By Walter Wilson Nana
Two Buea-based NGOs are living up to their expectations; bringing smiles on the faces of the needy in their community.
The Forestry, Agriculture, Animal & Fishery Network, FAAFNET and the International Centre for Environmental Protection and Community Development, ICENECDEV were at the Buea Borstal Institute, Tuesday, October 2 2012 with a 3000-litre water tank that has already been properly installed in the campus, didactic materials, modern musical equipment and vocational training tools.
Director of Borstal Institute, Fidelis Ewumbue delivers his speech
According to Williams Mumbe Lyonga, Executive Director of FAAFNET and on behalf of ICENECDEV, they collegiately crafted the project to support the Borstal Institute and ensured that it came to fruition thanks to the financial support from Australian Aid, AusAID.
He mentioned that the two organisations are out to improve the livelihood of the population in all facets, promote education, support community development programmes and human rights issues.
Lyonga wished that the donations should enhance the life of the Borstal Institute and the trainees, which include; protecting, re-educating, reforming and to ensure the socio-professional and economic reinsertion of the trainees.
Southwest Regional Delegate of Social Affairs, Fon Valentine Asongtia said it is a huge task to carter for the trainees of the Borstal Institute. “Therefore, there is relevance in the community based approach to run the institute,” he noted.
Southwest Regional Delegate of Social Affairs, Fon Valentine Asongtia addressing the audience at the donation ceremony
He thanked FAAFNET and ICENECDEV for their support, noting that the training of the trainees must be holistic in order to achieve the needed successes.
Asongtia reminded the staff of Borstal Institute that the gifts should be used for the interest of the trainees, adding that the betterment of the kids should be a collective responsibility.
A representative of the trainees, Lekunze Gagdiehbeh expressed happiness to the donors, saying their lives will not be same with the assistance received. However, on behalf of his associates he wished that more should be done in the areas of sports, painting, sewing, welding and more.
Earlier, the Director of the Borstal Institute, Fidelis Ewumbue made a call for all in the society to protect the children, adding that if they are not, then the society will not be safe in the future.
Trainees of Borstal Institute, Buea
He mentioned that some of the children are in the institute because they (the children) are victims of torture, abuse of all sorts and neglect from the family and the community.
Ewumbue expressed gratitude to FAAFNET, ICENECDEV and some of their permanent benefactors. These include; the Bishop of Buea Diocese, Mgr. Immanuel Bushu, the DIVAS Ladies of Buea and the Southwest Development Agency, SOWEDA, which has just set up a canteen for the institute.
The Borstal Institute is a re-education and reformation centre with boarding and recreational facilities for juvenile delinquents, street children and socially maladjusted youths of male sex, aged 12 – 17. Created in 1965, the institute operates under the supervision of the Ministry of Social Affairs.
The gifts brought by FAAFNET & ICENECDEV
With the support of parents, families and the public, Borstal Institute will rather transform the aforementioned children through re-education and reinsertion into respectful, obedient, hardworking and responsible citizens.
The ceremony was spiced with sketches, traditional dances, a video projection of what the Borstal Institute is all about and musical presentations from Timothy Ewumbue and the trainees.
