Aspired Women Empowerment and Development Organization (ASWEDO) has provided blankets, bedspreads, dresses for newborns, soaps, and buckets to vulnerable patients and nursing mothers at the Bamenda Regional Hospital.
Beneficiaries to the gesture of Lilian Akwen, the Founder of ASWEDO were the most vulnerable patients of the female ward, and nursing mothers at the Children’s Ward.
Lilian Akwen offered the items on Saturday, May 4, 2024, under the guidance of the Head of the Social Service Unit of the Bamenda Regional Hospital.
Talking to Standard Chronicle on why she chose the month of May for the gesture Madame Iilian Akwen says:
“May is my birth month. The best gift I can give myself is reaching out and putting smiles on the faces of those challenging situations. ASWEDO on my birth month is giving warmth to vulnerable elderly patients, and clothing the babies of mothers who are not well to do”
ASWEDO, equally stopped by the victims of the Nkambe bomb blast with a hand love.
Aspired Women Empowerment and Development Organization (ASWEDO) is a nongovernmental organization with headquarters in Bamenda. ASWEDO was created in 2018, with the Motto: “EMPOWERED for Sustainability”
Installed Executive members of PRERAPROD together with NW MINCOM Degate at the right of the SG at the NW Governor’s Office.
The Executive members of the Northwest Regional Development Platform For Proximity Radios – PRERAPROD, have been have been commissioned into office.
The team headed by Grace Ngwafor, the present Station manager of Abakwa FM Radio was installed by the Secretary-General to Northwest Governor’s Office, Saidouna Ali on Tuesday, March 19, 2024, at the Conference Hall of the Regional Delegation Arst and Culture in Bamenda.
Mme Grace Ngwafor, NW President of PRERAPROD, the lone lady here
In his installation speech to the team of eight to respect all government structures in their mission of bringing all community radio stations to be actively in the promotion of Peace, Development, Equity, Gender, Inclusion, popularisation and adoption of Essential Family Practices in favour of the child and vulnerable social strata. Mr. Saidouna Ali equally urged them to collaborate with the Regional Delegation of Community, the supervisory office.
The PERAPROD President, Grace Ngwafor hinted that the platform after installation, will get to work by sourcing for partners and producing content for its members.
The Regional Delegate for Communication, Njike Celestine added that PRERAPROD is that Platform that will assist the Ministry of Communication and other relevant development and health stakeholders to reach out to the general public with very important health and other information
The installed Executive members of PRERAPROD NW is made up of the following offices; 1. A Regional President 2. A Secretary General. 3. Financial secretary 4 A Treasurer 5 A Liaison Officer 6. Programs sector priority officer 7. Resource mobilisation and prospection officer 8. Data monitoring and evaluation officer
PRERAPROD was created in 2021 in Bafoussam after a workshop organised by the Ministry of Communication and Public Health with the support of UNICEF. The Platform that groups 20 proximity radios from all the Divisions of the Northwest seeks to produce and broadcast programs on essential family practices, promote child and women health amongst others.
The Cameroon Climate Journalism Network has launched an operation for the restoration of Rafia Bush and Palm Products in the Northwest Regional dubbed operation “One Household One Rafia Bush”.
This was during the commemoration of World Wetland Day on Friday, February 2, 2024, under the theme “Wetlands and Human Wellbeing”.
The Cameroon Climate Journalism Network (CCJN), organized a grand Press Briefing in Bamenda dubbed “THE BRIEFING MEDIA SESSION” at the Bamenda Handicraft Center to join World Wide Wetland Actors to Commemorate the Day.
The Regional Coordinator of the CCJN Tamukong Roland used the come together to present the risk of the extinction of the Rafia Bush and subsequently, Rafia products if nothing is done for its restoration.
The Journalists took the engagement to partner with The Cameroon Climate Journalism Network which is working in collaboration with the Wetland Inc International to sensitize the Northwest population on the need to plant more Rafia plants and protect existing ones.
The agenda had therefore two grand launching:
✓ Launching of the RAFFIA BUSH Media Restoration campaign program or project in the North West Region,
✓ Launching of Cameroon’s pioneer Climate legal network, CCLENET (Cameroon Climate Legal Network), to combat the climate crisis.
The Regional Coordinator stated that shortly, The Cameroon Climate Women Network will be launched, to combat climate issues from the women’s perspective.
World Wetlands Day is celebrated each year on 2nd February to raise awareness about wetlands. This day also marks the anniversary of the Convention on Wetlands, which was adopted as an international treaty in 1971.
World Wetlands Day is the ideal time to increase people’s understanding of these critically important ecosystems.
This year’s campaign spotlights how interconnected wetlands and human life are with people drawing sustenance, inspiration, and resilience from these productive ecosystems. Importantly, the theme for 2024 underscores how all aspects of human well-being are tied to the health of the world’s wetlands. It calls on each of us to value and steward our wetlands. Every wetland matters. Every effort counts.
The National Office of the Cameroon Association of English-speaking Journalists in Cameroon (CAMASEJ) has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Local Youth Corner (LOYOC), intended to foster sustainable development in the country.
The MoU signed on January 29th in the nation’s capital Yaounde, will last for four years with a possibility of a renewal.
The Memorandum of Understanding requires both parties to work tirelessly in achieving peace and prosperity in Cameroon via staff exchanges, project design and implementation.
Speaking at the signing, CAMASEJ national president Jude Viban described the partnership as “Momentous”.
“This is Momentous, and we think this is the way to go. It is important to build bridges with partners who share our vision and who can help us attain our main objectives – improve the professionalism of our members” he said
Achaleke Christian Leke, director of LOYOC at the signing expressed believe that the signing will go a long way to drive growth for both organisations.
“The media community remains a critical partner in sustaining peace. We feel this MoU is a huge step for the peace-building community in Cameroon”.
He described the organisation’s working together with CAMASEJ as “Historic”, one that will serve as a platform to amplify peace and sustainable development in cameroon. “My team and I will spare no effort to make this transformative” he added
While both parties are expected to generate no income from the MoU, it is important to indicate that this marks another mile stone in the life of CAMASEJ, whose president executives bagged home another mandate, with promises to use the structure in advocating for peace and development.
Local Youth Corner Cameroon is a youth-led non profit and non governmental organization created in 2002 to respond to the increase in the socio-political and economic challenges facing young people amongst which include; unemployment, bad governance, gender based violence to name but these.
The Cameroon Association of English-speaking Journalists (CAMASEJ), on the other hand almost needs no introduction.
Created in 1992, it has maintained a culture of bringing together journalists practicing in Cameroon, essentially in english.
It aims at building a strong network that can help journalists improve on their trade, and protect them whenever and wherever need be.
The association develops and implement projects to better the well-being and productivity ofuts members and journalists across Cameroon.
The project like every other CAMASEJ projects will be run by independent experts who are recruited with competence in project and financial management, monitoring and evaluation as well as operations.
In a bold move to combat hate speech, defyhatenow has enlisted the support of taxi drivers in Buea who have committed to creating hate-free zones within their vehicles.
The initiative aims to educate both drivers and passengers about the dangers of hate speech, transforming taxis into spaces of unity and understanding.
Ngala Desmond, the country project manager of defyhatenow, emphasized the need to change the narrative, turning taxis into hate-free zones and, by extension, fostering communities free from hate.
Ngala Desmond, country project manager of defyhatenow with the mic.
The sensitization effort took the form of a caravan, with hundreds of taxi drivers joining the procession from Molyko Omnisport Stadium to the office of the Divisional Officer for Buea.
Among the drivers, Che Nelson shared his personal experience of facing hate speech due to his North West Region origin. Determined to make a difference, Che pledged to incorporate sensitization into his daily routine, declaring himself a hate speech ambassador. In a similar line, Tabe expressed similar concerns of being a victim of hate both from customers and fellow taxi drivers.
Other drivers echoed similar sentiments, acknowledging their roles as both victims and perpetrators, now committed to standing against hate speech.
The union executives of the taxi drivers pledged to use language that promotes unity, avoiding any form of incitement or dehumanization based on tribe, culture, or religion.
The commitment was lauded by various speakers, including representatives from the chiefs of Fako, the South West Chiefs Conférence, the South West Regional Assembly, the parliamentarian of Buea, and the Divisional Officer for Buea.
The collaborative campaign, known as “Taxi Tales, No To Hate,” is an initiative led by defyhatenow, Civic Watch Cameroon, and the parliamentarian for Buea Urban.
Onlookers enthusiastically applauded the campaign, recognizing the pressing need to address hate speech, particularly within the confines of taxi spaces. As the caravan passed by, locals expressed hope that this initiative would bring people together despite their differences, heralding a positive step towards unity and understanding.
The next town as declared by Ngala Desmond in the days ahead is Bamenda.
ERSO’s members in white t-shirts with Awarded Administrators of GBHS Down Town Bamenda.
The Ethical Reform Society Organization with the acronym ERSO in a mission to promote the universal principles of integrity, has presented integrity Awards to some meritorious administrators of the Government Bilingual Secondary School of Down Town Bamenda.
Three members of the administrative staff of GBHS Down Town received Integrity Awards in front of the Principal Madam Adey Judith, the teaching staff, and the students at the assembly ground on Friday, January 05, 2024.
Taba Ebenezar, leader of the ERSO delegation opined that the choice of GBHS Down Town is just by God’s guidance.
“Teachers are very influential people. When they do the right thing and you give them a tap on the back, they will do more and Students will eventually become like them, as they are models to these students. So coming to Down Town and giving them a tap on the back is a way to impact the future generation”, he added.
Talking to Standard Chronicle, the Principal of Government Bilingual Secondary School, Madam Adey Judith said the three Collaborators awarded, Takoh Gladys, Asana Felicia Akwese, and Nubet Wilson are square pegs in square holes.
“We are privileged to be the pioneer school for Ethical Reform Society Organization to come and give Awards to meritorious administrators of this institution. The choices of those Awarded are just the rights persons, they set the pace for this institution, and they are putting their all into the smooth functioning of GBHS Down Town. The applause from the students attests to this. I hope this Organization will come again next time to Award teachers and students.” Madam Adey added.
Madam Takoh Gladys, a vice principal who couples as the Mezam Representative to the Northwest Regional Assembly reacted after receiving her Award by saying that she never knew her efforts were being recognized.
“I must confess that I was taken unaware but am overwhelmed with such a recognition amongst my colleagues. I want to say that everywhere you have to work as if you will never have the opportunity again. I promise that I will continue to do what I have been and even better for more recognition to come.
Madam Takoh Gladys receiving her recognition
I am a community leader and a representative of Mezam in the Northwest Regional Assembly. This Award is just confirming that I was the right person to represent my community and I will continue to do that. I thank the Ethical Reform Society Organization for their recognition has come to encourage us to do more work.” Madam Takoh added.
Ethical Reform Society Organization was created in 2023 and is a faith-based organization with a mission to encourage accountability, transparency, and integrity. With the slogan: Be the change you want to see which comes from Proverbs 21: 21. Membership is open to any moral individual who wants to see a better society.
The Muteff community in Fundong Sub Division in the Boyo Division of the North West Region of Cameroon might have had little access to typical mass media outlets like newspapers, radio, and television but it never lacked its share of traditional narrow media newsstands and newsagents. One of such newsstands was a certain Bobe Babelly, an ambulant merchant who constantly traveled to far-flung communities and towns, and upon his return ventilated as many pieces of news and information to everyone who cared to listen. As children, we took every piece of information he disseminated as gospel truth.
One day, I was narrating a piece of information to my father, Bobe Jude Thaddeus Fulai Biyong and he inquired where I got the news from. When I told him I got it from Bobe Babelly, he told me another way to say something wasn’t true was to say you got it from Bobe Babelly. When I tried to find out how he concluded, he asked whether I had never found out why Bobe Takong nicknamed Babelly ‘nkangte-mbe’; meaning someone who just imagines things and says. Bobe Takong was one laissez-faire man in Muteff who nicknamed people according to their actions and behaviors, and sometimes with exactitude. Bobe Babelly was, however, not the only newsstand or newsagent in the community that was involved in sensationalism, disinformation, and misinformation.
Villagers referred to some who spread all kinds of information without any prior verification as ‘nyoh-ibally’, which when translated would mean the equivalent of the famous ‘Radio Mille Collines’ that ignited the Rwandan genocide. Although I continued relying on Bobe Babelly each time he returned from his business trips for information concerning happenings around the world (and he narrated the stories with relish), I took them with a pinch of salt.
Bobe Babelly might have been the forerunner of disinformation and misinformation in our society but newspapers, radio, and television channels are today suffering from a huge decline in trust from consumers. Since 2017 when the minority existentialist conflict in the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon degenerated into a full-blown deadly armed conflict, trust in the media (including the traditional media) has come in short supply.
Last year I had a conversation with a hitherto avid consumer of the Cameroon media landscape and he told me at first he could die defending a piece of information simply because he heard it on radio, TV, or read from a newspaper. Anything in print was gospel truth to him. Then he was betrayed by the media sometime in 2018. Activists had announced a lockdown of the town of Bamenda, and that fateful morning he had an urgent file to treat in an office at Up Station, Bamenda. As usual, he tuned the Regional Station of the Cameroon Radio and Television, CRTV, for updates before he could leave the house.
The journalist on air announced repeatedly that circulation was going on normally in town without any cause for concern. Trusting in the media, he took his car and quickly navigated through New Road, Nkwen-Bamenda. No sooner did he engage the Station Hill than a mob pounded on his car and almost took away his life from him. He concluded that since he had barely cheated death because he had trusted in the radio, he would decline listening to the radio, watching TV, or believing in everything he read in print. Just as my trust in Bobe Babelly as a news source declined after my father’s fact-checking abilities, my interlocutor’s trust in Cameroon news media declined after the unfortunate incident that almost took his life. His case is a microcosm of the macrocosm. Something needs to be done fast to rekindle the trust of listeners, viewers, and readers in Cameroon.
Few issues in Cameroon today can spark more debate than media bias. Although most people today tend to evaluate media bias from their perspectives — their own biases (if a news report or editorial content agrees with us, we tend to think, not that it is biased, but that it got things right) — criticism from all sides is not a sure sign that the media are performing well. We at The Colbert Factor are honest enough to accept this and do the needful to gain more trust from our readers and supporters.
That is why we have decided to partner with the Trusting News Project, a U.S.-based research and training project that empowers journalists to demonstrate credibility and earn trust from the communities they aim to serve by helping them understand each other. With their research-backed newsroom-tested strategies, Trusting News would help The Colbert Factor platform build a better relationship with you our readers.
Beginning this 2024, we are committed to taking responsibility for earning your trust. Given the lack of transparency in the way some media gather, treat, and disseminate information, and given that there is plenty of irresponsibly produced information out there, this new partnership aims to help us produce worthy content. It would help us understand what leads to distrust in the news so we can correct the record about our integrity and build relationships with new audiences. This requires humility.
Given that distrust happens when journalists fail to represent the values, views, and experiences of part of their community, the Trusting News Project would help us see how our lens on society shows up in the work we do and what to do about it. Not that the decline in trust in the media is limited to Cameroon or African media alone. The decline is global, but unlike in Cameroon, the U.S. media is making a conscious effort to regain trust in its audiences.
In a world in which news consumers are confused and exhausted by information, responsible journalists should be transparent and proactive about why they are worthy of trust. In such a perilous time as we live in, communities need access to news that reflects their diverse lives and values and is responsive to their priorities and feedback. As part of our trusting news engagement, we are committed, going forward, to comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comforted who are holding back social change.
But, this is not an easy, cheap, or profitable job. The Colbert Factor is a solution-oriented, independent non-profit content creation medium. It serves as the ‘first draft’ for newspapers, radio and TV stations, online news outlets, and blogs. We don’t have ads and we are independent of corporate and government interests.
You can help us continue creating more investigative, balanced, fair, reliable, credible, and educative content, by donating your widow’s mite through MTN momo number: 677852476
…And you would be contributing to a free press.
Happy New Year 2024 to all our esteemed readers who continued to support us even when we did not deserve your trust. It’s because of you that we commit anew to do everything to earn your trust, going forward.
Happy New Year 2024 to all our esteemed readers who continued to support us even when we did not deserve your trust. It’s because of you that we commit anew to do everything to earn your trust, going forward.
In Muteff, as is the tradition in Komland and most farming communities across Africa, the environment informed women of the culture of allowing a farm they have been cultivating for one to two years to fallow for yet another one to two years while they concentrated on a different farmland. That is how a family in Muteff that has farmed corn and beans at say ‘asu’ farmlands for example, would allow it to fallow for another set of years while they moved over to yet a different farmland at the ‘mbva’ section of the community. Before moving away from the previous farmland, the traditional African women agricultural engineers would plant fertilizing trees on the farm to ensure regeneration.
The same sustainable attitude held for the men who, largely polygamous, would after making a child with one wife, allow her for two to three years to bring up the offspring while the man concentrated on his next wife. This sort of natural family planning method helped to punctuate life and the natural flow of things in the Muteff community, and by extension the Kom clan.
Punctuation therefore, is a natural way of life. Far from being a boring and remorseful assemblage of dots and dashes, (just like the five-year prolonged Anglophone conflict), punctuation is so rich a field for the study of human nature that many readers could be so barren to realize. Historically, punctuation marks and/or their absence thereof; have caused and/or stopped wars.
Illustrations of punctuation that can cause war do not come in short supply. Come to think of a Commander giving the following instruction to soldiers at the battlefront: ‘Stop not, fight.’
There can be no doubt in any soldier’s mind that they have been charged to intensify the onslaught on the enemy. Now, consider that the commanding Officer gave the order in another way: ‘Stop, not fight’.
The shuffling of the position of the comma from after ‘not’, to before ‘stop’, would automatically stop the intended onslaught thereby ending a conflict.
In plain, simple terms, therefore; an otherwise insignificant dash sign, the comma, can either start or end a conflict, depending on where you place it in a sentence.
A simple conversation at home without respecting basic punctuation rules can still lead to disastrous and unimaginable ends.
‘Let’s eat, Grand Pa’. The comma immediately after ‘eat’ would be a familial invitation from grand youngsters for Grand Pa to join them at the table for lunch. Imagine what happens when the comma is tossed out of the sentence:
‘Let’s eat Grand Pa’. Welcome to cannibalism! Here, the grandchildren are no longer inviting Grand Pa to join them at the table. He has become the food itself. This disappearance of the ‘comma’ leads us straight into the wider study of human nature following Pythagora’s theory of transmigration.
Beyond adding meaning and beauty to sentences and language, punctuation marks speak to the very essence of existence. They remind humanity of the fundamental need for intervals of rest and respite in our perilous journey through life.
It would appear that just like normal life has gone out of play in the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon since the outbreak of the conflict in 2016, so too has punctuation gone along with it. Worse still, the issue today is not just about the dying culture of punctuation, but how it seems to be directly affecting the construction of our emotions in a myriad of different rhetorical ways.
Historically, punctuation has played a perfectly blameless life-calling role, separating sentences from each other. Although punctuation signs may look like dull chicken scratchings, they can play a crucial and determining role in putting meaning back into the raging Anglophone conflict.
With the conflict in the territory of the British former Southern Cameroons degenerating into senselessness and meaninglessness, punctuating it can rebirth not only new order but clarity of meaning and thought.
Ever thought about what a punctuation mark like the period or full stop can do to the current conflict? In the work: ‘The New Republic’, Ben Clair affirms that: ‘The period was always the humblest punctuation mark…but recently, it started getting angry.’ That was probably when people started talking senselessly and endlessly like Lucky in Samuel Beckett’s ‘Waiting for Godot’. And others in the two English-English-speaking regions of Cameroon replaced the period with the question mark.
Despite that, the neutrality of the full stop or period is still undisputed. In a conflict like ours, where both sides believe God to be on their side, and where the dispute is both over land and the people who inhabit it- unlike the Israeli-Palestinian conflict where the dispute is just over land – a period or full stop would be the marker of the end of the conflict.
German Philosopher Theodor Adorno holds that ”…there’s no element in which life and language resemble music more than in punctuation marks.” The comma and the period correspond to the half-cadence. Exclamation points are like silent cymbals and question marks are like musical upbeats. The other eight or more punctuation marks are simply like the different variables in a musical piece.
In all, therefore, fighting breathlessly without stopping to breathe and re-strategize goes not only against the rules of punctuation but also against the rules of life itself. Real meaning would be put back into the struggle for greater autonomy if activists and fighters factor in punctuation marks like apostrophes, exclamation marks, commas, periods, colons, semicolons, suspension marks, parentheses, and brackets, into their overall strategic plan. How come our parents knew the use of punctuation marks more than today’s generation? They knew how to allow their wives to fallow one after the other, through natural family planning. Today, we are all students of the Rapid Results College, RRC.
When one hears that the Eritrean War of Independence took well over 30 years, it doesn’t mean Eritrean fighters engaged Ethiopian forces and the population in battle each day of the 30 years. Eritrean Diaspora had a well-laid-out strategic plan. The moment they realized Eritreans relied heavily on Ethiopia for energy, for instance, they would down their guns, (say for five years for example), and concentrate all their energy on providing Eritreans with alternative sources of energy. Same for education, water, and other social and economic amenities. It wasn’t about guns all the time. It was about strategic independence.
Punctuation marks, therefore, are not only intended to enable you to read with all the requisite intonation, tone, pitch, and pauses intended by the author. They are more crucially, a way of life. They are part of a winning strategy.
Let Christmas 2023, be a season of rebirth, new beginnings, and new enterprise for everyone.
*Colbert Gwain is a digital rights activist, aviation reporter, author, radio host, and content creator @TheColbertFactor
WAIT! BEFORE YOU GO ON about your daily chores, ask yourself: How likely is it that the content you just consumed would have been created by a different news outlet if The Colbert Factor hadn’t done it?
Just think of what the media landscape in Cameroon today would look like without The Colbert Factor thinking out of the box. Who would accompany you in challenging the boundaries of conventional thinking? Who would help you relive John Naisbitt’s paradigm shift to the effect that: ‘The new source of power is not money in the hands of a few, but the information in the hands of many’?
There’s no gainsaying the fact that the kind of content we create not only helps in putting the right information in the hands of many but is also necessary for democracy. It emboldens us to uphold our freedoms and inalienable rights.
But, it’s not easy, cheap, or profitable. The Colbert Factor is a solution-oriented, independent non-profit content creation medium. It serves as the ‘first draft’ for newspapers, radio and TV stations, online news outlets, and blogs. We don’t have ads and we are independent of corporate and government interests.
You can help us continue creating more investigative, balanced, fair, reliable, credible, and educative content, by donating your widow’s mighty mite through MTN momo number: 677852476
The ongoing armed conflict in the Northwest Region and the Southwest Region is having a huge impact on the woman and the girl child. Most of them are unable to afford sanitary pads or washing detergent to clean their fabrics. ASWEDO within the 16 Days of Activism on gender-based violence, has attempted a solution to this situation.
Aspired Women Empowerment and Development Organization (ASWEDO) as part of activities on 16 Days of Activism on gender-based violence (GBV), sensitized school communities and provided sanitary items to young girls.
Lilian Akwen, the Coordinator of ASWEDO, brought together women and girls of the neighborhood of Ngomgham and provided them with sanitary pads and watching soaps after schooling them on gender-based violence.
Talking to Standard Chronicle, Lilian Akwen, opined that she is highly motivated within this 16 Days Activism On GBV.
“I feel honored working with women and girls on this period of Activism on gender-based violence that started on the 25th of November to the 10th of December with Human Rights Day. I am here to raise awareness of GBV. We all can join our efforts to talk about GBV to prevent its occurrence.
I am here today to let the women and girls know that, even if they are violated, they have some free services that can help them. This awareness raising is to make our women and girls know they have places to go when they are violated.
According to the report of the UN Women of February 7, 2023, one to three women are violated each day. So ASWEDO is adding its voice to say stop to GBV. And ASWEDO can not do it alone, so we all have to join our voices and efforts to stop Gender Based Violence”. She added.
It was a relief package to one of the beneficiaries who voted for anonymity. According to her, the sanitary pad will be of help to her next menstruation, given that the ongoing crisis has a negative effect on her income.
ASWEDO in collaboration with MINPROF NWR, UN Women, UNFPA, and other partners in NWR has equally carried out sensitization outings in some schools within the city of Bamenda.
Madam Lilian Akwen in a school sensitization campaign
The students were made to know that speaking out should be the first action of being violated, for they are persons and organizations ever ready to accompany them through the recovery process. They were made to know that there are safe spaces in the region that provide different support necessary.
ASWEDO is a not-for-profit, non-governmental organization for the empowerment of youths, orphans, the vulnerable, and especially girls and women
Colbert Gwain, CEO of A Common Future, Bamenda-Cameroon
Four years ago, a separatist fighter killed a 20-year-old woman in Muteff village in Fundong Sub Division of the Boyo Division in the North West of Cameroon, after spending the night with her, and suspecting that she had ‘fallen in love’ with a fellow fighter in the same restive community.
Some five months ago, a group of fighters in the neighboring community gang-raped some three girls on their way to school, and when family members came weeping, one of the separatist fighters’ commanders retorted by telling them not to weep because the act in itself was a blessing to their families. This was interpreted to mean that the families rather needed to count themselves lucky that the ‘new counter elites’ would choose their daughters to ‘ease off their tensions.’
Just three weeks ago, an armed gang invaded the Egbekaw village in Mamfe central Sub Division in the Manyu Division of the South West Region of Cameroon, raped and killed a 9-year-old girl before also killing a pregnant woman in the process.
The above-mentioned examples are just a microcosm of the macrocosm of incidences that have been documented about the disproportionate impact of the seven-year-old existentialist conflict in the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon where activists fighting for a separate state for the minority English-speaking communities have been engaging regular Cameroon forces in battle.
When recently in Babanki in Tubah Sub Division of the Mezam Division in the North West Region, separatist fighters kidnapped and maltreated octogenarian mothers before releasing them; and the regular forces were called in to maintain law and order, incidences of the rape of women and girls in front of their loved ones were legend. At the same time, the same reports were recorded in localities in the Belo Sub Division in the Boyo Division of the North West Region.
Way back in 2017, when a state of emergency was still in force in the North West Region, a video went viral of a uniform officer raping an 18-year nursing mother at the Bamenda Vertinary Junction neighborhood as his colleagues watched, with the pretext that the teenage mother didn’t carry along her identification papers even as the girl pleaded she just rushed out to purchase her baby’s diapers.
A Bamenda-based organization, the Global Welfare Association, GLOWA, that has been documenting cases of Children Born of War, reports that the North West alone counts over 500 cases of teenage mothers who have delivered children with combatants and who till date struggle in vain to identify the parentage of the children. The same holds for the children born of war in the restive South West Region of Cameroon where women and girls most of the time, are forced to exchange sex for their safety in the hands of combatants.
The evidence points to the fact that as the conflict in the two English speaking regions of Cameroon intensifies and as combatants become outstretched, women’s bodies have become the new terrain for conflict. While it has been documented by researchers in recent times that rape is an extension of the military strategy as when forces overrun a community and the male folk flee, they rape the women to show their superiority over the men in the community who couldn’t defend their female folk; it has emerged from the seven-year-old conflict in the two English speaking regions that the non-state actors indulge in rape and forced marriages because the rifle gives them the power to take control of women and girls they wouldn’t have had access to in peace time.
The transformation of women’s bodies into new battlefields at wartime demonstrates in triumphant detail the connection between militarization and violent masculinities, and the disproportionate ways in which women and girls are negatively affected during conflict. It also accounts for the increased rate in domestic and intimate violence especially in the homes of combatants.
Many women continue to feel the effects of their abuse in psychological, physical, and social terms after the official end of violent conflict. While praying for a definite solution to be found so this violent conflict comes to an end; we urge survivors of the violent conflict to seek psychosocial and medical support from Mbeng’s Diagnostic and Therapeutic Clinic, the official sponsor of A Common Future 16 Days of Activism campaign. You can reach out to them for your quality health care and tailored services at 677848842/698979112/654171135 or visit their offices at Yaounde-Nkolbison, behind l’hopital Irad and in Bamenda on the 2nd Floor, Quiferou Building, one way into Nkwen market.
Standard Chronicle 