Throughout the crisis they have been subjected to suffering
It all started like a joke during the weekend of 19th and 20th of November, 2016 when rumors went wild that parents should keep their children at home because teachers would go on Strike. And on that fateful Monday, November 21, it became true. On Tuesday November 8th 2016, Street demonstrations, protest messages, tear gas by security officers summed up a protest by common law lawyers in Bamenda. The day was early to break for the lawyers who assembled at the premises of the North West Court of Appeal. The over 500 lawyers were both from the North West and South West Regions of Cameroon. Then came the Thursday December 8th meeting which was organized by the ruling party, The Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement- (CPDM) Party in Cameroon that went deadly. After these incidents peaceful protest march were organized in both regions with the most remarkable being that of Friday September 22, when the very old and young, men like women took to the streets with peace plants demanding the respect of the minority English regions in the country.
Today guns have taken the place of peace plants and catapult that protesters used at the beginning of the crisis. The situation is gradually getting out of hand as it is not uncommon to find human heads and other human parts on our streets.
The ongoing crisis now known as the Anglophone Crisis in the two English speaking regions of Cameroon is taking another twist as many more women are becoming widows, childless, some are raped by both camps while others are exposed to prostitution and violence. On top of that many more women are beginning to carryout tasks that used to be considered for men only. Women now dig graves to bury their husbands and children, they also split wood, and many others. All this is because their husbands or boy children have been killed or escaped from their villages in fear of been killed.
Stories abound of women who have been left to themselves to cater for their families. They go to the farm, climb trees to harvest food stuff, do housekeeping and a lot more.
Madam Mudoh Marie from Angie Village In Momo Division of the North West region of Cameroon, narrated that she was living with her only son with wife and five kids, the wife was pregnant for the 6th child when he was brutally killed. She explained that while they were running away from gunshots in the bushes , a bullet got the son from behind and he died. In tears, she said “I couldn’t do anything but abandoned the corps in the forest and manage to escaped with my son’s pregnant wife and five kids”. She was unable to decipher if her son was killed by separatist fighters or government forces. She has decided to wear black all her life in memory of her son. At the moment she is surviving from benevolent gestures from people of goodwill in the North West Regional Capital of Bamenda . And tears have not stop running down her cheeks.
Tah Rachel Shang recounted that she escaped from Ndu with her five kids but one of them died on the way and she abandoned the corpse and struggled to arrive Bamenda with four children. She said when they arrived they slept on the veranda of a credit union (name withheld) for two days before she found a good Samaritan that is currently hosting her and her surviving four children. Feeding the children has not been easy as some days go by without them having something to eat.
For Yvette Jatto, She trekked for three days with her six months old baby from Jakiri before she found a bike that took her to Magba in the Western region from where she came to Bamenda and she is presently living with her aunt. Their tales are endless, in the ongoing war women are hardest hit as their rights are been violated. A young lady (name withheld) was raped by a government force in Bamenda during the day.
In the ongoing crisis little have been done to protect women. This is evident in the distribution of the Humanitarian Aid to the Internally Displaced Person –IDPs. The distribution team has been to over 10 localities some of which include; Mbengwi, Bamenda, Santa in the North West Region and Kumba, Buea, Limbe, Bangem and Mamfe in the South West Regions, In all the Humanitarian Aid did not take into consideration the specific needs of women. In the packages no sanitary pad was inside. So far the packages include cash for transportation, mattress, tablet soap, vegetable oil, blankets, sugar, dresses, bags of rice just to name a few. In all these no breast wear or specific needs for women were previewed. It is on record that very few women usually show up during the distribution event.
More to the above, young women and girls fleeing from the ongoing crisis now floods the streets of big towns like Douala and Yaoundé, those that were deprived from going to school are now roaming the streets searching for means to earn a living. Some are now outright prostitute moving from one drinking spot to the other begging for men to sleep with them so that they can eat. It is not uncommon these days to find many young girls on our street pregnant. Women’s right have been violated and their opinions have not been heard, their issues have been treated with less concern.
Visionary Reports 
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