Melting Pot Development (MPD): Just a smile…

Few kids from the orphanage of Nkoabang (Cameroon)

Sometimes, a simple formula can change the world.

The formula used by Melting Pot Development (MPD) holds in three words: Give a smile.

Serge Stéphane Owona, founding member of the movement and consultant in marketing and communications is at the head of the association. At thirty years old, this extremely driven man has a dream: to promote the equality of social chances for young Africans.

Serge Owona
Serge Owona

Confucius said, ‘Don’t worry about not being noticed; try to do something outstanding instead.’ From this stems the personality of the President of the association, whose low profile and media avoidances is in contrast with the huge variety of action he undertakes on the field.

Reading or listening to the speech of the founder of this non-profit, is an experience that combines wisdom, civic engagement, altruism and strong spiritual convictions. The rule is simple in terms of charity: the right hand should ignore what the left hand is giving.

Light is given to an organization, which has chosen to break social, religious, ethnic and cultural barriers amongst African youth.

Giving a helping hand

Everything started from a strong awareness of human suffering.

A look at a marginalized category, forgotten by society was enough for a group of African friends – of Cameroonian, Congolese, Senegalese and Malian nationalities – united by the same social realities and a common ideal, to imagine MPD. The determination not to turn away from orphans and street children, did the rest.

Giving a smile. A patient effort -celebrating nine years next October- of healing those shattered souls and allowing them to trust their own capacities as well as life and other human beings.

A voluntary work action was founded on 4 main pillars – education, health, nutrition and social insertion – in three out of the four countries where the association opened offices, at its creation in 2007: Cameroun, Congo-Brazzaville and Gabon. According to Serge Stéphane Owona, who would have wished to operate fully in four countries, the lack of activity in Senegal is a heart-breaker: ‘In Senegal, we were not able to establish the desired activities. The majority of our offices are based in Cameroon, Gabon and Congo-Brazzaville.’

A small disappointment, if we consider the effort the association dedicates to the unfortunate youth, regardless of the countries. Indeed, the activities and the original thought behind Melting Pot Development have now brought together more than 200 volunteers from around the world (USA, Canada, France, Guinea, Senegal, Congo, Cameroon, Gabon), in which fifteen members are active on the field.

Read the full article on page 16 of your magazine 

 

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