My Journey: A Cameroon where ALL Girls Excel

I was born and raised in a small town in South Western Cameroon called Limbe. Just like every other girl raised by a single mother in one of the most impoverish neighbourhoods in Limbe, I too faced my own share of poverty and stigma. However, I am grateful for the incredible support that I received from my mother and family. Thanks to this support system, I grew up always wanting to help other girls and women like myself to address the challengeswe face because I believe that together, we are stronger.

Through community service, Ihavemovedfrom being a radio presenter, using my voice asa toolto raise awareness on the challenges that affects girls and women in my community to working for different international organizations supporting girls and other vulnerable groups around the world. However, the turning point in my career was in 2015 when I worked in7 refugee camps in Cameroon and had to experience first hand the challenges of young refugee girls during menstruation. The pain that I felt while interviewing some of them to understandtheir experiencesand what coping mechanisms they have in place to deal with this natural monthly ordeal. My interviews led to research and the outcomes were shocking as I realised that menstrual hygiene management is still a taboo topic in Cameroon especially in rural areas. Most importantly, I realised that it is a contributing factor to girls missing school because of lack of sanitary pads or dropping out completely because of early unwanted pregnancy. Menstrual Hygiene managementin my opinion must be addressed from a broad perspective of Sexual and reproductive health rights and its implication on the education, health and socio-economic rights of girls and women, not just as amonthly issue which can be resolved with access to sanitary pads. I knew back in 2015 that for this dream to be achieved, we need structures that will be able to address the needs in the communities while engaging policy makers towards a better menstrual health policy in Cameroon.

With this in mind, I started a social impact organization called Girls Excel which supports girls in rural communities in Cameroon to access sexual and reproductive health rights. Our vision is that of a world in which lack of access to sexual and reproductive healthrights is no longer a barrier to girls education and empowerment. Through a small team of committed volunteers, we have engaged 4 communities in the last one year in the South and North West regions of Cameroon to raise awareness on menstrual hygiene management. Our projects ensures that girls in these communities have access to reusable or disposable sanitary pads depending on the availability of cleanwater in the community.

Our outreach programs equally addresses the taboo associated with this topic, supporting girls to understand why it is of importance to their health and education. Through our mentoring clubs coordinated by Ms Taku Roandline, one of our very dynamic and committed members, Girls Excel mentoring clubs create an enabling environment for adolescent girls to learn more about their bodies and make informed decisions about their health and future.

In the last one year of existence, We have successfully registered Girls Excel as an association in Cameroon and supported over500 girls directly and indirectly and this will not have been possible without the support of national and international partnerships.Even as we continue to rely on these partnerships for financial, human and technical resources, I believe that platforms like World Pulse are great opportunities to learn and network with sisters from other parts of the world and this why it will be a great opportunity for me to be a part of World Pulse.

I am a Chevening Scholarcurrently studying for a Masters in Media, Communication and Development at the London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE.

How to Get Involved

You can get involved with out work by supporting our online fundraising campaign via this link https://www.w4.org/en/project/provide-girls-rural-areas-refugee-camps-ca...

I have been nominated for the African Youth Award in the category of FEMALE OF THE YEAR and you can support me to win this award by voting for me via the link http://www.africayouthawards.org/vote/ .

Thank you in advance for your support !!!