Minister Bakang Mbock Launches Activities In South West

Laure Nganlay

9 June 2011

The Minister of Social Affairs, on Tuesday June 7, launched activities to mark the 21st edition of the “Day of the African Child” in Ekondo Titi, Ndian Division in the South West Region. The launching ceremony also saw the inauguration of a newly constructed Centre for Children in Distress, donated by ADDAX Petroleum Limited. As a result, a mammoth crowd administrative, municipal, traditional and religious authorities, turned out to witness the august event.

Minister Bakang Mbock recalled the need to synergise efforts at all levels, such that children, especially those living in the streets, should be the centre of daily concerns. She added that this phenomenon is universal with multi-faceted causes, and so requires particular attention.

She further explained President Paul Biya’s stance against the ill as revealed in his February 10, 2002 speech to Cameroonian youths. Other efforts include reforms for the wellbeing of vulnerable children.

Consequently, she revealed, some 634 street children have been identified in Yaounde and Douala, among who over 100 have rejoined their families and are going to school.

Minister Bakang Mbock appealed for collective efforts to complement the work of families and social workers. She equally recommended the urgent creation of a joint task force to facilitate the prevention and sustainable reintegration of street children into their families.

She expressed the state’s satisfaction with ADDAX Petroleum Limited for what she termed a “concrete illustration of the state-private enterprise partnership for a common task force. Together, we can truly knit a protection mechanism for the most vulnerable strata of our country which are children in distress,” she concluded.

The Day of the African Child was initiated by the then Organization of African Unity, OAU, (present day African Union, AU), in 1990, in memory of the 1976 massacre of school children in Soweto, South Africa by the then Apartheid regime. This year’s theme is, “Together for Urgent Action in Favour of Street Children.”

AllAfrica – All the Time