Marie Roumy (born January 14, 1924, in La Charité-sur-Loire, France; died February 23, 2013, in Douala, Cameroon) was a French and later Cameroonian religious sister.
Marie Roumy | |
|---|---|
| Born | January 14, 1924 |
| Died | February 23, 2013 (aged 89) |
| Nationality | French, later Cameroonian |
| Occupation | Religious sister |
Originally a teacher, she settled in the poor neighborhoods of Douala, where she improved sanitation, established schools, hospitals, a savings cooperative, provided jobs for young people, founded the Chain of Saint-Nicodème Homes for street children, training centers, and shelters for prostitutes.
Biography
editMarie Roumy was born on January 14, 1924, in the hamlet of Sainte-Hélène near La Charité-sur-Loire, in the department of Nièvre.[1]
After becoming a religious sister, she moved to Cameroon and began teaching at a missionary school in Douala, the capital, in 1949.[2] She later became the director of this school but eventually handed over her responsibilities to the local Cameroonian population and began teaching in the poor neighborhoods.[2]
With the permission of her religious order, Marie Roumy settled in Nkongmondo, a poor neighborhood of Douala.[2] She provided education to the women of this neighborhood for three years.[2] In 1975, she paused her teaching to return to France for training in popular education.[2]
Returning to Douala in 1978, she settled in the Nylon neighborhood, another poor area of the capital.[2] She organized the sanitation of the roads, their drainage to prevent flooding, and their improvement, initially through artisanal means and later with government support.[2] She secured external aid, particularly from the World Bank and the Swiss government, to finance infrastructure, schools, and hospitals in the neighborhood.[2]
She also organized a savings cooperative, the Caisse Populaire de Nylon (CPN), and helped employ many young unemployed people.[2]
Marie Roumy was very involved with street children.[1][2] In 1986, she obtained Cameroonian nationality and, in 1995, founded the Chain of Saint-Nicodème Homes for street children with Jean-Duc Keutcha, himself a former street child.[3] She also organized training centers for them in crafts.[2]
Marie Roumy created centers for welcoming, listening to, and sheltering prostituted girls.[2]
In early 2013, Marie Roumy was injured while trying to protect a young person during a brawl, and she later fell ill.[1] She died a few weeks later, on February 23, 2013, in a clinic in Douala.[1] She was buried on February 27, 2013.[1]
Notes and references
edit- ^ a b c d e Gildas Mouthé (2013). "Douala - La Révérende Sœur Marie Roumy rappelée à Dieu". leffortcamerounais.info. L'Effort camerounais. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Martin Luther Mbita (March 4, 2001). "Cameroun: Sœur Marie Roumy, la "mama camérounaise" aux côtés des pauvres de Douala". cath.ch. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
- ^ Bernard Pirot (2004). Enfants des rues d'Afrique centrale. Karthala Editions. p. 27. ISBN 9782811138899.
Bibliography
edit- Odile Foch (1999). Soeur Marie Roumy. Éditions du Signe. ISBN 9782877187466.
