Musonge Trust targets girls' welfare

She may have died several years back, yet, many are they who would continue to drink from the milk of human kindness or the fountain of hope she so jealously preserved.

This lady was Anne Mojoko Musonge.

Last weekend in Buea, Women Empowerment and the Family Minister, Marie-Therese Abena Ondouain remembering the departed Mrs. Musonge, threw light on some pertinent issues hampering the future of the girl child in contemporary society, viz; early and forced marriages, lack of sound education, cultural barriers, financial constraints andsociety’stendency to relegate the girl child to the back burner.

This was at the Buea Council Conference Hall, as she chaired the launching of the Anne MojokoMusonge Memorial Trust, AMMMT; which has as mission to re-emphasize the place of the girl child in the Buea Municipality in particular and Cameroon in general.

“When you train the woman, you train the entire society," the Minister noted. She encouraged the Cameroonian woman to emulate the life of the late Anne Musonge whose heart, she described as a dove’s, of love for humanity.

The consensus at the place of event was that Anne’s willingness to serve humanity, especially women. This was how she came about initiating the Fako Women Development Association, FAWODA, and creating Radio Bonakanda, a community radio station through which the Fako woman was and is still sensitized into striving for excellence. Her dream of assisting women to the summit in all aspects ofhuman endeavourmeant that she became the pioneer General Coordinator of the Circle of Friends of Cameroon, CERAC.

Senator PeterMafanyMusonge, one of the trustees of the AMMMT, and widower of Anne Mojoko, was to note that the idea behind organizing a fund for Anne Musonge is to honour and complete what she did not, adding that, it will not be easy to sustain it, but he believes it will be successful since the ground work in supporting the girl child has already begun.

“We are going to produce results in the next few months” he reassured. Musonge, who is also Grand Chancellor of NationalOrdersequally told the press that selection of beneficiaries is ongoing and that investigations are being carried out in schools to identify and select the possible candidates. Even though the project is presently limited to Fako, the Senator said, it will in future be extended to other parts of the national territory.

This Trust has Messrs. Peter MafanyMusonge, Francis NgunduMokomba, Hannah EtondeMbua, Bruno NjombeEwusi and Helen NjomoIkundi on its first board of trustees.

Their mission will be to ensure the provision of educational opportunities for young women between the ages of 12 and 22 at the secondary, high school, university, as well as in vocational training and research centers within Cameroon.

Eligible young women will also benefit from financial assistance such as grants, scholarships and fellowships. The Trust will promote values of discipline, obedience and loyalty through the building and management of schools, colleges and other educational institutions.

It will help provide some financial assistance to other institutions that grant award winning prizes to female students in academics, sports and scientific research, as well as carry out non-profit activities aimed at serving and empowering young women.

Many are impressed by this move.