The Conrad Hilton Fund for Sisters and the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation has allocated $125,000 to the Franciscan Common Venture for providing post-secondary education to English-speaking women religious in
Cameroon
,
West Africa
.
Shisong
,
Cameroon
is located immediately north of the equator on the Atlantic coast of
West Africa
. The majority of its people are very poor. Their homes are made of mud and local woods with metal roofing and no toilets. Many people move from place to place on foot, although some taxi and bus transportation is available in the larger cities. Public schools offer primary and secondary education in the most minimal conditions. Projected adult literacy rate for the year 2000 was at approximately 25 percent. There are six universities with various faculties.
“Through this project, the sisters will be educated for leadership roles in the primary and secondary schools of
Cameroon
and as health care professionals for their hospitals and out post clinics,” says Euphrasia Yuh, Tertiary Sisters of St Francis and the sister in charge of this project. “The university education will provide the necessary preparation to meet the government credentialing requirements in these public services.” Specifically, the sisters will earn university degrees so that they can be credentialed as teachers in the schools and as health care professionals in the hospitals and clinics which they staff.
Since October 2008, the Conrad Hilton Foundation grants have allowed 17 sisters to begin school in African universities. Nine beneficiaries are enrolled in health care studies: nursing, laboratory technology, anesthesia and pharmacy. The rest are enrolled in education, law, business management and accounting.
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