Open Dreams designates Lum Blessing'20 as the new Regional Program Coordinator for the North West Region of Cameroon

For Immediate Release; Monday, November 11th, 2024

We are very excited to announce our new Regional Program Coordinator. Lum Blessing'20 who holds a Degree in Business Management from the African Leadership College – Pamplemousses, Mauritius has been officially designated as the Open Dreams Program Coordinator for the North West Region of Cameroon and Fundraising Manager for the organization.

Lum Blessing'20, from Open Dreams Summer Academy Coordinator (ODSA Bamenda) to Regional Program Coordinator and Fundraising Manager

Blessing was a MasterCard Foundation Scholar at the African Leadership College, Mauritius, which is affiliated to the Glasgow Caledonian University in the U.K. She is a versatile, passionate business leader seeking to reduce the financial gap between the rich and the poor by enhancing the entrepreneurial landscape. Blessing is also into International Economic Issues and Challenges, managing people and diversity at work and Business Research Methods and Skills.

Araba Botchway of Ashesi University with Blessing on set, during OD@10 festivities at IRIC Yaoundé

During the OpenDreams@10 celebrations, Blessing moderated many sessions, with great mastery, leading to loud applause and glamour which characterized the day celebration.

The passion-driven coordinating team in Bamenda, on a school outreach to talk about Open Dreams

Within Open Dreams, Blessing is a well-known charismatic leader, mentor and program coordinator who, among other team leads, has overseen three summer academy programs in Bamenda and the traditional Aviva Week, which holds a unique place in our end-of-year programs. She takes over from Evita Afungfege, who brilliantly managed the Open Dreams Center in Bamenda from 2021 till 2024 when she left for the UK on a well-deserved prestigious Commonwealth Masters Scholarship Program. Despite the crisis which led to the hibernation of the Open Dreams Center in Bamenda in 2020, the Bamenda team, with fresh ideas and a determine spirit, steadily restored and elevated the Bamenda center over the years, to more vibrant operations with higher mentee intakes, running regular mentorship sessions for both undergraduates and graduates, besides community engagement activities. The mentorship programs have been highly productive with scholars from Bamenda going to some of the best institutions in the world. Among many remarkable outcomes over the years, the first Open Dreams Rhodes Scholar (2024) is from the Bamenda Hub.

Lum Blessing and Open Dreams co-founder, Hans Kullberg (from California- USA) at the 10th anniversary celebration of Open Dreams in Yaoundé - Cameroon

Historically, Bamenda is the first town in Cameroon where the US non-profit (Open Dreams) started operations in 2013. In the midst of the Anglophone crisis which started in 2016 disproportionately and gravely affecting education in the NW Region, Open Dreams distinctively became an Oasis of Hope to many, inspiring resilience, motivation and determination and serving as a beacon of light to those with high intellectual promise enduring challenging circumstances accessing education. Blessing often refers to Open Dreams as her Educational Asylum. She has been a great blessing to Open Dreams, with her enterprising leadership style making a significant difference.

Lum Blessing regularly speaks at the Open Dreams Center in Yaoundé during regularly work visits

Blessing will thus be a key member of the Open Dreams small, but agile team, leading the way to manage the Open Dreams Center in Bamenda while helping the organization to find, write, and secure grants, and leading the way on creating, launching, and promoting other fundraisers throughout the year. Through her engagements since she became a Member of Open Dreams, Blessing has a strong passion for the improvement of the day-to-day processes and functioning of the Open Dreams Learning Center.

Blessing represented the MasterCard Foundation Scholars in her university during the 10th Anniversary Celebration of the MasterCard Foundation (Boabab Summit) in Rwanda. She spent time at the University of Cape Town in South Africa and also took part in the Swiss-African Business case simulation in Switzerland (fuly sponsored by ALU)

Putting her entrepreneurship skills to work, Blessing will devise and lead fundraising initiatives for Open Dreams to keep flourishing.

Blessing will also serve as the primary connector of the Regional Centers and will network frequently with other teams in Yaoundé, Douala, Buea, Bafoussam, Bertoua and Garoua. She will also be in charge of designing and delivering key educational content during the yearly Open Dreams Summer Academy in three regions of Cameroon and the yearlong mentorship and professional development workshops and seminars. Alongside other Regional Program Coordinators and the Aviva Team of Medical Doctors, Blessing will spearhead on the ground the organization of the Aviva Week, which comes up every year, and network across all locations in Cameroon to ensure a successful Aviva Week throughout the country.

• The Open Dreams Team | info@open-dreams.org | November 2024