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Ambassador Marquardt Dedicates American Corner in Garoua

On December 13, 2006, the U.S. Embassy – Yaounde inaugurated its third American Corner, in the Garoua Municipal Library.  U.S. Ambassador Niels Marquardt, Government Delegate to the Garoua Urban Council Maikano Abdoulaye and Public Affairs Officer Lonnie Kelley lead the inauguration ceremony. Among the attendants were the Divisional Officer for the Benoue region and other local government officials, businessmen, teachers and journalists. In his welcome speech, Mr. Maikano thanked the U.S. Embassy for the donation of some 800 books, two computers, a TV set, a VCD and other resources, including films and CD-ROMs.  Mr. Maikano indicated that Garoua was truly in need of such resources. In response, Ambassador Marquardt stressed that the American Corner was not just a corner in the library but the beginning of a partnership and a platform for cultural exchanges between Garoua and the United States.

On December 9 and 11, as an indication of the types of programs that the U.S. Embassy would implement through the Garoua American Corner, the Embassy Information Resource Center (IRC) organized a training session for the four Municipal Library librarians.  The IRC also led a book discussion, on December 11, with judges and government officials among the participants.  The book discussed was Jennifer A. Widner’s “Construire l’Etat de droit.”  Twenty ESL teachers took part in the Internet workshop the following day. The programs illustrated the range of American Corner activities and ended with a book donation by Ambassador Marquardt to six secondary schools.

In repeated press coverage, those interviewed stated that the American Corner Garoua filled a void.  Given the more than 745 miles that separates the northern provincial capital of Garoua from the nation’s capital of Yaounde, many people expressed relief and having been spared henceforth the hardship of traveling to Yaounde for information about the United States and related issues of interest. (photo gallery)