By Kini Nsom
Close to 30 kids of ages below 12, drawn from nursery and primary schools in Yaounde, have provided assorted paintings from which the best twelve would be retained for the production of the 2009 calendars and greeting cards by the Ministry of Environment and the Protection of Nature, MINEP.
These paintings were gathered recently at a drawing competition
organised at the famous Yaounde St. Anastasie Garden by the Ministry,
represented by its Secretary General, Patrick Akwa.
In pre-painting exercises building up to the competition, the Chief of
Service in charge of Sensitisation and the National Coordinator of
Youth Activities in MINEP, Lydia Bessem, urged the kids to produce
paintings projecting what they want the environment to look like in the
future.
Meanwhile, Isabella Tem Zouh, representing the Focal Point for Climate
Change, used the occasion to explain to the kids some of the major
causes of climate change in the world today. As a cushioning move, she
dwelled on the importance of planting trees and flowers.
The project initiator, Priscilla Song, told The Post that the painting competition is one of the sensitisation tools packaged in a resolution that emanated from an international children conference hosted by Cameroon in 2007.
Adding that tree planting by children remains one of their key projects; she said paintings retained for the calendars would be handsomely rewarded by the ministry in an official ceremony.
She said the calendars would serve as gifts for personnel of the Ministry of Environment and the Protection of Nature as well as its partners.Ms. Song who is also Assistant Research Officer No 1 in the Communication Unit and National Coordinator of Little Angels of the Environment, LANEC, an environmental association grouping children, also talked briefly of the Ministry's preparations for the Children World Summit on the Environment billed for South Korea in August 2009.
Cameroonian children are expected to attend that summit.
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