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CAMEROON: IRIN focus on abandoned children

Most of the children at the Saint Theresa Charity Centre in Ngaoundere, some 622 km north of the Cameroonian capital, Yaounde, were taken there at an early age. "We receive children abandoned in the streets or in garbage dumps as well as newborns who lost their mothers at birth," said Sister Agnes Nana, who was temporarily in charge of the centre when IRIN visited it in late June. "We've received newborns who were still carrying their umbilical cord."

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

NGAOUNDERE, 25 July (IRIN) - Hassan and Halmatat seem not to have a care in the world as they scramble, half-naked and barefooted, for a mango, but that's hardly surprising. They are just 18 months old. But at that tender age, they have already lost their mother, who died in childbirth - reportedly at the age of 15 years - and been abandoned.

Like the twins, most of the children at the Saint Theresa Charity Centre in Ngaoundere, some 622 km north of the Cameroonian capital, Yaounde, were taken there at an early age. "We receive children abandoned in the streets or in garbage dumps as well as newborns who lost their mothers at birth," said Sister Agnes Nana, who was temporarily in charge of the centre when IRIN visited it in late June. "We've received newborns who were still carrying their umbilical cord."

The shelter - in French, Foyer de charité Sainte-Therese - has been receiving abandoned and underprivileged children since 1958, one year after its founder, Father Alexis Atangana, began preaching in the predominantly Muslim area. In 1958, the orphanage had three children. Eight years later there were 30. Today, they number 80, from babies to a few university students.

Father Atangana decided to create the institution after a young girl burst into tears during Bible study class and said she had not eaten in three days, Sister Agnes said, adding: "He had also witnessed children feeding themselves from leftovers which had already been thrown into the garbage."

While the twins run about in the courtyard, one of the older children, Alexis Atangana (no relation to the home's founder) assists 10-year-old Fadil, who has been suffering from stomach ache and vomiting. "I feel personally responsible for those who fall ill because a lot of them see me as a big brother," says Alexis, who is 24. "In this family that we've built, we share the same pains and joys."

He bears testimony to the effort invested by Father Atangana, Sister Agnes and their two assistants to give the children a chance to have a future. He has spent half his life at Sainte Therese. Twelve years ago, he was left at the shelter because his mother could no longer care for him. One of 20 residents of the centre who sat state examinations this year, he is now awaiting the results of his university-entrance exam. Success would mean he can join other members of the Sainte Therese family already enrolled at the University of Nganoundere. Eventually, he wants to become a diplomat.

The shelter, which operates solely on donations, provides the family setting many of the children lacked. However, it takes time before some of them can overcome the effect of the social and psychological traumas they have suffered.

Sawalda Moktar, who is 10, came to the centre about five years ago after his mother dropped him off at the office of his father, who promptly refused to recognise him as his son.

"For two years, he would wake at night and cry. He used to say his mother had abandoned him. It was the same thing at school, which is why he often repeated classes. Next year he will be repeating Grade Three," Sister Agnes says. "We asked the adults at the orphanage to do everything they could to make sure he felt loved by someone. It's cruel to abandon children."

She has another source of concern. The children, who come from various ethnic communities, "cannot speak their mother tongues because they are cut off from their families" so they only speak French.

Ngaoundere, capital of the predominantly Muslim northern province of Adamoua has some 400 abandoned children for a population of 160,000, according to an official of the Ministry of Social Affairs, and the number appears to be increasing. Some observers links the phenomenon to factors such as religion.

Having children out of wedlock is not welcomed in Adamoua. "They say here that bastard children are a blot on the family name," a sociologist told IRIN. However, the paradox is that while rejecting illegitimate children, some people indulge in extra-marital affairs," said Magila Sar Sar, who works for the ministry od social affairs in Adamoua.

Mistreatment, including practices like corporal punishment, has also helped drive children from home, added Sar Sar, who heads the ministry's social services department in Ngaoundere. "It's common for a father to ask his son or daughter to leave the family home for disobeying him," he said.

Because of its proximity to neighbouring countries, Ngaoundere has also seen an increase in children from Chad and Nigeria who have had to fend for themselves. Ngaoundere's train facilitates the situation as it is a final destination for some, and for others a transit point on the way to greener pastures in Yaounde or Cameroon's commercial capital, Douala.

Local markets, bus and train stations, and football stadiums have thus become home to the many homeless children who do not live in Sainte Therese or Ngaoundere two other private shelters, Centre d'Accueil et de Reinsertion La Torche and Mains tendues aux enfants de la rue. The town does not have a state-funded orphanage.

According to Sar Sar, the government needs to address the situation in Ngaoundere and other towns by prioritising two areas: state financing for the shelters or orphanages and assigning social workers and other specialists to such centres.

He said the state needed to ensure that funds allocated each year to social institutions actually get to them so that they function and to lessen their cash-flow problems. Additionally, the Cameroonian authorities needed to ensure that graduates of the national school for social welfare received the best training possible and were assigned to the centres, which often lack a specialist who can deal, for example, with the children's psychological trauma.

Father Atangana, who was on mission in Europe when IRIN visited the shelter in late June, wants to build a bigger centre with more facilities but lacks money. The occasional grants Sainte Therese receives from charitable European organisations are not enough, Sister Agnes said.

"We are appealing to all those who have the means to help us take better care of the children," she said. "We've lost count of the children who were raised in the shelter and found happiness. There are some who are married. As Father Atangana likes to say, many of the children gained a new lease on life after passing through here."

[ENDS]

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