Girls rising.

Growing up in a small village call Zem, found in the North West Region of Cameroon, gave me an opportunity to learn some cultural barriers, limitations and tags attached to woman and girls.

Interacting with other Village young girls, boys and women from different neighbouring villages, also made me understood that these cultural barrieres and limitations cuts across several african tribes and villages.

In my Village, We had such interesting events like village camp fires, that gather many village youths and village elders in the evenings of our cultural festivals, as well as birth celebrations, done each time a villager welcomes a new born baby in their home. Some of the activities that marked these gatherings were, story telling on village ancient traditions, cultural dances, the role of women and traditional exhibitions of artifacts.

These gatherings gave me the opportunity to listen to the divers stories told by elderly women, their experiences as young girls and inturn advice the new generation of young girls on how to take care of their husbands and children because, the husbands are the crown of every women. Infact, they said "the life of a woman is worthless without a husband and Women have no right to talk in the presence of men not to talk of presenting their own opinion before them, for what ever the men say or decide on, is final".

The elderly women made the young girls to understand that, the place of a woman is in the kitchen. The role of a husband and that of the wife, were well defined and women have no say in the Society or in decision making.

This statement transformed the mindset of many young girls and women of my time, and left many young girls to grow up as illiterate girls, trained on farming and waiting for marriage as thier last resort. Many were given to marriage at the age of 14years and became house wives, with no skills, no education and very little or no formal training. Girls were simply left to grow, get married at tender ages and left as simple objects of satisfaction to their husbands.

Thank God for the coming of an international Organization like plan international that carried out several educational sensitization projects and encouraged the education of the girl child, which i also benefited from the school kits they donated at that time.

With the encouragement gotten from this Organization, i became confused with the ideas the elderly women presented as the fate of a girl child and the new perspective of the value of a girl child presented by Plan international. To an extent i really didn't concord to what the elderly women said, because I wanted to be great and was aiming for something better. At a point, i wished i were a boy,and even joined them in hunting because i admired the privileges given to them. They had freedom of education and free movement. A privilege not enjoyed by most girls at that time.

The girls were prevented from going to school because there were considered to soon get married and became useful to thier husbands and not to their parents.

While the boys were considered as assets, because they are considered as the successors of the family and will continue the family linage.

I knew deep in me that, i could change the narratives of my own life. I got my support from my grandmother, who encouraged me all the way.

Today, when i looked back at my self and the way i grew up as a young girl, i could only but recognize how privileged i was to have been educated or allowed to school at that time. It was a rear privilege to have escaped the cultural intimidation and limitations placed on girls and women, with that archaic statement that says " the place of a woman is in the kitchen".

That's why, i too have created an organization call HAND IN HAND Cameroon, which has as one of its activities to engage community educational program and women/girls empowerment program on the acquisition of skills, like the making of hand bags, fascinators, soap and hand fans, as a way of empowering young girls with livelihood support skills that can aid in raising income for livelihood support, and reduce the dependency level of women to their husbands. Sadly enough, i have realized that so many villages and communities still abide to the manipulative statement that says "the girl's place is in the kitchen, and girls are just objects of pleasure".

That's why we are engaged in changing the narratives.

So far, we have engaged educational training programs in 4 different remote village and Camps in the South West Region of Cameroon. This includes (camp 7, Moliwe, Wotutu village and Batoke village, training 300 women and girls in the past 2years on hand crafts and skills. We have also not relented on the donation of several school items like books, bags, pens and pencils, ruler, umbrellas, menstrual pads and other items that can help support the girl child and keep them in school.

We believe empowering women with skills will help boost self esteem for girls, reduce the dependency level of women and girls on thier husbands and parents respectively.

We believe in changing the narratives of making young women and girls reach thier highest potentials , get empowered to support themselves through education in other to became equiped for leadership rules in the society.

I pray every young girl gets to believe in themselves and full potentials instate of just becoming brides. I pray young girls understand that, gone are the days when women were limited to the kitchen, now the digital age has given young girls the opportunity to became what ever they want to, and every great dream can actuality be realize.

So stand up and stand tall. Let's together change the narratives. A young girl can became what ever she wants no matter what.

Speak up and make your voices heard. Your opinion can shape the future ahead of you.

Traditional believes should not keep any young girl bounded.

Keep rising and shine to the fullest.

Follow some of our activities using the link below 👇:

https://www.facebook.com/speakupandbehealed?mibextid=ZbWKwL