Visit to Boko Haram victims
March 6, 2015

Dr. Christopher Fomunyoh cries!!!

Yes, I saw tears behind his glasses! How could he, like many in the delegation resist the pathetic narration of the faith of these children who never chose to be in the situation in which they now find themselves?

It was an emotional scene during a visit to the Maroua Children Institute (Institution Camerounaise de L’Enfance) in the Far North Region of Cameroon. This centre is hosting a number of children who were rescued by the Cameroonian army lost in cross fire between these soldiers and the Boko Haram insurgents.

According to the director of the centre, Amadou Robert, these children mostly between the ages of 6 and 12 were found stranded by the army and should apparently have been forcefully conscripted by Boko Haram to serve as child soldiers but latter abandoned. All of them are boys and do not know the whereabouts of their parents. They can barely express themselves in French; many have no shoes and no cloths. To keep them useful they are being given some elementary classes as the officials of the structure struggle to ensure that they at least have what to eat per day and ensure medical attention. According to Amadou Robert, government was doing its best but it was far from enough.

Dr. Christopher Fomunyoh and entourage could barely retain their tears. He praised the staff for all the sacrifices being made to ensure that these unfortunate Cameroonians, and children for that matter, had some basic comfort. And as a sign of encouragement, he on the behalf of The Fomunyoh Foundation donated some food items including bags of rice, flour, table oil, salt, sugar among others.

It should be recalled that Dr. Christopher Fomunyoh arrived Maroua by road on Sunday March 1, at the head of a team from the Bamenda-based Foundation to get on the ground realities of the situation Cameroonians in this part of the country were going through for a couple of months now.

Besides his kindhearted donation to the internally displaced victims, the Foundation also donated three cartoons each of English language text books to Lycee Classic Maroua and Lycee Bilingue of the same town. The principals of these institutions; Mr. Farikou of Lycee Bilingue and Mr. Hamadou of Lycee Classic Maroua all hailed the gesture that they said would go a long way to promote and encourage bilingualism in the students of the far away Region.

While in Maroua, Dr. Fomunyoh paid courtesy visits to administrative, military, religious and local authorities of the Region. He notably held a closed door meeting with the Governor of the Far North Region, Midiyawa Bakari. Though nothing filtered discussions certainly centred on the security and humanitarian situation of the Far North Region whose security and social stability was under threat from the Boko Haram insurgents.

The CEO of The Fomunyoh Foundation also met with the Director of the Higher Teacher Training College, Maroua, Professor Saibou Issa (also a specialist in Peace and Security) and with the Rector of the University of Maroua Prof. Ako Edward. During a meeting with some students of these institutions of higher learning, Dr. Christopher Fomunyoh encouraged them to be peace loving, hardworking and more especially to have hope in the future of this country that he said was endowed with all the natural and human resources.

The Fomunyoh Foundation Charity caravan later moved to Mayo Oulo, where it made similar book donations to the Government Bilingual High School of the area.

It should be recalled that Mayo Oulo is the birth place of Cameroon’s first president Ahmadou Ahidjo. The delegation paid a guided visit to his residence.

It should be hinted that The Fomunyoh Foundation is planning a humanitarian musical concert to raise funds to support more displaced victims of the Boka Haram assault. This shall be in partnership with Idy Oulo, a musician from the Far North Region, specifically from Mayo Oulo, who is based in France. Three towns have been short-listed for a first phase; Garoua, Yaounde and Bamenda.

Mokun Njouny Nelson in Maroua