ANNA

Before the crisis, I was happy living with my family. I always went swimming with my friends every Saturday. We also played basketball and volleyball.

One Monday morning, when we arrived at school, we were asked to go home because the teachers were going to strike. We went home but I don't really know what happened next. There was shooting. People were hiding under the beds, some were going to hide in people's houses, strangers. When it got quiet, we were told that a man had been shot. He died on the spot. We couldn't go to school anymore.

When I was promoted to the second grade, my mother died and it was decided that I should come to Yaoundé with my aunt. I have been here for three years.
Everything is going well for me. I know I am lucky compared to those who stayed in the war zones. My aunt and I are having difficulties, but we are holding on.
We don't always get enough to eat. Sometimes there are so many of us in the house that there is no room to sleep.

In Bamenda, I left my grandparents, my father, my two brothers and my cousins. I don't understand why I left my home and I have no news of my friends. I would
love to go back to see my family and friends.

When I was in Bamenda, I wanted to be a doctor because I saw how the disease made my mother suffer. But in my school, there is no scientific branch so if want to be a doctor, I have to change schools. Unfortunately for me my parents don't have the money for that so I will do agriculture later on.

I don't have any problem with the French speakers here, they accept me because I speak French well even if sometimes they make fun of me because I come from Bamenda, but we have fun together. I wish the government would stop this war because we are not the ones who caused it, but today we civilians are suffering from it.