At living together hub in Yaounde: UNCHR, Plan Int’l on spotlight for boosting integration, peaceful living together.

The event took place at the esplanade of the Yaounde Multipurpose Sport Complex. It was under the theme: “Living together in Cameroon: A guarantee for peace, unity and national integration”.

It was organised by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Civic Education, in collaboration with UNHCR and Plan International Cameroon. The Living Together Hub is part of activities to commemorate the 52nd edition of National Day.

Speaking during the event, Minister Mounouna Foutsou of Youth Affairs and Civic Education, saluted the involvement and participation of the UN Systems in Cameroon and her partners like Plan International Cameroon in enhancing peace, unity and social integration of persons including refugees.

He mentioned that the presence of the Coordinator of the UN Systems at the Living Together Hub was a show of the importance attached by the UN and Plan International Cameroon to the question of living together. 

He saluted the state of living together among Cameroonians and foreigners resident in Cameroon. Minister Mounouna Foutsou urged the stakeholders to support government in promoting living together.

The event was marked by traditional dances and cultural displays from the four cultural zones of Cameroon as well as from foreign nationals living in Cameroon. 

Meanwhile, messages of unity in diversity, tolerance, solidarity and peaceful living together were re-echoed in the different speeches from representatives of communities present at the event. 

They also saluted government, through the youth affairs ministry, for creating a platform for mingling, communion and exchanges between Cameroonians of all origins, in order to strengthen harmonious living together and social cohesion.

Cameroon’s hospitality acknowledged

Beneficiaries of the Albert Einstein German Academic Refugee Initiative, DAFI, scholarship programme, which offers qualified refugee students the possibility to earn an undergraduate degree in their country of asylum, also took part in the celebration.

Chadian-born Halime, one of the DAFI beneficiaries acknowledged the hospitality of the government and her citizens.

Halime, who is a graduate of the National School of Administration and Magistracy, ENAM, noted that her ability to speak Haussa and Fulfulde languages, common in Cameroon and her native Chad, facilitated her social integration in Cameroon. 

“Because I speak their languages, many find it difficult knowing, I am a foreigner. I speak Houssa, Fulfulde, French and a bit of English language,” the Chadian said.

She added that: “I can attest that Cameroon is a country of hospitality, I have never suffered discrimination, or tribalism because of my nationality”. 

“I was integrated educationally thanks to the DAFI Scholarship scheme which I benefited from. It is thanks to that scholarship that I can proudly enter the labour market,” Halime told The Guardian Post. 

In the same vein, another DAFI beneficiary, a Rwandan, Ishimwe Pacifique, acknowledged the role of the government in partnership with UNCHR and Plan Cameroon for her integration into the Cameroonian society. 

“I want to thank them because they help me with identification papers which enable me move around without worries. I also thank the Cameroonians for making me feel at home away from my homeland,” she stated.

The event coincided with the commemoration of the International Day of Living Together in Peace established by the UN General Assembly in its resolution 72/130. 

Commemorated every May 16, the day aims to uphold the desire to live and act together, united in differences and diversity, in order to build a sustainable world of peace, solidarity and harmony.