23rd November 2023 was a day of great celebration in Kongola – a rural village in the sub-division of Maroua III in the Far North of Cameroon – as three new classrooms, an office and a new latrine (funded by BSFA and constructed by SHUMAS) were being handed over to the technical school, CETIC Kongola.  This is the only public technical school in an area serving 40 communities.  It currently has 592 students and 44 teachers but, until we managed to find the funding for this project, the school only had three properly constructed classrooms.  The majority of the classes were set out under the few trees in the school campus, and lessons were frequently disturbed by camels or snakes making their way through the ‘classroom’ .  When the rains came, all lessons had to be abandoned.

The opening of the new classroom block will make the world of difference to the school and its pupils and academic performance is expected to rise significantly.  Below is a video clip of the opening ceremony which was broadcast on national TV in Cameroon.