At MOHWA Buea Academic Excellence Awards:Manyu indigenes urged to be proud cultural ambassadors

MOHWA Buea in family picture with some laureates

By Christopher Ambe

Over 30   sons and daughters of Manyu Division from   primary to university level, residing in Buea, who succeeded brilliantly in their final/certificate exams (FSLC, BEPC, GCE etc) this year, were on September 7, honoured at an award- ceremony organized by Manyu Women’s Association (MOHWA) Buea.

The ceremony, which took place at Mariton Hotel,Buea, was presided over by Dr.Kate Ogork, president of MOHWA Buea  and witnessed by Dr.Comfort OjongKpot,the association’s national president.

The ceremony also assembled some MOHWA patrons, who are elite of Manyu Division and they used the opportunity to advocate for  Manyu cultural revival.

MOHWA Buea recognized the academic performance of the over 30 school children by giving them books, cash prizes and certificates, a gesture that put a smile on faces of the laureates.  The excellence award is a yearly MOHWA activity.

According Dr.  kate  Ogork,  MOHWA objectives include: educational empowerment of Manyu Children, sponsoring needy and displaced Manyu children, cultural empowerment of the Manyu youth and recognizing excellence in Manyu children each year.

Dr.Mrs.  Ogork, said apart from the those who excelled at examinations,” today we have also  assisted those who are not financially strong;the needy like children from handicapped parents.We have ten of such children here.We  have given books, uniforms and  25,000Fcfa each so they can get registered in schools…

Dr,Kate Ogork,MOHWA Buea President and a laureate

For those going to secondary school,we have given them 50,000fcfa to help them buy school needs”

The President of MOHWA Buea  said “ We are out to empower ourselves and  our children.We cannot  empower only ourselves and leave the children behind.

 We don’t rely only on academics–that is why we invited some young entrepreneurs to come and talk to our children about engaging in entrepreneurship”

The laureates were given career orientation by Thomas Orock, who is Southwest Regional Delegate for Employment & Vocational Training.

Dr. Comfort Ojongkpot, MOHWA national president and university don, talked on “Academic /University Orientation. 

Presentations on the “Valorisation of the Manyu Culture” were made by Sesekou Takem Collins (retired Commissioner of Police) and Martina Agbor Tambe, member of the Southwest Regional Assembly.

 The laureates were also told  the merits of “Youth Entrepreneurship” by Eyong Pearlson and Takang Olive, both of whom are young entrepreneurs.

Speaking on the “Valorization of the Manyu Culture”,Sesekou Collins Takem urged his kin and kith to  always practice their culture .

“You should be proud to dress in your Manyu cultural attire, learn to speak your dialects and learn how to prepare typical Manyu dishes like Fufu and Eru.

“Manyu children should learn how to greet their elders/parents with politeness and be respectful.”

 Martina Agbor Tambe,who said a typical Manyu woman is intelligent and smart,advised, “ We should encourage Manyu children to marry among themselves, so that Manyu women are not married  away by other men.”

Prof.Agbor Ntui described MOHWA as a model association made of accomplished women and expressed his readiness to support them.

Mr.Orock Thomas (earlier mentioned), who talked on career orientation, insisted that no job is useless.

Addressing the laureates directly, Mr Orock remarked,

Sesekou Collins Takem awarding a certificate to a laureate

“We cannot talk of Vision 2035 with academicians, but technicians. Cameroon needs more technicians than academicians to emerge in 2035

 “If you want to be rich, don’t work with the government, but engage in the private sector/business. Parents, let us encourage our children to face the realities of life.”

A health professional from the Southwest Delegation of Public Health, Buea was given the opportunity to brief the assembly on the available COVID-19 vaccines and the public was urged to get vaccinated against the pandemic.

 

Cameroon: UNDP Designs Platform to Combat GBV

Participants in group at the end of the workshop

 By Christopher Ambe

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), working in partnership with other UN entities such as UNFPA, UN Peace building, UN Women and the Government of Cameroon, is more determined to put an end to Sexual Gender-based Violence (SGBV) in Cameroon.

 To that effect, a national platform to fight against SGBV has been developed.

Six core types of GBV are: 1) rape 2) sexual assault 3) physical assault, 4) forced marriage, 5) denial of resources, opportunities or services and 6) psychological /emotional abuse,

Cases of SGBV in the Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon since the eruption of the Anglophone Crisis in late 2016- and in the country’s   northern regions, sporadically under attacks by Boko Haram terrorists, are a rising cause for concern.

 According to the UNDP, over 4000 cases of GBV were reported last June in the Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon.

The UNDP, from 23rd -26^th August 2021, organized in Douala a four-day workshop for the establishment of a national platform of actors in the fight against GBV and Human Rights violations as part of the peace consolidation process.

The Douala workshop was an offshoot of the project “PBF-GYPI: Strengthening the participation of community mechanisms and the role of women human rights defenders in the peace consolidation process in the Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon.”

  The project manager, Mballa Ebengue Madeleine Julie epse Eloundou,who is the Gender & Human Rights Specialist,UNDP Yaoundé  said   the workshop was within the framework of the execution of the UN Secretary General Peace Building Fund (PBF) Gender promotion Initiative.

Mrs. Eloundou said the UNDP in collaboration with the Cameroon Human Rights Commission (CHRC) and the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and the Family decided to set up a platform of actors in the fight and management of cases of GBV and Human Rights’ violations for a more coordinated and efficient response in the Northwest & Southwest regions as well as in regions hosting IDPs.

The workshop, which took place at Hotel La Falaise,Bonanjo  assembled 57 participants -mostly drawn from the crisis-stricken Northwest and Southwest regions.

The participants included: 12 members of CAWOPEM, 12 members of CSOs working with IDPs, five  representatives of Cameroon Human Rights Commission(CHRC), 12 representatives of the mass media, five  officials of MINPROFF,five  UNDP Staffers,two  members of PBF Technical Secretariat etc.

The Minister of Women’s Empowerment and the Family, Abena Ondoa nee Obama Marie Therese, was represented at the workshop by Madam Francisca Moto, Sub-Director for the Protection and Promotion of the Family.

Moto thanked the UNDP for working with her ministry towards the eradication of GBV.

“If men and women were considered as equal, then women would not be victims of GBV,” she noted, adding that “95 % of violence on women are perpetrated by men.”

She urged men to henceforth champion the fight against GBV.

 “We have lot to do to ensure that peace prevails; where there is no peace, women suffer more; sex is used as a weapon of war in the [crisis-stricken] Northwest and Southwest regions,” Moto remarked, insisting that “Everyone should be a champion against SGBV”

Prof.Joyce Endeley, one  of  the two commissioners of the CHRC,who participated in the workshop, said at its closing ceremony that SGBV has a long history in Cameroon, but added that the situation has been exacerbated by the crises in the Northwest and Southwest regions ,as well as in the North of Cameroon.

Prof. Endeley said the UNDP platform is a substantive project that would make the voice against SGBV go further. She added that gender/vulnerable groups are high on the agenda of the mandate of CHRC.

 The other CHRC commissioner, who made useful inputs at workshop, was Seiny Boukar Lamine,the Lamido of Kolofata of the Far North region.

Also speaking at the workshop closing, Caryn Dasah, general coordinator of CAWOPEM, lauded its rich thematic presentations and highly interactive nature.

Topics discussed at the workshop included:  An overview of Human Rights and SGBV Related to Crisis, the Human Right Situation in the Northwest /Southwest regions (2019-2021); Communicating on SGBV and Human Rights.

The workshop was moderated by Yvonne Bih Muma, co-founder of Cameroon Women’s Peace Moment (CAWOPEM)