They carried out a one-month service by helping in administrative tasks and cleaning up the town.

Some 8 million FCFA has been offered to 253 pupils and students in Obala Subdivision, Lékié Division of the Centre Region, to prepare for the next school year.  This was after the children carried out a one-month voluntary service with Obala Council. Each primary school pupil took home 25,000 FCFA, secondary and high school students got 35,000 FCFA, while university students received 40,000 FCFA.

Speaking in Obala on Friday, August 19, 2016, at the close of the exercise, Mayor Simon-Pierre Ediba said the support of the council to the youth was part of its role in assisting parents prepare for school reopening. He explained that the service period was intended to offer pupils and students the opportunity to learn council administrative processes and to become familiar with the decentralisation process. “Because of this one-month exercise, the town has become neater,” the Mayor acknowledged.

Messina Eteme Marthe, a student of the University of Yaounde I, who took part in the voluntary service, said they received good counsel from supervisors and were therefore grateful to them and the Mayor. “We learnt much from them. I served in the Accounting office where I learnt how to fill revenue forms,” she said. Bitieh Brendaline, a Form Five student of Government Bilingual High School, Obala, spoke of how much she enjoyed her stay in the Council. She said she learnt how to photocopy and also ran errands for her matron. “The money I received will enable me to buy school needs,” she explained.     

Otsalie Sylvie Martine, one of the work supervisors, said her group was involved in clearing grass along the streets and around the market. The pupils worked from 6 am to 11 am, with everyone assigned a portion to tidy up. “I taught the very young ones how to handle the machete to clear grass or hoe to clean around. The children were aged 10 to 15 years. The exercise went on well as the pupils learnt much,” Otsalie Sylvie noted.