By Stephen Ngu
The L.M Nanje Foundation, a US-based NGO, which a branch in Cameroon, on Thursday, March 21, donated a batch of six trash cans to Government Technical High School, GTHS, Bakingili.
The donation was complemented with the planting of several trees around the GTHS campus located at Bakingili, which is one of the settlements in the West Coast Sub Division in Fako, Southwest Region.
It was indeed with an air of happiness that the Vice Principal of the institution, Abondja Armstrong, received the Cameroon Country’s Representative of L.M Nanje Foundation, Ngochi Wase Susan and her members.
“I will say GTHS Bakingili is really blessed. Yes, we are really blessed to have been a beneficiary to this wonderful gesture from the L.M Nanje Foundation,” the Vice Principal General, Abondja, said.
The Foundation donated a total of six trash cans, which the Vice Principal said will go a long way to significantly assist the school in keeping their environment clean. He disclosed that the school had just a few cans. Thus, he said, they were pretty glad to have these new ones from L.M Nanje Foundation as they drive to provide a clean and conducive study environment for students and teachers of the school is now assured.
“With the trash cans that have been donated to GTHS Bakingili by the L.M Nanje Foundation, cleanliness of the school is going to be at its peak.”
Abondja was speaking on behalf of the school’s Principal, Wose Lisonge, who, at the time, was attending to other administrative exigencies elsewhere.
L.M Nanje Foundation’s Country Representative said their NGO was motivated to assist GTHS Bakingili by planting new trees within the school campus so as to replace some old ones that have been destroyed by elephants.
The school happens to be located at Bakingili, an area that is closed to the Mount Cameroon National Park where elephants often stray out from the park. They damage trees in their search for food within the Bakingili community area.
Thus, L.M Nanje’s Country’s Representative said they took advantage of March 21, which is the International Tree Planting Day well as the UN International Forest Day to plant some trees within the GTHS Bakingili campus.
“Today happens to be the World Tree Planting Day, and the CEO Dr Ebenye Nanje decided that we could donate some trees to GTHS Bakingili owing to the fact that some of the trees here have been destroyed by elephants,” Ngochi said.
“And when you talk about trees, this goes with keeping the environment clean. Thus, this brought the idea of providing some trash cans to help keep the campus clean,” she added.
Ngochi said further that their NGO has been existing for years and has other areas of interest such as taking care of the girl child, assisting the IDPs and also carries out projects in the area of promoting forestation, clean energy as a way of helping in the fight to mitigate the effects of climate change.
After attending the COP28 UN Climate Change Conference that held in Dubai, Ngochi said their NGO was became more motivated to invest in tree planting and climate preservation.
“Due to the situation where people have so much destroyed the trees that help to mitigate the effects of climate change, Dr Ebenye Nanje came up with this initiative to carry on with tree planting,”
Thus GTHS Bakingili was just one of the venues where the Foundation has started to implement it’s tree planting drive.
“We have other initiatives for the LM Nanje Foundation like the donation of solar lamps which we have given to some villages around. These lamps help to reduce the emissions of gases from electrical generators used to light these areas, which go further to destroy the Ozone layers. We also have other projects that we shall focus on like the upcoming; world menstruation Day, the International Day of the African Child, and more.
Ngochi was accompanied to GTHS Bakingili by other L.M Nanje Members Viz,:Epie Irene, Luma Catherine Nanje, and Nsai Stella.