was from Essoh Attah. It recalled a proverb from his tribe that says that no Bangwa will ever drown so long as there is someone from the valley (the other tribe). He paraphrased it and applied it to Chiara: \u201cSo long as she and her people are there, none of us will drown.\u201d A journalist from Bamenda, who had accompanied the group, concluded: \u201cIn these days my eyes have been filled with the light of Mamma Chiara, and I would like to go back to my people and take it to each one of them.\u201d See also: Story of Fontem<\/a> Thirty years after her last visit to Fontem (Cameroon)<\/a> <\/p>\n

Chiara Lubich And Religions. Traditional Religions<\/a><\/p>\n

Fontem, a Jubilee of Thanksgiving<\/a><\/p>\n

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During 19-28 September 2016, a delegation of 40 people from Cameroon, including nine traditional leaders, native Kings of the Bangwa Tribe of Lebialem, Southwest Cameroon, made a pilgrimage to Italy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[893],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-328596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-focolare-worldwide-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328596\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}