PLIGHT OF A 21 YEAR OLD CAMEROONIAN GIRL CHILD ACTIVIST
Apr 28, 2022
First story
Ngaoundere, Adamawa Region Cameroon.
As young as 8years old, though innocent but beautiful, she is seen attractive enough to satisfy a man as old as 75years of age, sexually. She ends up with a vaginal fistula and dies in the course and the story is never told because the parents were bribed and because of shame and stigma, silence remains the best option. Because she falls within ages 12,13,14 , she is good enough to be married off to some old man, because at that age she is seen as a wife. She isn't suppose to go beyond secondary school.
As innocent and naive as she is , she knows nothing about her sexuality, menstrual cycle or hygiene. She was made to believe that, because she menstruates , she is unclean.
It is a sin for her mother to caution her on her reproductive system. She has no right to complain and no right to speak up if she was sexually abused, lest she wanted to die. For years she remains shrouded in silence and caged for good. Since it is a taboo to be pregnant before marriage, she is forced to throw the child in the forest or garbage after birth. She wears the Hijab come rain, come sun and the only thing that differentiates her from any other girl is that she is Moslem. Because she is moslem and she is female , this is the life she is bound to live. These are true life stories of innocent vulnerable girls in Northern Cameroon , which is 70% Islamic. Ngaoundere to be precise.
Till we sound it as loud as we can that \"Our girls are not wives\" and \"Because we are girls we are proud we menstruate\" , the violence continues and silence takes the order of the day.
21year old passionate Brenda Formin breaks through the silence to end the violence as she takes up the challenge to stand up for the rights of the girl child in Northern Cameroon (Ngaoundere, Adamawa Region.) She was told it was deadly and she was advised to withdraw. Regardless of how persistent she was, the delegation of Women's Empowerment, denied her , a mission letter for her work. She pressed on and decided to forge ahead with her project on Violence Against Teenage Girls .
Through focused group discussions with mothers and the young girls, she trained them a lot on their sexuality and health and the essence for a girl child to go to school and not be married off at an early age. And this was her slogan \"Our girls are not wives, neither are they objects subject to violence.\" As hard as this truth dawned on her, she went as far as wearing the Hijab to penetrate the villages to meet these girls and women. Brenda was told, no Lamido ( rural head ) will give heed to her plight. Her bags were packed, set to address this issue, regardless of the fact that her own life was at stake. But the story was different when she got to the villages.
These same Lamidos, rallied their women and girls and also stayed to participate in the training sessions. And as the same training covered over 6 villages, so did the respective Lamidos get to translate in their respective mother tongues. Women were able to open up, same as the girls. Infections they kept for years without telling anyone, they were able to Speak up after the training sessions and through the help of the health centers, they were registered to access medical care.
Brenda Formin together with her team, also participated in taking care of the health of children, as young as o-5years, where over 600 kids got vaccinated against poliomyelitis in over 300 rural huts.
These are the words of this bold dynamic young lady \"I dream of a society, where girls can live in, without a sense of threat to their safety and security.\"
As such, Brenda Formin is advocating funds as she collaborates with organisations to run skill workshops with the girls and women so that they can be economically empowered and also create opportunities for girls to access education and medical care.
Kindly check these links for the pictures
https://photos.app.goo.gl/lVu1mbYf6raTVPsr1
