http://allafrica.com/stories/200711191488.html
Cameroon: WPC Assists Aids Patients, Orphans
The Post (Buea)
19 November 2007
Posted to the web 19 November 2007
Joe Dinga Pefok
Christians of the Westminster Presbyterian Church, WPC, in Minneapolis, US, have offered both material and financial assistance to some AIDS patients and orphans in Cameroon through AIDSCARE LINK Cameroon, ACL, with headquarters in Douala.
Health personnel with Westminister Presbyterian Church (WPC) during the donation to AIDS patients and ophans in Douala
The National Coordinator of ACL, Dr. Samuel Ngwane, told reporters on November 15 that the donation was handed over to his NGO in monetary form to the tune of US $ 15,000 (circa FCFA 7,500,000).
He explained that in line with an agreement with WPC, ACL used part of the money to buy high nutritional food items and beverages, as well as some basic household needs for the AIDS patients and school needs for the orphans.
The distribution of the gifts was done with the participation of a team of four medical personnel from the WPC. They were part of a medical team headed by Dr. John Heefner that travelled to Cameroon for the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon, PCC.
Meanwhile, the donations took place at two centres - 'Cite des Palmiers' District Hospital, and the Presbyterian Church Bonamoussadi.
The two occasions, which were attended among others by the representative of the Mayor of Douala V, saw 50 adults (AIDS patients) and 30 AIDS orphans recorded as beneficiaries.
It is worth noting that during their stay in the country, some of the WPC health personnel provided dental and eye care services to patients at some Presbyterian heath units in Douala, Kumba and Bafoussam.
Meanwhile, the 38-man WPC delegation to the PCC Golden Jubilee celebrations led by Rev. Dr. Tim Hart-Anderssen, visited two orphanages in Douala.Accompanied by Dr. Ngwane, who is a church minister at Presbyterian Church Bonamoussadi, the WPC delegation visited the Saint Gerard Orphanage at Deido which is run by the Catholic Church, as well as 'Main dans la Main' orphanage at Bonamoussadi, which is run by a charity group.
At both centres, the WPC delegation donated money to assist the management of the centres.Addressing the kids at both orphanages, Rev. Hart-Anderssen prayed them to remain hopeful in life, assuring them that God loves all children.
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In other news, the student strike that left one 14 year old dead and many injured during our trip to Kumba is detailed here. These events were all the more surprising with Cameroon's reputation as a very stable country in central Africa. It was a pretty scary night, but we participated in a fine concert with visiting chiors nonetheless. Most of the roads had been unpassable due to the student strike, so our travel in the afternoon was marked by a lot of turning around and back streets to make it back to our accommodations. In the evening, roadblocks had been set up, which allowed us to safely (though nervously) make it to the church to do our concert. Here's the article:
http://www.postnewsline.com/2007/11/police-gun-down.html
Police Gun Down 14-Year-Old Student, Wound Several Others
By Olive Ejang Tebug Ngoh
A 14-year-old Form One student of the Government Technical College, GTC Kumba Herbert Ngome Kwelngome, was killed when police opened fire on protesting students over the weekend.
Many of the protesters were reportedly wounded, some of them seriously, following the incident.The kid was reportedly in a crowd of students who were marching to the Kumba Central Divisional Officer, DO's office to protest the detention of some of their mates.
The police intercepted their march around the Kumba Cow Fence, using teargas to disperse them. The students were further caught in a trap when they discovered a contingent of police behind them from the Buea Road area and another approaching from Kumba Town.
Gendarmes were later to reinforce the police who teargased the protesting students. The latter replied with a volley of stones on the forces of law and order.
After half an hour of fighting, the teargas reportedly got finished and the police resorted to firing live bullets at the crowd. One of the bullets hit Kwelngome on the head and he died instantly. His corpse is presently at the Kumba District Hospital mortuary.
A Form Five student of the Cameroon College of Arts and Science, CCAS Kumba, Derrick Nchabalow, also got a bullet that left him in a coma. He too, was transported to the Kumba District Hospital, and later evacuated to the Douala General Hospital still in unconscious.
Also, a Form Five student of GTHS Kumba, Napoleon Ngoe Muango, received a bullet on his back. He is presently receiving treatment at the Kumba District Hospital.
The Post also learned that other injured students are hospitalised at the Apostolic Hospital Banga Bakundu.According to an eyewitness, Joseph Wong, a French teacher who was attending a pedagogic seminar in CCAS Kumba, a Police Commissioner shot the students.
He said the Commissioner came to the scene while the students and police were locked in a teargas-and-stone battle. He said the Commissioner, who was a victim of the students' stones, got enraged and ordered his subordinates to shoot, but they hesitated.According to Wong, the Commissioner pulled his gun and fired at the students.
A strike action began on Wednesday, November 7, when CCAS students, joined with their counterparts of GTHS to demand that electricity be re-instated in the student residential area.
The strike action came after an electricity transformer reportedly got burnt about a fortnight ago and the students were incensed that their school authorities did nothing to redress the situation.The students, mostly of examination classes, were further distressed over the fact that they could not study computer on campus or read at night.
The embittered students told The Post that the SDO for Meme, Magloire Abath Zangbwala, visited their school the previous day and their school authorities failed to mention the problem of electricity.
The students started a strike action on November 7, which led the local administration here, to arrest and detain several of them, after quelling their actions with teargas.Some students were detained at the Central Police Station and others at the Company Gendarmerie Buea Road.
AES SONEL had reacted immediately by installing a new transformer from Douala in the student residential area on November 7.On November 9, about 300 students from CCASS and GTHS Kumba marched round the streets of Kumba, demanding the release of their detained comrades.
Derick Nchabalow, hospitalised
The students went to Cameroon College of Commerce High School, CCCHS and Diligent Bilingual Academy, halting classes and urging the students to come out so that they could, together, fight for their detained mates.
The Post learned that the DO for Kumba Central, David Kouam, told the students that until Southwest Governor, Louis Eyeya Zanga, gave orders, the students could not be released.
The students then began a demonstration from the entrance into CCASS Kumba to the DO's office, demanding the release of their colleagues. But when they marched past Buea Road, the forces of law and order intercepted their movement that led to the confrontation.
Students Go Wild
After the police shot the students, the latter grew mad, raced to the DO's office and set it ablaze. Before the forces of law and order reached the scene the whole building was already on fire.
From the DO's office, the students rushed to the Central Police Station where they set the police canteen on fire before proceeding to AES SONEL.The students went amok, shattered the louvers of the AES SONEL building, dismantled computers from the building and set them on fire. The fire also affected part of the building.
The students equally rushed to the Fiango Police Post and set it ablaze, calling on the police to kill them just as they are wont to kill their mates.It was at this juncture that the DO ordered for the release of the detained students. By evening that Friday, a contingent of police from the Mobile Intervention Unit, GMI, Buea arrived in Kumba and imposed a seeming state of emergency.
They used teargas to quell movement that evening and mounted attacks on the population and beat up whoever they met on the way. They also broke into houses and beat people, sending all to bed very early.
Deceased Father Reacts
When The Post contacted the father of the deceased, Kwelle Ngome, a retired Sub-Officer of the Gendarmerie, he referred to his child's killing as a political act to confuse the Province. He questioned how an unarmed Form One student could be shot dead.The retired officer stated that according to requisition order from DOs, forces of law and order are supposed to use live bullets only in a situation of war.
"The students' strike was not proportionate to the killing of my child. I am preparing to go to the school on Monday to demand my child from the authorities," he promised.
