TFF Donates

To boosting schooling:

The Fomunyoh Foundation succors over 100 Anglophone crisis IDPs

Donates huge consignment of school needs to IDPs resident in Yaounde

Over 100 Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, from the restive North West and South West Regions, residing in Yaounde, have benefited from a donation of didactic materials as they prepare to return to the classrooms for the new academic year on September 9, 2024. The important gesture was offered the schoolchildren by renowned international humanitarian organisation, The Fomunyoh Foundation, TFF. The school needs were distributed to the IDP pupils and students at TFF, Yaounde office, on August 21, 2024. The yearly humanitarian exercise action was organised in collaboration with the Safe Empowerment Reform Foundation, SERF-International.

According to TFF Executive Director, Prof Elizabeth Tamajong, the donation of didactic materials is part of the foundation's annual programme of relieving parents of the back-to-school stress. The gesture, she added, is also aimed at giving hope to the children and their families displaced by the crisis in the two English-speaking Regions of the country. Prof Tamajong further explained that the gesture was organised in commemoration of this year's World Humanitarian Day, observed every August 19. "The economy of Cameroon is not the best. This is the period all over the world when the education of children is at the heart of every parent, government, and society. So, we thought is wise to help parents and we could see on their faces when we gave them the materials," TFF Executive Director said. She added that: "They were so happy because they were not expecting these books and the other items". The donated items included books, realms of paper, rulers, pens, math set and other didactics. The items were handed to beneficiaries from nursery schools through primary, secondary and university. This was in the presence of some parents.

TFF hails partner, SERF Foundation

Speaking to The Guardian Post, Prof Tamajong acknowledged the support they received from the international foundation, SERF. According to the renowned professor, the SERF support gave a special impetus to the annual donation campaign, often organised singlehandedly by TFF. "Our partners from the US are young ladies who have just finished their professional training and beginning their career but they thought of putting smiles on the faces of their brothers and sisters back in Cameroon," she said. "They decided that they want to help the children who ran away from the wartorn zones to Yaounde. Coincidentally, the gesture came when children are going back to school," TFF Executive Director asserted. Going by her, it is thanks to the SERF support that TFF was able to extend the scope of beneficiaries to include IDP university students living in Yaounde.

TFF committed to helping needy

Prof Tamajong also expressed TFF's commitment to helping the poor and the needy in society, especially those made vulnerable by crisis. "We also stand for justice and peace, but justice and peace are not just about talking...," she said, noting that TFF's motto is relief and hope. "When we gave the items to the children, they were relieved because they know that they will go to school stressfree. We have also relieved the parents who were already suffering from financial stress, thinking of how their children will go to school," Prof Tamajong told The Guardian Post. She further assured parents to count on them to continually bring relief and hope for their children. Besides the didactic materials donated, TFF, throughout the summer holidays also empowered some youth via training in embroidery and fashion designing at its Youth Empowerment Centre in Yaounde. "Children who came here from June and till now have registered marked improvement in their skills in embroidery and fashion designing," she said, before calling on parents to get their children to be trained for free at the TFF Empowerment Centre. "Parents should bring their children here because an idle mind is the devil's workshop. We are open to welcoming women or boys who have nothing doing to come here and gain the skills," she added.

Beneficiaries react

During the ceremony, some parents of the beneficiaries expressed gratitude to TFF and its partners for the gesture, which they said was more than timely. "This is a big relief to some of us parents who were already relying on loans from our njangi groups with very high interest rates, to send our children back to school," one of the parents told The Guardian Post. Another beneficiary, Sidonni Swirri, expressed gratitude to TFF and partners for empowering them. "Education is the key that unlocks doors of opportunities and every individual to reach their full potentials and contributing meaningfully to the society. At the personal level, education empowers us to understand the world around us, to dream big, set goals and work head towards achieving them," Swirri said. Another beneficiary, Absatou, said the gifts will enable them school like other kids not affected by the crisis in the NorthWest and South West Regions. "Education is a prime human right, regardless of age, gender or religion," she sounded.

Macwalter Njapteh Refor

The Guardian Post Newspaper