This year we held our first youth camp in Yagoua, a city in the northern region of Cameroon. Yagoua is 1,617 kilometers from Douala, a 42-hour drive. Yagoua is on the border of Cameroon across from the Chad city Bongor. The Logone River separates the two countries and the two cities. The two tribes are mainly the Massa tribes and speak the same local language.

In this far-north region during the dry season the temperature can go up to 40° Celsius (104° Fahrenheit) in the shade from March to May. The favorable months to hold the youth camp are July and August, which are in the rainy season, when the temperature drops to 19 or 20°C (66-68°F) during the day and 15°C (59°F) at night.

Our youth camp was July 18-25 with 20 campers and four members for supervision. We rented the Sentinel Club site for accommodation and a meals hall for our activities. We also used Yagoua Youth and Physical Education Complex Stadium, a public institution. We will be using the Sentinel Club as our Feast site this year.

The theme of our youth camp was “Becoming Sons and Daughters of God.” For Christian living class, we used material from the home office. The daily themes were “Meet the Family” (day one), “Built on Love” (day two), “Sticks Together” (day three) and “Family Forever” (day four).

On the Sabbath, the sermonette was given by Jean Paul Biena (family unity). The sermon was given by Moise Mabout (why did God create the family?).

Compared to other activities, football is the dominant and most practiced sport in Cameroon. Coordination during the camp was not easy—almost all campers were attending a youth camp for the first time. However, they are anticipating another camp for next year.

We hope that next year we will have a single camp for all campers in Cameroon despite the great distance that separates them.