Women in Bamenda Weep for a Return to Normalcy in Anglophone Cameroon

women weep for peace to turn to Cameroon's English Regions

Women of all walks of life trooped into the Bamenda Municipal Stadium to cry to God Almighty to grant peace to the North West and South West Regions that have been increasingly unsafe since the outbreak of the Anglophone crisis in November 2016

The women wept for their children, husbands and their fellow women who have been killed both by the Ambazonia separatist fighters and the Cameroon defense and security forces.

"Guns don't talk, people do", "All forces ceasefire," are some of the banner messages displayed by the women as they wept

They called on the warring parties to down their weapons and give peace a chance.

Woman weeps with funeral T-shirt of brother

The Anglophone crisis went confrontational in May 2017 when the Ambazonia Defense Forces was created. Since then, government has taken measures to put at end to the activities of the separatists.

This process has led to the death of several women, men and youths. Villages have been wiped out in Momo, Boyo, Menchum and recently Ngoketunjia and Donga Mantung and also in some parts of the South West Region. This has greatly reduced the farming land for rural women to cultivate. A host of them stranded in urban centres.

In parts of Boyo, women have resulted to burying the corpses of their children and husbands, a custom left only for men in the North West Region

cross section of women

Eileen Akwo, a gender activists, recounted that it took them extra efforts to mobilize the women who themselves are scared of the security challenges of the time.


"The women cried to express their sorrow. The world should know that the women are not happy and this crisis has really weighed down on women. There is an urgent needs for us to live like brothers and sisters",She said.

Some of the women came with sack dresses and funeral T-Shirts used at funerals for their loved ones.


Championed by the North West, South West Women Task Force, they called on the authorities that be, to look deep into this problem and come out with long-lasting solutions.

The women also wept for their fellow women who have resulted to using rags as sanitary pads in the displaced houses in Cameroon and as refugees in neighboring Nigeria.

A strongly worded letter calling for the Head of State, Diplomatic Missions and the powers that be to act fast was read out at the end of the event.


The women wept for two hours

By Ndi Tsembom Elvis

Wum Council Empower's Youths Towards An Effective Back To School

Youths at Morning Devotion 

Wum council in the Menchum Division of North West Cameroon has empowered some 101 youths drawn from it's municipality as part of her social cooperate responsibility. Of the 101 youths, 76 were directly recruited by the the council and another batch of 25 youths, were recruited thanks to the partnership between the Pari Mutuel Urbain Camerounais, PMUC and the Wum council


 The global envelop of 4.290.000 FRS CFA was distributed to the youths as a form of empowerment after their 30  and 60 day stay at the council

Wum council stands tall in the division as the only council that has never stopped empowering the youths in a bit to curb the high rate of unemployment rocking the municipality. The challenges faced in this youth empowerment drive has been the sociopolitical stalemate in the two English speaking regions which has led to thousands of job loss as well as the non effective presence of many youths at school.

 The holiday makers were described as full of enthusiasm, hardworking and obedient by Councillor Buo Ephraim Amuh, Chairperson of the Works and Infrastructure committee of the council

The Mayor of Wum council, Mr. Dighambong Anthony Mvo was represented at this occasion by the 1st Deputy Mayor, Mr. Hamza Umaru, who showered praises on the youths who braved the odds to assist the council in keeping the streets and other public premises clean, as they dug blocked gutters, planted ornamental trees and flowers that help to beautify the municipality, and above all, trees were  planted in the municipal forest for posterity

Emptying of Blocked Gutters

 He encouraged other youths who have never benefited from this youth empowerment scheme to apply when next the opportunity comes


The SDO of Menchum, Kamga Charles, lauded the initiative of the council for putting youth development first, and accompanying  the youths towards self sustainability. He added that the council is a non-replaceable catalyst of development in the society, and called on the council to ensure sustainability of the ornamental trees, flowers and the 5000 trees the youths have planted during these holidays.

The SDO also used the occasion to call for an effective back to school come Monday September 3, 2018, noting that Knowledge is Power.  Education he says, is the premise of progress, in every society and family.”


The council was encouraged to put in place a sustainable mechanism, to ensure that the job done by the children should not be in vain, at a time when the challenges of Global warming are glaring.


The youths in their goodbye message read by Anang Michael, thanked the council for the opportunity given to them to serve their fatherland while expressing the difficulties they went through; ” it has not been easy doing this job, especially in this crisis. The holiday job was an idle opportunity for us to stay away from HIV, Malaria, drug abuse, Typhoid and other social ills." He said


 This year's holiday job was marked by working along the streets, digging and opening culverts, planting flowers, working around church premises, palaces, schools, delegations and administrative buildings.

keeping Wum Clean

The youths also pleaded with the council to source for funds and continue to keep the municipality as clean as they're leaving it

The financial package they noted will help them prepare for an effective back to school

Since 2014, the Wum Council has effectively empowered 395 youths through holiday jobs, to the global amount of FCFA sixteen million and fifty thousand (16,050,000 FRS)


By Ndi Tsembom Elvis