By Roy Weavers

Something special happens on the first Friday of March each year. It is the World Day of Prayer(WDP), a Christian prayer movement from a women’s perspective. The roots go back to the 19th century and since 1927 WDP has been celebrated in an ever increasing number of countries.

This coming Friday 5th March more than three million people worldwide will be worshipping together during an annual day of prayer. Like a Mexican wave of prayer the first service will begin at sunrise in Tonga and move around the world until the sun sets in neighbouring Samoa. 

By then the Day will have been celebrated in over 170 countries and throughout Australia, over 1300 services will have been held. Services here are usually for 1 hour. Each year the service is prepared by a different country. In 2010 the Christian women of Cameroon in Central Africa have chosen the theme “Let Everything That Has Breath Praise God”.

Cameroonians love to praise God, thanking Him for his greatest gift-life, because if there is life there is hope. They express this in procession, dance and song; in all activities of daily life: cooking, singing lullabies and working in the fields, farms and cocoa and coffee plantations. The service invites us to learn more about life in Cameroon and the beauty of the land.

Cameroon has 7 local ethnic groups making a population of nearly 18 million people. While English and French are the official languages, people usually speak in 24 African dialects.

Christians represent about 40% of the population with 20% Muslims and 20% holding indigenous beliefs. In 1994 Cameroon acceded to equal rights between men and women. However, the weight of tradition tends to often discriminate against women. The country has been identified as a source, transit and destination for trafficking of women and children for the purposes of
forced labour and sexual exploitation.

The organisers encourage you to participate in a service near you to unite and stand together in Christian solidarity with all people, particularly the women and children, of Cameroon on Friday 5th March 2010. For information regarding holding a World Day of Prayer service or the location of one near you go to our website www.worlddayofprayeraustralia.org