- Brightland Youths Welfare, LLC, USA supports 100 underprivileged children materially and financially
- Main sponsor Charles Mafany notes that giving back to the community has always been his motivation
By Ikome Christie-Noella Eposi in Buea
Recording its 12th successive annual edition, the Bonavada Football for Health Tournament which was launched in Buea on Sunday July 7 2024 has wrapped up hitch-free this Sunday August 18 2024 at the Upper Bokova village community field.
Spotlight of the grand final was the donation of didactic materials and financial assistance worth FCFA 1,550,000 to 100 underprivileged children in the community, a gesture spearheaded by a non-governmental organization based in the United States of America; Brightland Youths Welfare, LCC headed by Mr and Mrs Moki Vainda Liwonjo.
The beneficiaries aged 5-18 years were selected across the elementary, primary, secondary and university level. Of the FCFA 1,550,000, FCFA 500,000 was used to purchase the didactic materials given to the children, FCFA 1,000,000 was given to them as financial assistance wherein each child received FCFA 10,000 and FCFA 50,000 was used for logistics. The project initiators noted that Brightland Youth’s Welfare, LLC, USA is a licensed child welfare agency in the state of Arizona, USA and among other things, they offer support that guarantees a learning environment for children in need.
In his intervention, the CEO of the tournament, Mbua Emmanuel thanked everyone who has stood by the vision from its onset in 2013. He particularly thanked the donors in their relentless efforts of ensuring that the tournament is always a success. “I am happy because it has been 12 successive years of this Bonavada football for Health tournament and the reality is that we keep getting better. It started with just the football tournament but progressively we extended the initiative to reaching out to widows in the community, orphans, back-to-school donations to the needy children etc”.
The CEO appreciated the other donors such as the Solidarity group from Upper Bokova who supported 17 children in the Bonavada community with back-to-school items. He also recognized the main sponsor, Charles Mafany for his constant support to the widows, youths and children in the community. Mbua Emmanuel equally thanked Barrister Kinge Thompson Molonge for donating FCFA 20,000 each to 13 children from each of the 13 villages in the Bonavada community to enable them have an effective back-to-school.
The main sponsor of the tournament, Charles Mafany talking to the press at the close of the tournament noted that his motivation over the years and even till present is seeing people in the community happy. “One must not have much to give out but just the love for the community is enough. This is our community, we have to build it together and it must start from somebody. We realized that football does not touch every sector of the community so we decided to touch everybody in the community and that is why we engaged into other areas such as charity donations for widows and providing back-to-school assistance to the children”. He noted.
In the football component at the under-15 category, Wombongo Junior FC beat Makoko FC after post-match penalties. For the senior women’s category, Buea United Queens FC thrashed Santos Ladies from Boteva by 1 goal to nothing and in the senior men’s category, Veteran FC of Upper Bokova defeated CEAC Youths FC from Bwitingi village by 1 goal to zero.
After the football encounter, the captain of the Veteran FC of Upper Bokova, Njie Makoko expressed satisfaction with the entire tournament as well as a successful organization. “I am so happy because we have emerged winners at the finals of this tournament in the male category. We took our training very seriously and I encourage the organizers to continue with this tournament in subsequent years”.
The organizers revealed that the tournament is a yearly motivation as it seeks to promote healthy living, social cohesion, unity, peace and togetherness.