Garoua, Apostolic Prefecture of

GAROUA, APOSTOLIC PREFECTURE of - Included in French Cameroon, it borders Lake Chad to the north. It was erected on 9 January 1947 with the northern territory of the apostolic vicariate of Foumban and entrusted to the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. In that vast area the missionary work was barely beginning, all the more so since in the center lies the sultanate of Adamawa, completely Islamized.

The rest of the territory is inhabited by pagans, for the most part animists. The seat of the Ordinary can communicate with the various districts. The climate is very hot and dry. The population is about 1,100,000 inhabitants, of whom 503,357 are Muslims and 500,000 pagans. In the northern regions it has a density of about 15 per sq. km., and only 4 per sq. km. in the more Islamized region of Ngaoundéré. The languages spoken there are Foumbé, a kind of Arabic dialect, Sara and Banana. Protestants too have begun some foundations north of Ngaoundéré and number about 2,745 adherents. The area is 140,000 sq. km., with 609 indigenous Catholics, 403 foreign and 408 catechumens. There are 20 missionaries, 8 brothers, 8 sisters, distributed among the 7 quasi-parishes, 8 primary and 8 secondary stations.

Saverio Paventi