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March 5, 2010 Special prayers were recited and bible readings read by women from various south Regina churches during an ecumenical service held March 5 at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church in recognition of World Day of Prayer. It was one of several services held throughout the city. Each year Christian women in one of 170 countries writes a special service that is adapted and celebrated throughout the world. This year’s theme was “Let Everything that has breath praise God.” The service was written this year by Christian women of Cameroon one of the more stable West African countries. The service began with an opening prayer and the first of several hymns sung by the church choir performed a cappella with a distinctive African harmony. The printed program included a description of Cameroon which describes itself as Africa in miniature with most African topographical features represented in the country. There are 240 languages spoken in Cameroon representative of the 240 different cultures but the official languages are English and French with more emphasis on French. A presentation during the service gave a pictorial tour of the country describing its progress as well as problems. The prayers and stories focused on the theme and emphasized progress made and problems faced by women and young girls. Cameroon signed in 1983 the United Nations Convention on the elimination of discrimination against women but tradition and culture often impede progress. Some girls do manage to obtain an education but a girl child is usually the last to be taken care of in the family. She is considered to be an asset of her future husband and thus any investment in her is deemed a waste of resources. The result is often poor school grades, high drop out rates, delinquency, exploitation, prostitution, early marriages, unwanted pregnancies and many other problems, according to the stories. The church and fellowship hall were festooned with quilts made by a church quilting group that are sent to Canadian Lutheran World Relief for distribution to needy countries. A reception in the Fellowship Hall followed the service. Frank Flegel |
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