The Flag
The Cameroon flag is a tricolor of green, red, and yellow vertical stripes with one gold star in the center of the red stripe. The colour Red in the centre strip stands for unity, and the golden yellow star on the red background referred to as "the star of unity". The Yellow strip right side of the red strip symbolizes the sun, the source of people happiness and also the savannas in the northern part of the country, while the Green strip left of red stands for hope and the forests in the southern part of Cameroon.
The motto for the country is Peace, Work, and Fatherland.
The flag is usually hoisted in schools in the morning during assembly; which is then followed by the Cameroon national anthem being sung.
The Anthem
The Cameroon Anthem was used on an unofficial basis beginning in 1948 before independence, and officially adopted in 1957. The music was composed by René Djam Afame, who also wrote the lyrics along with Samuel Minkio Bamba and Moïse Nyatte Nko'o. The lyrics were changed in 1978.
The anthem is usually sung in schools during assembly after the flag is hoisted.
French lyrics
Verse 1
O Cameroun berceau de nos ancêtres,
Va debout et jaloux de ta liberté,
Comme un soleil ton drapeau fier doit être,
Un symbole ardent de foi et d'unité.
CHORUS:
Chère Patrie, Terre chérie,
Tu es notre seul et vrai bonheur,
Notre joie, notre vie,
En toi l'amour et le grand honneur.
Verse 2
Que tous tes enfants du Nord au Sud,
De l'Est à l'Ouest soient tout amour,
Te servir que ce soit le seul but,
Pour remplir leur devoir toujours.
CHORUS
Chère Patrie, Terre chérie,
Tu es notre seul et vrai bonheur,
Notre joie, notre vie,
En toi l'amour et le grand honneur.
English Lyrics
Verse1
O Cameroon, Thou Cradle of our Fathers,
Holy Shrine where in our midst they now repose,
Their tears and blood and sweat thy soil did water,
On thy hills and valleys once their tillage rose.
Dear Fatherland, thy worth no tongue can tell!
How can we ever pay thy due?
Thy welfare we will win in toil and love and peace,
Will be to thy name ever true!
Chorus
Land of Promise, land of Glory!
Thou, of life and joy, our only store!
Thine be honour, thine devotion,
And deep endearment, for evermore.
Verse 2
From Shari, from where the Mungo meanders
From along the banks of lowly Boumba Stream,
Muster thy sons in union close around thee,
Mighty as the Buea Mountain be their team;
Instil in them the love of gentle ways,
Regret for errors of the past;
Foster, for Mother Africa, a loyalty
That true shall remain to the last.
Chorus
Land of Promise, land of Glory!
Thou, of life and joy, our only store!
Thine be honour, thine devotion,
And deep endearment, for evermore.
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