By DOH JAMES SONKEY
Some 180 hardworking Cameroonian young students aged between 14 and 24 years converged on the Bastos residence of the British High Commissioner to Cameroon last February 15, 2018 to receive silver and bronze medals of the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award in recognition for their achievements.
Chaired by the British High Commissioner to Cameroon, H.E Rowan Laxton, the solemn ceremony equally used as a charity fair to raise funds to support the work of the programme in the country was organized by the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Cameroon Board of Trustees headed by its Chairperson, Dr Diane Acha Morfaw who doubles as Board Chair of the Cameroon Investment Promotion Agency in partnership with the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Civic Education..
Addressing her guests, Dr Diane Acha Morfaw said since she joined the programme of the award in 2004, it has been an exciting moment to serve the youth.
She explained that “the programme objective is to provide a balance, non-formal and voluntary training to young people aged 14 to 24 years through schools and colleges, youths’ clubs, associations and faith-based movements, youth empowering centers and prisons and in shelters where street and orphaned youths gather. Being a non-formal education and voluntary programme that encourages individual challenge, a young person’s achievement in completing the award is acknowledged with the award of Bronze, Silver and Gold medals and certificates during the ceremony.
The award was created in 1956 by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh to provide an alternative model and platform for learning and discovery to young people, enabling them from all backgrounds from within the UK to become meaningfully transformed.
The British High Commissioner, H.E Rowan Laxton while congratulating the young laureates, reiterated his government’s continuous support intended to help Cameroonian youths exploit to the fullest their various potentials.
At hand to help donate generously for the youth programme in Cameroon were the Minister of Women Empowerment and the Family, Prof Marie Therese Abena Ondoa, the Director General of SONARA, Ibrahim Talba Malla represented by the company’s Director of Communication, Public Relations and Translation, Blasius Ngome, the Nigerian High Commissioner to Cameroon, H.E Lawan Abba Gashagar etc.