Welcome to COTECC — Where Potential Has No Ceiling and Resources Hit the Floor
On a loud, sun-drenched afternoon in Bafut, Cameroon, Joshua T. Berglan — The World's Mayor — walked into COTECC school with one mission: hand the microphone to the students and get out of the way.
No fancy studio. No professional crew. No satellite uplink. Just a phone, a crowd of eager young people, and a belief that the world needs to hear what they have to say.
COTECC is a technical and vocational school serving students from around age 13 through college level. On paper, it offers programs in auto mechanics, woodworking, construction, electrical work, fashion design, and academic subjects. In reality, it operates in the shadow of the Anglophone Crisis — a conflict that has closed schools, displaced families, and stripped communities of the very infrastructure needed to build a future.
And yet — these kids show up. Every single day, they show up.
No matter how little you have, you can still make it bigger. The little we have — we will still make the world bigger.
— Goodness, COTECC StudentThey Had the Courage to Stand Up First
When Joshua first invited students to come forward and share their voices, silence fell. No one moved. Then one student — Neba — stepped up. And the moment he did, hands went up everywhere.
"That's why leaders are important," Joshua told the room. "Someone has the courage to be first — and what it does is inspire everyone else to do the same."
What followed was over an hour of some of the most powerful, clear-eyed, hope-filled testimony Joshua has ever broadcast. Student after student stepped in front of the camera to share dreams, identify needs, and deliver messages to the world with the kind of wisdom that takes most adults decades to find.
Here are just some of the voices that spoke up that day:
Neba — Age Not Stated
🏗️ Dream: Civil Engineer / Construction
"I want to build my nation first before going out to see the world. Believe in ourselves and try to be disciplined — that is going to help us in many ways."
Abom
🔧 Dream: Auto Mechanic
"Even if we don't have the materials — with God all things are possible. If you really have a dream, work hard on it and believe in yourself."
Ma Ajoy — Age 13
💰 Dream: Accountant & Business Owner
"If you don't work hard for your destiny, it will not come true. Do what your heart says so that your dreams can come true." — Age 13. Think about that.
Goodness
⚖️ Dream: Lawyer / Attorney
"The little we have, we will still make the world bigger. No matter how little you have, you can still make it bigger."
Honey Blessing Noël
🩺 Dream: Surgeon / Medical Doctor
"Even though the crisis scared us that we were not going to study again — we thank God we still have the opportunity to go to school."
Treasure Chen
⚽ Dream: Footballer & Auto Mechanic
"Many people discouraged me that in Cameroon you will not make it. But I'm going to keep on my goals. Do not discourage people who have dreams that come from their heart."
Ambe — Age 17
⚡ Dream: Electrician
"What I love about Bafut is we have people in the community who are friendly — we are all living together as one. No matter what comes your way, never give up."
Excellent
🏥 Dream: Builder — Specializing in Hospitals
"I see the amount of illness here — and the hospitals are not many. So I want to build hospitals. I see a problem and I have a solution in my heart."
Favor Divine
✏️ Dream: Architect
"I want to draw plans for hospitals, schools, and big companies. People — not women only, all people — should get more into their dream and have confidence."
Success
🔩 Dream: Mechanical Engineer & Entrepreneur
"If you express your mind, you can have help from any place. Speak it into existence."
John
📐 Dream: Woodworker (Loves Math)
"No matter what problem — never give up, because God is in control."
Unnamed Student
🎭 Dream: Actress / Studio Builder
"I want to make a big studio — I want our community to be more. Live in unity. In any situation, do not give up."
What They Need — And It Isn't Much
Over the course of more than an hour of interviews, a consistent picture emerged. These students are not asking for the impossible. They are not asking for a miracle. They are asking for what students in the wealthiest schools in the world take for granted.
Student after student named the exact same categories of need. Not luxury items. Not advanced technology. The tools to practice what they are already being taught in theory.
What COTECC Students Identified as Their Most Critical Needs
These are not wishlist items. These are the bare minimum tools required for students to practice what they are studying — and without them, they learn theory while staring at broken or absent equipment. They pass classes without ever completing a single practical. They graduate without the hands-on skills the world will require of them.
The things you donate to Goodwill for a $250 tax write-off? They have tremendous value here. And these students deserve the best — not the leftovers.
— Joshua T. Berglan, live from BafutOperating in Faith When the Infrastructure Fails
What struck Joshua most — what struck every viewer who watched that broadcast — was not the list of needs. It was the spirit of the students delivering it.
Every single person who stepped up in front of that camera expressed gratitude first. Gratitude for still being alive. For parents who found a way to send them to school. For a community that stayed together through a crisis that broke others apart. For the opportunity — however imperfect — to learn.
And then, without bitterness, they named what was missing.
"Even if we don't have the materials to work on it, we still try our best," said Abom. "And even if we are still able, we'll try to withdraw the knowledge we have from it for the moment — and I really wish as the day goes by we should be able to have modern instruments."
This is not a community asking for handouts. This is a community operating in faith — doing everything they can with what they have, and asking the world to show up with the tools that let them do the rest themselves.
This Is Not Charity. This Is Equipping Them to Fish.
Joshua T. Berglan is not here to run a charity campaign. The Sovereign Protocol and The Bridge to Media Empowerment exist precisely because the charity model is broken. Money given to most organizations rarely reaches the people it was meant for. This is different.
This is about connecting COTECC school — and the students inside it — with the people and organizations who have equipment they can donate or supply. Functional computers. Working tools. Lab supplies. Old vehicles for the mechanics shop. Sewing machines. Cables. Screwdrivers. The kinds of things gathering dust in warehouses, offices, and garages across the developed world.
Give them the tools to fish — and watch what they build. These students are already building with nothing. Imagine what they could build with something.
