The storm that brought the light. Making the world a better place for persons with disabilities!

Growing up

My story is one of sadness and frustration that we as a family faced very early on in our

lives. As children in the 70s, 80s and 90s in Cameroon, my sister Agnes; who was hearing

impaired suffered many forms of discriminations despite her intelligence and desire to be

the best in whatever she wanted to do. Even though my dad was an educationist, Agnes was

deprived of any form of formal education due to the lack of resources in the country as a

whole; to cater for the needs of persons with disabilities.

Barriers

Means of communication with other hearing impaired persons were not available and my

sister was forced to lead a very isolated live while the rest of us pursued our live ambitions

and there was nothing else anyone could do about it. My sister’s life was very sad and she

often ventured out to try making money for herself. Most often, she was met with

disappointments, rejection and exploited in all sorts of ways until her death in 2007 at the

tender age of 32. The complete lack of networking with others of her own kind as well as

motivators and sponsors who could encourage and empower people with disabilities was a

major contributing factor to what my sister went through.

Her death brought a great deal of sadness to me and my sisters; as we had so much guilt

with the thought that we could not do anything to change the outcome of her short life. I

knew deep down in my heart that this was not the end of the story but never summed up

the courage to step up to the challenge as I always felt lacking in one way or another to

handle a challenge. A few years ago, my family began talks about an initiative in honour of

my late sister Agnes. Our goal was to get girls with hearing impairment empowered and

their livelihood improved; to enable them experience live to the full and be proud of the fact

that they are an important part of the society.

The legacy

My sister Regina took this to another level by Registering the Association for the

empowerment of the Deaf and Vulnerable persons (AEDVP); a non-profit organization in

2016. This came after years of links with several disadvantaged young men and women with

disabilities in and around her community.

Inspired by her desire to empower young girls and women especially, I funded her first

empowerment project in 2019. That was an amazing 50th Anniversary gift for me

personally; as I have always felt very sadden by the fact that my sister missed out on live just

because she had a disability. Since then we have done our best to make sure Agnes’s legacy

lives on.

 

The promise

My sister Regina has always told us some real inspiring stories about World Pulse during our

WhatsApp calls, encouraging us to join the sisterhood. She always talked about her much

you all have supported and uplifted her during these challenging times of her life. And how

much value WP empowerment courses has had on her job. She hasn't stop talking about

her best friend Jill, world Pulse encouragers and ambassadors and how much you have impacted

her life. Then there was the great news about her being a grand prize awardee of the World

Pulse spirit award. I was so overwhelmed with joy and determined to attend the ceremony.

Filled with excitement I joined the call about 7minutes early, being one of the early birds.

What lovely broad smiles I saw on each woman's face as I logged onto the call. I felt like I

had been on World Pulse all my life. Thank you all beautiful sisters.

The interactions during the call will always be one to remember. What completely captured

my heart was the fact that women of all age groups and from all over the world could just

meet, with the sole purpose of motivating and encouraging everyone else to grow. The

openness to share and the uplifting messages from the award winners was so emotional.

The messages from everyone just re-enforced my thoughts and desires that have been

dormant for so many years because I had decided that I was powerless and not strong

enough to make a difference. But now I know that it does not matter where you are, status,

age, abilities, experiences, strengths and weakness. What is important is your desire and

intention to foster growth. My decision to become a world pulse member was almost

instant as the need for women to belong to a networking group was obvious to me at that

point. I was finally in the presence of like-minded women; who wanted to make a difference

to other people by what they did. I know there are so many people in my country Cameroon

and around the world as a whole that do not have a voice and no one to speak for them;

just like my sister did. This network has strengthened my voice and I am not afraid to fall or

fail as I know now that there is always another voice waiting to carry the message on for me.

I promise to do my personal best in motivating and encouraging other women; especially

within my community; to become part of a sisterhood as there is strength in numbers. I will

cease every opportunity to attend meetings, share stories as a source of motivation, and be

always there when a sister needs me.

Today i call on the government , community member, family members, care givers and all of us to take up our responsibility in making sure that all persons with disabilities have access to resources and opportunities that will ensure total inclusion rights and disability justice. Together let's make the world a better place for all! 

Sincerely and in sisterhood

 Vera Tansie