Rev. Fr Antoine Chonang preached Jesus Christ and as well gave them bread on Tuesday.

The Mbappé Lepe Stadium in Akwa Douala was the venue that Rev. Father Antoine de Padoue Chonang in service at the St. Louis Parish, Bonaberi, chose to commemorate his 25 years of priesthood by feeding souls of street children with the word of God.

Reading from the gospels of St. John 1:1-12 about the rejection of Jesus, and St. Luke 22:39-40 about the passion of the Lord Jesus Christ, he said their rejection can also be a blessing to the country and their families.

Alluding to his past experience as a street child, the priest said he was also rejected at the age of 11 by the entire village and sent on exile with his family for refusing to drink a traditional potion. The rejection, he said, turned out to be a blessing as he later became a priest; they too, he said can be useful to the community by denouncing suspicious members of the dreaded Islamist sect that is terrorising the North of Cameroon and by bidding farewell to the streets and anything associated with street life.

“It is to ask them to get out of the misery they are living on the street. No one is happy to see them stealing, begging and committing abominable acts like homosexuality and drug consumption,” he said. Bread and drinks were distributed to the children at the end of the meeting.

François Belinga, the Chief Security of street children living in the stadium, said he has been a street child for 25 years and that since the death of a certain Good Samaritan, Sister Marie Nicodème, they lack adequate medical care, financial and material assistance.