Since 2008, we have been working in Cameroon with our partner organization ADDC in Foumban. Here we present completed projects: the hospital mosque in Foumban, a school in Koufomloum, and the counseling center “L’avenir c’est ici!” – as well as a water project in Togo.
The hospital mosque in Foumban (2013)
In 2013, we expanded the mosque next to the municipal hospital in Foumban. We also provided drinking water for people in the surrounding area, public toilets, and a library for children and young people. In this way, the mosque was to take on a social role alongside its spiritual one – as a place of learning open to people of all faiths.
We still help sick people in Foumban today: through “Health Is Everything”, we cover hospital costs for patients in particular need.
A school for Koufomloum (2016–2017)
Koufomloum is a village about 20 kilometers from Foumban. Many Bororo, a nomadic minority, live here. Together with ADDC, we wanted to make it easier for the village’s children to go to school, especially girls and Bororo children.
From August 2016 to July 2017, a school building with two classrooms was built on 176 m² and furnished with new school desks. Until then, two classes at a time had to share one room. Parents and young men from the village did much of the auxiliary work. Skilled workers were brought in for the walls, roof, and formwork, and an experienced site manager coordinated construction.
A campaign encouraged families, especially Bororo families, to value education and equal opportunities for girls and boys – through Radio communautaire du Noun, at events at the school, and at religious and traditional ceremonies. The school support association and the village development committee also received training.
- Around 650 children enrolled for the 2017/18 school year, 250 more than the year before.
- 10 women from the village were trained as education multipliers in five workshops.
- 1st prize in the “Engagement in Africa” category at the Bridge Builders’ Fair (Messe der Brückenbauer) during the KENAKO Africa Festival 2017 in Berlin. The jury particularly praised the inclusive approach.
L’avenir c’est ici! – The Future Is Here! (2017–2018)
In the Noun department, many young people could hardly find work, even though sectors such as agriculture, services, and trade offered great potential. So young men in particular moved to the big cities in the south. There they faced new dangers such as people smuggling and radicalization. Those who failed often wanted to go to Europe.
At the heart of the project was a counseling center for business start-ups, career guidance, and legal migration at the vocational school CENSAMA in Foumban. Office hours were held on Tuesdays and Fridays. A panel of twelve experts from parents’ associations, mosques, churches, schools, and radio stations supported the work.
The “L’avenir c’est ici!” campaign provided information about the risks of irregular migration: at events in villages and schools as well as on Cameroonian television and radio. In Berlin, we held six discussion groups with the African diaspora on legal routes for migration and on opportunities in the countries of origin.
- More than 50 young people aged 16 to 30 received in-depth advice, along with courses in accounting, marketing, IT, and business planning.
- 15 participants received our support on their way to self-employment. Nine received interest-free microloans through a savings group (tontine).
- Around 1,500 people attended six events in villages, and 160 pupils attended four events at schools.
Water for All in Togo
More than 300 million people in Africa have no access to clean drinking water, even though the United Nations recognized the right to water as a human right in 2002. Every day, people die of diseases caused by contaminated water that a hygienic water supply could easily prevent.
Kégué is one of the poorest neighborhoods in Togo’s capital, Lomé, and is home to around 300,000 people. Clean water was scarce. With this project, we wanted to change that: a new well was to provide people in the neighborhood and the surrounding area with water that no longer endangers their health.
The school building in Koufomloum was funded by the Schmitz-Stiftungen with funds from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), and “L’avenir c’est ici!” by the Centre for International Migration and Development (CIM).