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Español Tertiary Sisters joined participants from more than 30 African countries in a campaign to end human trafficking earlier this month at an event organized by the Pan-African Catholic Theology and Pastoral Network (PACTPAN).
The February 8 event, held via videoconference, featured prayer and informational sessions on human trafficking, and coincided with the feast of St. Josephine Bakhita, a former slave of Sudanese descent and patron saint of victims of human trafficking.
Sr. Pascaline Dubam, Tertiary Sisters of St. Francis (TSSF), PACTPAN’s Coordinator for Cameroon, together with a team of priests and religious sisters, prepared the ground for the campaign. The event marked the inauguration of a five-year pilgrimage which will be undertaken with participants across the entire African continent under the theme “Restoring Hope in Africa: A Jubilee Call to End Human Trafficking.”
The Tertiary Sisters are focusing their efforts in the Diocese of Kumbo in Cameroon. The anti-trafficking campaign was launched at TSSF schools, hospitals, and outreach centers in cities throughout Cameroon, including Shisong, Nkar, and Djottin.
On February 8, participants in Kumbo converged at the Cardiac Center Hall of the St. Elizabeth Catholic General Hospital Shisong and joined others from across the continent via Zoom to listen and reflect together on how to end human trafficking.
The vice president of Uganda, Jessica Rose Epel Alupo, delivered the keynote address. Sister Leonida Katunge, the campaign’s coordinator, shared details of the event with ACI Africa, the Catholic News Agency’s news partner in Africa.
Sr. Genevieve Nakoma TSSF delivered a presentation to onsite attendees in Kumbo focusing on the definition of human trafficking, its various forms, the tricks used by traffickers, and steps to be taken by victims and those who suspect that they are being trafficked.
Organizers were extremely satisfied with not only the large number of people who attended, but also that those attending were among those most likely to be targeted by traffickers. More than three-quarters of the attendees were students from the Catholic School of Health Sciences in Shisong, St. Francis Comprehensive College in Shisong, and St. Anthony of Padua College Mbohtong.