Kenyan Airways Crash: Mbanga Pongo Known Worldwide

The disaster has led to exposure and perhaps notoriety of the locality in the nation and the whole world.

In the South East of Douala, about 12 miles away for the Metropolis lies Mbanga Pongo. It is a small village situated behind Tradex Mboko on the Douala- Yaounde highway. The village which was once unknown to many people in the country and beyond has in a short time gained international attention that some big towns in Cameroon are yet to have. Rather unfortunately, this has been as a result of the sad incident – the Kenyan Airway crash that claimed 114 lives. The little village had never received such visitors in the past. In about one week great scientists, journalists, diplomats, from different nations, tribes from around the world have trickled into the village. Their attention has been focused on the crash. For some, it was to tell the world what happened and what is being done. To others, it was to unravel the mystery of the accident and yet others, to attend to the needs of their citizens. All of these will make this little village to go down in history, especially the part that deals with disasters. Mbanga Pongo will be remembered as the village where the Kenya Airway Boeing 737-800 crashed killing 114 passengers on board and leaving no survivors. The village with a population of about 5,000 inhabitants is fairly lively as a result of its closeness to the city. Most of the villagers are subsistence farmers. A few others are hunters and while the rest are involved in sand extraction. Only one unpaved muddy track or access road with several bumps runs across the village. However, at a certain point, the road ends and the rest of the journey to the dense forest is done by trekking. The village is covered with mangrove swamps where the Kenya airways plane crashed and sunk.
Mbanga Pongo is yet to have potable water and electricity. As a result of the incident, Orange Cameroon has installed an emergency water energy supply system that provides electricity to the gendarmes and soldiers on guard.
The young people in this village are thoughtful. They are making use of the presence of the army officers, gendarmes on guard and those streaming in to the village to raise income. Some of the young people hang around hawking. They sell oranges and boiled eggs. There is one thing that inhabitants of the village can be proud of; it is sand. The village has fine grain sand used in building and construction works. Most of the walls of the houses in the village are being transformed from wood to block. The rush for land in the village has also attracted many wealthy people from the city. Some of them have started putting up good structures. Given its recent exposure to the rest of the world, it is likely that more changes will occur for the good of the land and its inhabitants. Already the government is providing access roads. Two road construction companies are already working on these projects.

EFFA TAMBENKONGHO