The humanitarian gesture is sponsored by UNICEF Cameroon's Local Staff Association.

It was all smiles on the faces of the young residents at the Bepanda Social Welfare Centre on Wednesday January 30 afternoon. The joyful atmosphere was stirred by a humanitarian visit from the personnel of the United Nations Children's Education Fund (UNICEF) Cameroon, for an award of gifts ceremony. The donation, comprised of clothes, toys, foodstuff and basic medical needs is geared towards ameliorating the children's stay in the centre, pending their consequent reinsertion into their various communities, explained UNICEF's representative, Geoff Wiffin. Worth FCFA two million, the gesture sponsored by UNICEF's Local Staff Association, aimed at extending a hand of solidarity to needy and under privileged children; being one of UNICEF's priorities.

The centre was created in 1952 by Canadian Missionaries and handed to the state in 1972, under the Ministry of Social Affairs. It accommodates male minors aged between eight and 14, offers educational, professional and medical services, with a 120 boarding facility. Its raison d'être is to combat the phenomenon of abandoned and street children, as well as juvenile delinquency by creating a home for the vulnerable, explained the Littoral Regional Delegate of Social Affairs, Jean Pierre Edjoa.