Mission 21 graduates first IT trainees
The Mission 21 Bafoussam IT Training Center graduated the first batch of trainees in Phone and Computer Hardware & Software maintenance.
This graduation ceremony marked the pinnacle of 10 months of hard work and dedication by trainees who completed their vocational training.
It is worth noting that for some time now, various factors in Cameroon have led to increasing instability in the country: Since 2016, a conflict has escalated in the two Cameroon’s English-speaking regions arising from the political repression of the English-speaking (Anglophone) minority. This has led to the displacement of the population with some going to the neighboring West Region today known as IDPs(Internally Displaced Persons).
Because they are no longer in their comfort zones, life has not been easy for this vulnerable population. Some young girls have turned to sex workers and boys to hard drugs.
This and many more is the reason why Mission 21 Bafoussam decided to first identify these vulnerable persons, most especially young boys and girls from the different churches for a 10-month training on phone and computer software and hardware maintenance. They were 10 at the start of the training, two dropped out.
About the graduates: graduates are 9 (7 boys and 2 girls) Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)
The main objective of the Mission 21 Bafoussam IT Training Center is to transfer employable and easy-to-get skills to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) as a way of uplifting them to rehabilitation.
The training approach according to Mr. Blaise Fiewkiwo Kibenghen who is the director of the training center is to combine the following strategies about phone and computer software and hardware maintenance skills, Psychosocial well-being through trauma healing and counseling, including mismanagement skills.
During the graduation ceremony, the Country Director Mr. Lumumba Togho Mukong said Mission 21 is doing a lot in response to Humanitarian aid in the conflict area. Mission 21 supports in particular the population in the English-speaking southwest of Cameroon with projects in the areas of education, health, and theological education.
In 2018, to provide immediate humanitarian assistance in the context of the Anglophone crisis, Mission 21 launched an Emergency aid program that can be used to provide aid in addition to the regular projects, together with two churches and several non-governmental organizations.
The Cameroonian churches and local NGOs have great potential for containing the conflict and supporting the suffering people, as they are anchored and accepted in the population. Mission 21’s humanitarian aid project uses this potential to build a comprehensive, sustainable humanitarian aid program, together with international organizations such as UN-OCHA.
Graduates went home with a gift package from Mission 21 comprising basic tools and equipment required to start their phone and computer hardware and software maintenance business.
At the close of the graduation. The very happy pioneer batch of the Mission 21 IT training center through their representative Edelquinn Jai, thanked their teachers and Mission 21 and its partners for the knowledge and most especially the Psychosocial support they received which helped in the domain of trauma they received in the conflict areas. They promised to make good use of the support given to them as they get into the job market.
In January 2025, Mission 21 will be launching the next batch of recruitment through the churches so they can be able to train more vulnerable Displaced children even in different domains.
