Since 2019, Voice4Thought has been supporting an education program for children living in an orphanage in Baba, North-West Cameroon. When the orphanage shut down in 2016 due to the violent conflict that broke out in the region, many children fled the village to seek refuge in the countryside. Lukong Godwill, who resides in the region’s capital Bamenda, went to look for the kids in the interior to convince them to come back to school. His story is a telling example of the crisis that is unfolding in Cameroon.
Today’s crisis
It is a cool summer afternoon when I flip open my laptop to chat with Lukong. He holds his phone in one hand, filming himself, while we greet each other. “I wanted to get a stand for my phone” he says, “but it is very hard to get anything here now, since the curfew started.”
“Even if you buy something, you have to investigate and make sure the area is calm. And when you’re going , you make sure that the cap you’re getting has a batch number and a name, to give to your friends in case you go missing.”
Curfews are common in the Anglophone region of Cameroon since the war started in 2017. Recently the governor of regional capital Bamenda installed a new one, after members of the Ambazionian Defence Force, an anti-government armed group, robbed a bank and killed two police officers and a guard duty. While empty streets might be easier to control, they do come at a toll. “Prices are skyrocketing,” Lukong tells me, “Everything is going up: books, bags, even the cost of school uniforms.”
Sadly enough, lockdowns and economic decline are not the only effects of the conflict. Starting out as protests against the growing marginalisation of the English speaking population, the people of South-Western and North-Western regions of Cameroon have since been thrown into a violent guerilla war between separatists groups and government forces. Atrocities such as abductions, rape and murder have gotten part of every day life and are directed at anyone who is suspected of choosing sides; a type of for-or-against reasoning that has made many civilians victims of violence.
Because Lukong lives nearby the military station, his area is relatively calm. In most other areas in Bamenda safety has become fickle. “Even if you buy something, you have to investigate and make sure the area is calm. And when you’re going , you make sure that the cap you’re getting has a batch number and a name, to give to your friends in case you go missing.”
Finding the kids
Due to the violence the orphanage closed in 2016. Lukong, who graduated from business school thanks to funds from voice4htought, took it up to relocate the kids after they had fled into the hinterland. Yearly he registers the kids into school, and buys them their books and uniforms. He even spends the money he makes from his business activities on them: “I buy food and then I call and go around to check on them. I counsel them and ask about the advice they have been given by their guardians and so on.”
His commitment to the kids is of little surprise for those who know of the efforts he took to find them. Going into the countryside was dangerous.” On the way you have fear in you because the roads were deserted. I saw houses burned with bullet holes in them, sometimes only a few houses were still standing. In some areas you’ll find the military lying in the bushes waiting for the Amba fighters*, in others you will be stopped and checked by the separatists groups. At one point they took my ID card and cut the part which the Cameroon flag is on, saying I was no longer a citizen of Cameroon but a citizen of the Ambazonian country.’’
Locating the kids was just one of the many challenges. Convincing them to move was another: “Some of the kids had been home for some time, and they have been really traumatised. There were even girls who had gotten married. So the desire to go back to school … some just didn’t have that desire.”
For those he did manage to convince and come to school he found guardians. Some of whom were family of Pangmashi*, others were just living in the area; neighbours who cared for the well being of the kids, not wanting them to become ’street talks’.
Last years successes
Lukong is proud of what they have achieved so far. Today the program houses 31 kids, 27 of them are living in Bamenda, 2 are in Limbe and 2 in Douala. This year five kids passed the G.C.E examination, Cameroons central exams after the first five years of secondary school. Three have recently left high school and are now attending University in Bamenda.
“That is how one of the students was able to learn sign language. In a normal school they would have never learned it’.”
“These kids are going to be leaving the program, because Voice4thought only pays for primary and secondary education. But the fact that they are leaving with a diploma is an achievement. We took those kids back when they were in primary school and now they are going to university. I’m hoping that they can be given scholarships. It is about six to seven hundred euros for one year of university.
Of course there are difficulties too. We relocated some kids into the French zone. While in school they can still speak English, life got harder out on the street, where the community only speaks french. Luckily, by now, most kids have gotten used to their new surroundings. He laughs as he says proudly ‘’some have become even more bilingual than I am!”
And there’s other things the kids are learning too. “This particular school, it was first of all a disability school where they had room for students who were deaf or blind. But now they have started taking in normal kids too. That is how one of the students was able to learn sign language. In a normal school they would have never learned it.”
Looking into the future
Looking into the future, the program can still use plenty of support. “We need more funds of course, and we need to see how we can go about bringing in more kids. We also need to support the guardians for what they have been doing. All these years we were not able to support them. To feed six kids in the house will take more than 600 or 500 euros a month. Maybe instead of giving the money, we could support their business.”
Helping the kids to learn a practical profession would be another good effort Lukong thinks. Every summer the kids go on a three month break. A period of time which most kids in the area use to learn practical skills that help to support themselves. “If we could fund a skill acquisition program, the kids can acquire skills alongside their education.”
Some of the kids seem to be on their way already, learning how to braid and dress hair or exploring artistic qualities, recording songs and sending them to Lukong from time to time. “They send me these songs, and you’ll be amazed, maybe we could look for a scholarship elsewhere to promote this talent, who knows?”
Who knows, yes.
I have sat in silence listening to Lukong’s story. Often not knowing how to respond. His story is a compelling one, and telling of the events that are now occurring in his region in Cameroon.
I too hope the program acquires enough funds to find and support plenty of kids in the coming years. In any case, it could still use plenty of support.
* Amba is short for Ambazonian, the name the separatists gave to the Anglophone region.
* Pangmashi Yenkong founded the orphanage back in 2009 together with Voice4Thought director Mirjam de Bruijn. Being a lawyer Pangmashi had to flee from government persecution in 2016. He currently resides in te United States.
