Asher Kaufman, age 18, set out on June 28 for a yearlong trip to help spread the Children's Rosary in Europe and Africa. He spent the months of July, August and the first two weeks in September in France. He arrived in Uganda on September 15. From Uganda he traveled by car to Rwanda on September 28. After a week in Rwanda there was once more a return for more travel in Uganda. On October 11 he arrived in Tanzania and on October 26 traveled to Kenya. A visit for three weeks to Madagascar followed on November 7. Most recently he has been traveling in South Africa."Upon my departure from South Africa, my journey would be more indirect than was preferable, but not more than was avoidable. The itinerary included an overnight layover in Addis Ababa, a city which my eyes had glimpsed more than once in my repeated passages through Bole International airport, a buzzing hub of regional and transcontinental flights through which at some point any itinerary through Africa that involves air travel will likely pass. From Addis, one can go nearly everywhere on the continent, as a simple perusal of the flight board will reveal upcoming departures for Kinshasa, Juba, Bangui, Maputo, Pointe Noire, Nairobi, Bujumbura, and close to every other major capital in Africa.
I had already passed through Addis on my way from Paris to Kampala and then again when going from Nairobi to Antananarivo. However, I had not actually stepped foot outside the airport itself.
Very kindly, the airline provided a hotel room and meals at an institution not far from the terminal with frequent shuttles to and from. They also provided my transit visa to clear passport control without difficulty. This being the case, my trip on the afternoon of December 14 unfolded without hitch or difficulty. On the nearly five-hour flight to Ethiopia from South Africa, I discovered the selection of audiobooks that was available on our seatback screens. Settling on H. G. Wells’s The Invisible Man as having a fitting length for such a trip, I ignored the faulty audio input which only emitted sound through one of my two earbuds and had a very pleasant journey.
The next morning, the shuttle left at 7:00 a.m. for my mid-morning flight. Thankfully, I did not need to check in as I had not picked up my checked bags the night before and already had my boarding pass from Johannesburg. This was good because what with the two security checks and passport control, the process of getting to the gate was already quite long as it was.
My flight was not a direct one from Addis Ababa to Yaoundé, but rather it included a brief “refueling” stop in Libreville. The way in which it was designated as a stop for fuel, just as if this were a jet from 1965 and not 2025, made me chuckle a bit to myself, but in the end it did cause some significant delay. The “brief stop for fuel” ended up meaning that some passengers deplaned and some boarded, which then entailed multiple passenger counts and an army of cleaning personnel to vacuum, wipe, pick up trash, and replace pillows. By the time we left Libreville, we were an hour behind time and very unlikely to make it up on the brief 45-minute trip to Yaoundé. I felt bad because several priests and seminarians were waiting to pick me up at the airport, and I did not wish for them to be kept idly there for hours on end.
Upon arrival at Yaoundé Nsimalen airport, however, it quickly became apparent that passport control would take quite some time. First, immediately after leaving the aircraft, there was a line of policemen to check that we had received valid pre-approval for our visas. Then, upon entering the main hall, there were a line of people from the Health department there to check we had valid cards for vaccination against yellow fever. After this, I naturally assumed it was time to get in line for passport control. I was wrong. Upon arriving at the front of the line, I was quickly told by the officer it was necessary to go to the back of the hall again and get my visa officially issued first and then to come to her. This I duly did, and after being fingerprinted and photographed, the visa was placed in my passport booklet. I then returned to the line I was in before, got my visa validated, proceeded to claim my baggage, clear customs without issue, and emerge into the Cameroonian late afternoon sun.
There, sure enough, were the Missionaries of the Holy Apostles congregated by the arrivals hall in their distinctive tan cassocks, specifically instituted by their founder for missionary work. Fr. Peter Kucer, the American superior of Holy Apostles College and Seminary in Cromwell, Connecticut, was also on hand; he was visiting the community in Cameroon and had graciously agreed to bring a whole bag of rosaries and materials from our house in Connecticut to Cameroon for me since he was going at the same time. I felt badly that they had been waiting about two hours longer than expected due to the various delays I have described.
The drive back to their community house in the Nkolbisson neighborhood of Yaoundé took nearly an hour. It seemed long to me at the time; however, just a week later when taking Fr. Kucer to the airport to leave after taking many multiple hour car journeys around the region, I was surprised by how short the ride to the airport seemed.
That evening, I was shown to my room in the guesthouse of the complex (guesthouse shown directly above). In the center of the guesthouse was a large multipurpose room that could be a living room or a dining room. On one side of this was my sitting room and bedroom, and on the other side was Fr. Kucer’s sitting room and bedroom. Everything had been so kindly arranged for my stay. The complex in which I was now living comprised not only our guesthouse but also the main residence building and a chapel. The chapel was completed earlier this year, and featuring prominently over the altar is a detailed image of Christ the Good Shepherd watching over the sheep. I like this image very much because the artist successfully manages to capture the masculine and powerful nature of Christ, as well as his loving tenderness as he gazes at his sheep. Across from the chapel, there is the main residence for the seminarians and priests, and it is in this residence on the ground floor that one finds the library, kitchen and dining room.
All of what I have just described is for the seminarians completing their studies in theology; however, for those at the philosophy stage, their residence is down a small hill but within shouting distance of where I stay. They have their own facilities and routine, but their schedule seems quite similar to ours because on many an evening, as we finish the period of silent meditation, I can hear them, across the cool night air, through the open windows of the chapel, already chanting the psalms we are about to begin ourselves.
The next morning, after waking up with the roosters for 5:00 a.m. silent meditation followed by 5:30 a.m. Mass followed by breakfast, I spoke with Fr. Pierre Ateba, the superior of the African mission of the order, who told me I was welcome to come with him and Fr. Kucer on their visits to various bishops around the region all of that week.
Fr. Ateba had arranged these all in advance; what a blessing to stumble into such a situation on the first day of my being present in the country.
Our first visit was to the Diocese of Ebolowa, in the south of the country, near to the borders with Equitorial Guinea and Gabon. Everyone here at the the MSA community seemed confident that one could get from Yaoundé to Ebolowa in two hours, but nonetheless, especially with traffic when leaving the city, it took nearly four hours to make the trip. The bishop, Msgr. Philippe Mbarga, was on hand to receive us for our meeting.
After Fr. Kucer had concluded the business for which he had come to see the bishop, I was able to speak a bit about the Children’s Rosary and our interest in rolling out the movement in Cameroon. The bishop was very interested and invited me back to go ahead with efforts in their parishes. He also invited all of us back for a Mass that Saturday to celebrate the anniversary of his episcopal ordination there. The bishop’s interest was very encouraging to me. That afternoon, after circulating around the town looking for a restaurant for some time, we finally found a sign indicating a hotel a short distance away. We asked one of the taxi motorcycles to lead us there. After arriving at the out of the way place and coming in the gate, we found out that the hotel either did not have a restaurant or if it did, it had no food to serve, so rather chagrined at our frustrated efforts, we headed back into town with directions for a hotel that did have food. Upon finding our way there, we were able to have a nice lunch and then proceed on our way to Yaoundé.
The next day, Wednesday, was the day when we had an appointment with Archbishop Jean Mbarga (no relation to the bishop we met the day before). Since the archbishop was in Italy, however, we met with the vicar for the diocese (shown above in the white shirt). He wanted me to have a chance to meet with the archbishop at a later date, when he returned from Italy.
After this meeting, we stopped by the Cathedral, which had a very high tower with a balcony; Fr. Kucer went up with Fr. Celestin (the secretary for the province) and Fr. Ateba, but I stayed behind, having a prohibitive fear of heights.
We also took the opportunity to visit the Basilica of Mary, Queen of the Apostles, one of the most important basilica in Cameroon, completed in 2006. Fr. Kucer was particularly gratified by this name as that was the name of the seminary chapel back in Cromwell. We walked through the Holy Door, toured the basilica, and then went back to the residence, having completed a very full day. On Thursday and Friday, we had more appointments. The first was in the Diocese of Bafia to meet Msgr. Emmanuel Dassi.
He seemed a rather young bishop who was generous enough to spend extra time with us beyond that of the appointment so we could have tea together. The next day’s appointment was in the Diocese of Sangmelina; this was quite a drive away, and unfortunately, upon arrival, we were told the bishop was not present due to an urgent conflict which arose and took him to Yaoundé (where we had just come from). Nevertheless, the chancellor(shown below holding a package) was very kind and took down all of what we wished to present to the bishop; he also took us around the Cathedral and the grounds. Well satisfied with how the appointment had gone despite having not seen the bishop, we returned on our way.
The following day was Saturday, and you might recall that this was the day the Bishop of Ebolowa had invited us to the Mass and closing of the Holy Door (shown above). Accordingly, Fr. Kucer and I, along with Br. Gabin, a brother in the community here in charge of vocations, left early in the morning in order to arrive an hour or two before the Mass began. However, we only ended up arriving a half hour before; the bishop had had a whole breakfast prepared for us, so we had to consume it in expedited fashion before rushing back over to the Church. Fr. Kucer had been invited to concelebrate the Mass with the archbishop, so he had to vest as well.
Happily enough for us, we had no need of worrying about the Eucharistic fast because the Mass was long enough to outstrip the necessary one-hour period before communion. It was a Mass where the financial gifts for the past year for the archbishop’s appeal were presented parish by parish and apostolate by apostolate at the time of the presentation of the gifts. This whole process, with each parish’s representatives walking solemnly down the aisle and placing their envelope in the basket and announcing the amount, took nearly an hour itself. Therefore, in the end, the Mass took about three hours. Therefore, we were now pressed for time again because we had to be back in Yaoundé at 5:00. The bishop had again very kindly prepared a meal for us, however, so we did not wish to simply run out without first heading back to his residence. It definitely seemed apparent to me that this bishop was a very special man and very generous to organize as much for us as he did.
That night, at the MSA novitiate residence (a few miles away from the compound for the philosophy and theology students where I was staying) there was a delightful evening of prayer and entertainment as a kind of pre-Christmas celebration. There were songs sung and dances danced, trivia games played, and a comedy sketch reenacted. It was a very fun time.
The comedy sketch (shown above) was surprisingly funny as all of the brothers who were part of it seemed to have a natural gift for comedic timing and witty lines; even the small foibles they managed to turn into a laughable bit. The following day was Sunday, so we went back to the novitiate house for Mass. There Fr. Celestin preached a very interesting sermon that dove deeply into the historical and Biblical context of the first reading from Isaiah; I appreciated this and really found I had no trouble paying attention at this homily.
In the afternoon, we all (Fr. Kucer, Br. Gabin, Fr. Celestin, Fr. Ateba, and I) went out to a local restaurant for lunch. It really was a nice time, with good food and a rather heated theological debate on the sacrificial nature of the Crucifixion and the exact division of the persons of the Trinity. Fr. Ateba is a Biblical scholar, having received a doctorate in the field from the Biblicum, a highly respected and elite institution set up by Pope Pius X to conduct studies and theological inquiry regarding the Bible. He has a very clear and calm way of delineating Bible passages and Church doctrine, and I learned quite a lot just from that one lunch we had together.
That evening, it was time to say goodbye to Fr. Kucer, who was taking his flight back. I rode with some of the brothers to take him back to the airport.
Thus, ended the first week of my stay in Cameroon; it had been busy, but in this, there was a feeling of satisfaction nonetheless. As for the next week, I will leave that to another post."
To see all of Asher's dispatches from his journey click HERE
