Air pollution remains a serious environmental and health challenge, and is contributing to inducing breathing difficulties, flare-ups of allergy or asthma and other lung problems to more and more people in peri-urban and urban areas in Cameroon. Cognizant of this, and considering that children are more at risk than adults because their lungs are still developing, some kids and young adults in the Bamenda 3 Municipality in the North West Region of Cameroon have launched a “war” against air pollution.
The group of 6 kids and youths, who are currently taking part in the Voice of Nature (VoNat) and Meg Wah’s EcoKids programme, in July 2023 developed a micro-project aimed at limiting the rate of air pollution in the Nkwen community under the mentorship of the VoNat technical team. With funding from Earth Rising Foundation, VoNat and Meg Wah provided financial and technical support to the youngsters to proffer solution to this environmental challenge they have identified in their community.
The children, between 10 to 18 years, leverage the technical and financial support to carry out a door-to-door and community-wide education and sensitization on the sustainable management of household wastes and pit latrines. They produced and installed four trash cans at strategic spots in Nkwen to contribute to limiting air pollution through unsustainable waste management in the area. Beside this, the environmental ambassadors trained 20 households in Nkwen on pit latrine management and donated some material to assist these household in the sustainable management of their latrines.
The air pollution mitigation initiative was greeted with much joy by community members. “When we were young, sanitary inspectors use to come around to inspect and assists us in disinfecting our toilets. This was very good and help us to maintain proper hygiene and sanitation. But for several decades now we have not seen them. I feel really happy to see our children doing a similar thing today. If they continue like this, then the rate of diseases from pollution will greatly reduce in our communities,” said Pah Nchinda Joseph of Ghana Street Bamenda.
As this micro-project draws to a close, it is hope that local councils replicate and or upscale such initiative to better contribute to limiting environmental pollution and diseases that come along with it in their municipalities.