It was at the Yaoundé City Hall this Wednesday, May 15, 2024, in the Ongola Samba room of the regional council that Mrs. Marie Thérèse Obama, wife of Abena Ondoa, Minister of Women's Empowerment and Family, presided over the ceremony marking the 30th edition of the International Day of the Family, in the presence of the representative of the Governor of the Centre Region, the representative of the Prefect of Mfoundi, the Mayor of Yaoundé, representatives of UN agencies, representatives of civil societies, and religious and traditional authorities.
A celebration that highlights the importance of individuals, especially women, as a strong link for the well-being of the family and society in general. Messages in the room emphasized things like: "Empower women to have a stronger social role and be economically independent; for a stable and harmonious family"; "Stop femicides, Break the silence, it saves lives! The law protects, don't be afraid, report it" aimed at raising awareness about family well-being. The Minister of Women and Family Promotion pointed out that "The whole world is facing challenges including climate change. These are global phenomena, yet humans play a significant role in exacerbating these issues. The African continent, especially Cameroon, suffers from the effects of the West as well as its own mistakes. It must be acknowledged that families are also responsible because, for instance, to increase agricultural production today, we use pesticides without following instructions, we haphazardly cut down trees, causing various problems. There's heavy rain, sometimes sun, and frequent floods leading to numerous accidents in some of our cities. The management of household waste, floods which basically result from the fact that garbage is thrown into waterways. Some of us, when they were young, used to do artisanal fishing in the villages but these waterways have dried up. So, from the perspective of climate change, Man has his share of responsibility and we must raise awareness to better respect nature. We have the misuse of information and communication technologies where we tend to copy what is happening in the West and nowadays we see children killing their parents, women being killed. In the same vein, she adds to these phenomena, the misuse of information technologies, through the exposure of individuals' privacy, scams etc...
She doesn't fail to mention the importance of having inner peace, highlighting our cultures which are very important. The responsibility and role of everyone within families, for the change and stability of families. She then declares: "The State and its technical and financial partners, the various ministerial departments, civil society, the media, we trust you to spread the word because it's an experience we've tried and found very useful, allowing many to be here, to attend presentations on the theme of this day with the opportunity to exchange, ask questions, and we hope to be able to repeat this kind of exchange so that everyone can have the opportunity to express themselves. And if there are those who wanted to ask questions, and didn't have the opportunity today, they can leave them at the ministry, and we will do our best. We count on everyone, civil society, technical and financial partners, the State to help families overcome all these difficulties."
The celebration ended with a lunch offered by the Minister to the guests.
Marcelle Ebanda
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