By Francis Ekongang Nzante
Life Changers International known by its acronym LICHAINTER has stepped up its efforts to help the less privileged and the needy in some communities in the North West Region of Cameroon. Speaking recently to Edev Newspaper, Pastor Nchindo Etien, CEO and Founder of the NGO said the present crisis rocking the North West and South West Regions and the misery it had brought upon the vulnerable populations had necessitated the creation of LICHAINTER with an intention of taking care of the displaced populations which had increased alarmingly in the four years that the crisis had been rocking the two English Speaking Regions of the country.
“The creation of this NGO was inspired by the Anglophone Crisis. This was because we saw a lot of people suffering. The sudden displacement of people and in large numbers was alarming. Problems like homelessness, malnutrition, the need to go to school and concomitants such as illnesses and exploitations of their vulnerabilities heightened at a frightening pace. Our sole aim is to change their lives from what it presently is, to a good one” the Pastor explained.
He further said at the moment LICHAINTER had field workers in Oku, Bui Division and in Bello in the Boyo Division and in Bambui within the Tubah Municipality as well as in Bamenda all in the North West Region of Cameroon.
The activities of LICHAINTER at the moment he said were focused on assisting in the payment of the school fees of children of Internally Displaced Populations IDPs as well as assisting in training some of them in trades that could eventually help in their upkeep.
Being involved in such a huge initiative certainly comes with lots of challenges and LICHAINTER is certainly not an exception. Pastor Chindo Etien said the major challenges they were encountering included the rising number of kids needing support to go school against a backdrop of limited finances at the disposal of LICHAINTER. “We really need people who can come in with support and help these children to achieve their educational aspirations. We have twenty children needing to go to school and ten children who need to learn a trade and the numbers keep increasing. The finances are not there and we really need people who can come in and work with us in order to help these children.”
The situation was compounded by the COVID 19 Pandemic and in this direction LICHAINTER has been distributing anti COVID 19 items like face masks, hand sanitizers, bucket taps and equally teaching social distancing measures among them.
The Pastor unequivocally stated that considering the ever increasing number of needy people, LICHAINTER urgently needed stakeholders to come in and partly fund their activities. He said there were so many widows and orphans who had found themselves in this situation because of the crisis. If these people were left unattended to, it could result into repercussions that could prove disastrous and could result into a humanitarian crisis that could further distort the social fabric that was presently already giving way, he explained.
While most of the activities of LICHAINTER are presently in the field, Pastor Nchindo Etien intimated that the NGO is now poised to build a permanent office at the Mile III Nkwen neighborhood in Bamenda. Serving humanity was a noble act that will always be blessed by God he said calling on those who had the means both in and out of Cameroon to come on board.
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