Samira Pokwo

March 2025

Things just kept getting in the way. Seventeen-year-old Samira Pokwo describes her lifelong relationship with the Church as a series of starts and stops, from her time as a little girl until just last year. But now, the Valley High School senior says she’s ready. It’s time to become Catholic.

 Looking back, Samira—who was born in Cameroon and lived there until age ten with her parents—describes the on-and-off nature of her faith life. “I would go to church whenever I was with my grandma,” she says. “I stayed with her sometimes, during vacations. But when I would go back home, I wouldn’t really go to church because we had a lot going on.”

Samira and her parents moved to Los Angeles in 2018 and the family began attending a Catholic Church together. But it was a long distance from their home, and with both parents working, they had a hard time getting there consistently.

“Then, when we moved here,” Samira explains, “we decided to start again.”

In 2023, the family moved to West Des Moines and settled into a place near Sacred Heart. They visited the parish right away to see about getting their two little ones baptized, and Samira, who was already fifteen at the time, says her parents invited her to consider becoming Catholic, too. But they gave her space and didn’t pressure her.

“They kind of like, opened the door, and I went in by myself.”

Samira started attending Mass on Sundays and SMASH on Wednesday evenings. Meeting Catholics her own age made a huge difference, and SMASH continues to play an important role in her faith life. “It’s actually wonderful because I’ve met a lot of people that go to my school that I didn’t really talk to at school, but when we come here, we just talk and learn a lot. And you’re free to ask any kind of questions you want and Julie’s going to answer them, not judging you.”

At around the same time, Samira started thinking more deeply about life and the problems that she, like everyone else, had to face every day. Instead of just being sad, she wondered if there could be a reason for all of it. “I know there’s a God,” she says. 

“I’ve heard that He does stuff like this to challenge you.”

For Samira, part of accepting God’s challenge was to put her faith in Him and become Catholic. No more starts and stops. She began her preparations last fall and will receive the sacraments for the first time in April at the Easter Vigil. “I’m just ready to go,” she says. “I feel like He decided that this was the time for me, so I’m just going to follow.”