Bamenda III Council Begins Reaping From Linking With Korean City

By Tegha Otega

Fruits of the visit, last February of a delegation of 11 from South Korea have begun trickling to Bamenda III (Nkwen). Last Tuesday July 17, 2012 items with some 13 million FCFA was received by the Bamenda III population. The items shipped from the City of Suwong in South Korea, stretched from exercise books, footballs, dressing/sports outfits, bags to drugs. An inventory subsumed by the Bamenda III Mayor, Cletus Fonguh indicated 31 items of varied quantity.

At least 2000 people thronged the Nkwen fon’s palace last July 17, 2012 to be witnesses to the donations. Even Fon Ngufor of Nkwen and his counterpart of Njaa were also at hand to live history.

Mayor Fonguh told his people that the donation was an expression of the value and attachment, which Suwon city has for Bamenda III. He however hailed the people of Suwon city in particular and the Republic of South Korea in general, for their kindness and their high spirit of giving.

The Bamenda III mayor exploited the occasion to announce the arrival of another delegation of 15 to 20 people from South Korea to Bamenda III this December. He said they would be more practical. Chronicle gathered that these would be experts in the domains of health, agriculture, education, who would be assigned to hospitals and health centres, schools and farming groups within Bamenda III.

A lot is expected to be derived from this new found relationship between Bamenda III and Suwon city. Already, mayor Fonguh has initiated some income generating projects with the city of Suwon. The mayor announced the creation of a goat ranch and a small slaughter house for goats; then the training of five (5) people from Bamenda III in Suwon, on modern agricultural practices. Also, Bamenda III is negotiating for the acquisition of heavy duty equipments such as a dump truck, an excavator and a front-end loader. This to be acquired thanks to the link with Suwong city.

Present at the handing over of the gift was Dr. Tandia Venasius Tandjong. He is a native of Bamenda III but presently resides in Korea. He is the brain behind the twinning between Bamenda III council and Suwon city. Dr. Tandia is a university professor in South Korea, a country where he has lived for the past 12 years. At one time, he was the president of the Cameroon community in Korea, which at the time had just 20 registered Cameroonians. Today, but of the 600 registered Cameroons in Korea, 20 are from Nkwen (Bamenda III).

According to Dr. Tamdia, the gifts were just a beginning to the friendship. He said Bamenda III would reap more, especially in the domain of education training, agriculture, medicine and a lot more. He said even students from Bamenda III intending to pursue further studies in Korea, would be offered special scholarships by the city of Suwon.

“Let’s all in Bamenda III know that we have had a new and great friend”, he averred urging that Nkwen people should learn to be collaborative and appreciative as more would come.