AFRICA. Cameroon. A famous barber in Buea, South West region of Cameroon has launched a project under which he will give 50 less privileged people free barbering training.
Ekie Walters Ngalle, 24, said he’s open to training anyone despite their tribe, especially those within the two English speaking regions of the country who have been affected by the crisis for the past four years.
The crisis started in 2016, with the two English speaking regions trying to separate from the other eight regions, after complaining of marginalization.
Ngalle, is offering the privilege especially to women to join the training for a period of six months and above, which will commence on December 12.
One of his motives is to uplift some of the children that are highly affected by the crisis. “The poverty rate in Cameroon is fast rising due to the crisis, families are losing property and more children are becoming orphans,” Walters said in an interview with Transcontinental Times.
Ngalle through an analogy, captures back when he was a little child selling watermelon in Limbe, a city in his country, and how he was picked from the streets, as a watermelon seller and made a professional barber.
“As a child growing up in Limbe we had to survive on our own. I started my barbering career on the streets. I was selling watermelons and had a customer who was a barber called Louis Mario who has moved to the United States. I once begged him 500CFA and he said ‘Brother, I can’t give you money because giving you money won’t help you. Instead, I will teach you how to get this money.'”
“He took me off the street and introduced me to barbering,” Ngalle told Transcontinental Times.
Ngalle said the only way he can pay back is by training those who are struggling to make it in life, just like him, a couple of years ago. “So, as a barber, I think the best way to give back is to give my services and pass on my skills to them for free. I don’t have millions to give them but I think if I can teach them handwork, it will better their future just like what my friend did for me,” he added.
The man is not just going to teach them how to give a hair cut, but will also educate them about health and other risks when using sharp objects while barbering.
For the past five months, Ngalle has been moving around the towns of Yaounde, Limbe, Mutengene, Buea Bamenda, Mamfe, and many other places offering free haircuts to internally displaced people, less privileged and handicaps.
If you want to send your child to obtain training or wish to support the initiative, you can contact Ngalle and his team on:+237673594931/+237655673417.
Beautiful!