The High Commissioner of Cameroon, His Excellency Nkwelle Ekaney, was in Southampton last week to officially open the University of Southampton’s ‘Cameroon Catalyst Building’.
Cameroon Catalyst is a joint venture between Civil and Environmental Engineering students at the University of Southampton and the Mosame Trust, a charity which aims to create sustainable development in Cameroon, starting in the rural village of Bambouti.
Since 2009, the Cameroon Catalyst student volunteer team have raised funds in the UK to employ regional craftsmen and builders to construct the projects, encouraging local skills and the economy. To date, the team has designed and funded a community and medical centre, a workshop and two primary school blocks. The project for 2013 is to design an electrical hub to provide electricity to the village.
In recognition of the fantastic work Cameroon Catalyst have carried out with the Mosame Trust and to remind students of the potential they have in using their knowledge to better communities, students have chosen to re-name a Civil and Environmental Engineering building on the Highfield Campus as the Cameroon Catalyst Building.
The official opening included presentations from former student and co-founder of Cameroon Catalyst, Claire Gott and founder of the Mosame Trust, Patrick Mballa as well as the naming of the building by the High Commissioner of Cameroon His Excellency Nkwelle Ekaney.