At Etombi Foundation Grand Launch: Social Affairs Minister Acclaims Etombi Foundation, Donates FCFA 1 Million

By Hope Nda & Eyongeta Jomia

Etombi Foundation has been officially launched during a ceremony presided at by Social Affairs Minister, Pauline Irene Nguene, who donated FCFA 1 million to the Foundation during fundraising.

Etombi Foundation’s Grand Launch and Fundraising occasion, attended by Southwest Governor, Buea Mayor, alongside several officials from the Social Affairs Ministry, took place at Buea Mountain Hotel last Saturday, March 20.

Minister Irene Nguene congratulated the Founder of Etombi Foundation, Naomi Etombi Moussa, for the “exemplary generosity and show of good heart towards all socially vulnerable persons who… feel uplifted, valued and honoured” thanks to the humanitarian works of the Foundation.

“The Etombi Foundation is a perfect illustration of the will of the Cameroonian youth who would like to work alongside the government in its tireless fight against social exclusion, through the implementation of social entrepreneurship, whose pillars are education and health of the most deprived people…,” the Minister said in her speech.

The non-profit Foundation, founded by Naomi Etombi Moussa barely one year ago, says it has assisted “over 68 orphans in two orphanages and several inmates and 50 internally displaced persons in crisis-affected Southwest region”.

“The joy of giving back… is priceless. So that is the dream of the Etombi Foundation – to pay back to what we have been blessed with, to what we have received and to overflow in helping other people,” said its founder, Naomi Etombi Moussa.

During the Foundation’s Grand Launch in Buea, Favour Abenda, a student of Government High School Limbe, said the Foundation helped her with FCFA 49,000 which she used in paying her school fees and acquiring other school needs.

“I remain forever grateful to the Etombi Foundation and its founders,” she said, also admitting she was an orphan.

In her speech, Naomi Etombi lamented the fact that education is held “at stake” by the socio-political crisis in the Anglophone regions, and young persons have been deprived of education.

“The Etombi Foundation has come to say they must send them back to school, they cannot stay at home, and they need to be in school. They need to pursue their dreams and their goals and priorities,” she said, adding that her foundation “seeks to help people in education and health care.”

“Like Martin Luther, I had a dream, that it is time, not just for us to talk, but to act; it is time for the youngsters, who are the leaders of tomorrow, to stand up for what they believe,” said Naomi Etombi.

“We must stand up for our country, we must come together and we must act. The Etombi Foundation was a dream that I had because I was born and raised in a family where I saw my mother, my aunty, my uncle, help and payback to other people,” she added.

According to the Etombi Foundation, the fundraising carried out during the organisation’s Grand Launch will help them realise 2021’s vision which involves assisting five orphanages; sponsoring the education of 100 orphans and needy IDPs; providing start-up businesses to 50 needy single mothers; and organising four health awareness campaigns with free consultations and first-line drugs.

The fundraising was much supported by the scores of guests who attended the occasion, some of them including Prof Dorothy Njeuma (donated FCFA 150,000); Buea Mayor, David Namange (donated FCFA 200,0000); and Hon. Gladys Etombi (donated FCFA 500,000).

“We will continue with our projects. We have projects that are set to continually give students scholarships, to continue helping orphans, IDPs and underprivileged kids, to continue the work we are doing. We are not starting to stop, we must continue what we are doing,” Naomi Etombi told the press.