Cameroonians have been called upon to commit themselves and act together to fight against all forms of discrimination and violence faced by women and girls in the society. This was the principal message from the Minister of Women’s Empowerment and the Family, Marie Therese Abena Ondoa née Obama, as she launched activities to mark the 33rd International Women’s Day yesterday, February 19, 2018 in Yaounde.
This years’ Women’s Day will be observed under the theme “Intensify the Fight Against Discrimination on Women, Strengthen Partnership to Speed up Sustainable Development”.
Activities ahead of the day will focus on: roundtable discussions on different forms of discrimination towards women, activities taken by the government to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women, mini-exhibition fair on their know-how; as well as reinforcement measures to end violence towards female folks.
During yesterday’s launch at the esplanade of the Yaounde City Council, a female association in the Centre Region, Initiative of Change, Creators of Peace (COP), marched-past across certain avenues downtown Yaounde with a message of peace to Minister Marie Therese Abena Ondoa.
While marching with peace plants, calling the word “jam”, “boni”, “Mvinyae”, “nsan”, “Musango”, “étom” “Ngbwa” which signifies peace in different local languages in the country, the women told Marie Therese Abena that they have pledged to become peace ambassadors wherever they go.
The Minister of Women’s Empowerment and the Family used the event to invite women and girls of voting age to massively register on the electoral list so that they can fulfil their civic duty.
Regarding the humanitarian services of the NGO, Mercy Ships, which arrived in Cameroon some months back on the invitation of the Head of State, Marie-Therese Abena urged families who have women and girls suffering from obstetric fistula to take them to Douala where the ship is anchored so that they can be freely treated and taken care of by the NGO.
Those who participated in the 2018 Women’s Day Fabric Competition were compensated. Amongst them Arnold Okala Manga who received a special prize of ten Women’s Day fabric and FCFA 450,000 from the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and the Family, Franck Momha received the first prize in the competition which consisted of ten Women’s Day fabrics and FCFA 400,000. The second and third prizes went to Alain Ninguem and Christine Mbong-Ekolo respectively.