She puts smiles on the faces of orphans, the handicapped and abandoned children.

It takes much commitment, good heart and the fear of God to cater for other people’s children. The efforts of Margaret Loh, a mother to 35 children she never carried in her womb, have been recognised by the Cameroon Career Women’s Association, CCWA. She received the “Woman Of The Year” trophy during the second Cameroon Career Women’s Award recently in London.  

Margaret Loh, who opened a centre for the disabled in 2004, which also became a home for orphans and abandoned children, said she was motivated to do so when her daughter’s heart problem was singlehandedly taken care by others. In return, she created a centre for the handicapped, with the number of children growing from three in 2004 to 35 in 2016. Together with her family and well-wishers, Margaret Loh strives to provide the inmates aged two to 40 years, comfortable lives.

She affirmed that the day-to-day running of the centre is herculean. Of the 35 occupants, 13 are in primary school, seven in secondary school and three in university. The award comes at a time the disabled centre is in dire need of a borehole to provide water for the newly constructed dormitory.

CCWA was founded and is run by Cameroonians at home and abroad. It recognises the achievements of Cameroonian women, and celebrates and inspires them to move forward in contributing to the country’s development. The 2016 “Woman of the Year” contest also recognised three prominent African women who have not only impacted lives in their countries, but also in the rest of the world. Organisations educating girl children received scholarships for university training at the vent.