Buea: Clean Env’t for Sustainable Education, partner donate didactics to Anglophone crisis IDPs.

The back-to-school outreach programme, which marked the official launch of CEFSE, took place at the Presbyterian Church, PC Great Soppo. 

Selected beneficiaries aged 3 to 17 years, were handed packs of didactic materials comprising of books, pens, pencils, crayons, school bags, sharpeners, erasers, sanitary napkins among others.  

Speaking during the event, the Chief Executive Officer, CEO and Founder of CEFSE, Eric Ambi Amboh, recalled how he was divinely inspired a year ago to create the association that would help those in need and sensitise the public on proper ways of plastic waste management. 

The Estonian-based environmentalist, having nurtured the vision for over a year now, said it was fulfilling for him and his partner foundation to see “a dream come to fruition”.

“As we begin this journey today of giving back to the society through these school materials, we look forward to do more in the future in other domains. I’m a very grateful to be partnering with BHeT in this journey,” Ambi Amboh said.

As the children prepare to resume school come September 9, they were enjoined to keep their study environment clean and free from plastic bottles. 

“A plastic bottle thrown on the environment takes at least 500+ years to decompose. However the good news is, these plastic bottles when collected and recycled could be transformed to profitable ventures,” the CEFSE vision bearer said. 

He added that: “As you return to study keep it in mind that each bottle when collected and recycled could produce even the T-shirts you are putting on. And so, instead of littering the study environment, collect them for proper recycling, we have to bear in mind that when thrown to the environment, it becomes dangerous to health”. 

Enter BHeT Foundation CEO 

On her part, the founding president of Bringing Hearts Together, BHeT Foundation, Regina Liengu Etaka Esong, drilled the beneficiaries on menstrual hygiene. 

Noting that menstrual hygiene and education cannot be placed apart as most of children are young girls, she said it was imperative for them to include lessons on menstrual care in the whole package. 

“A child who is under menstruation and is not well catered for cannot study well. The talk on menstrual hygiene came in for them to be able to cater for themselves while they are studying. That is why we included sanitary pads in the whole package and we are sure that, with these, they children can no return to school fully equipped,” Liengu said.

PC Great Soppo Parish Pastor salutes gesture

Before the didactics were handed over to the beneficiaries, they were blessed by Parish Pastor, Rev Emelda Cshi and associates of the congregation. 

Rev Cshi in her remarks, thanked the donors for having a heart for those in need and went on to pray heavenly blessings on them.

She implored God, the creator of mankind, and father to all, especially the less privileged to be theirs help in times of need. 

“The donations are coming at a time when parents are stressing and thinking of how they are going to send their children back to school. And to think there are some children who may not be able to go back to school because of lack, yet today they smile, we can only pray that God should bless them,” the Woman of God said.

It should be noted that with the outbreak of the Anglophone crisis, a lot of children are still not able to return to school. 

Some parents have managed to moved their families to safe places but providing school needs, remains a daunting task as access to livelihood dwindled. It was within this backdrop that both organisations came in with the didactics to support these children resume school smoothly.

This story was first published in The Guardian Post issue N0:3217 of Monday September 02, 2024