NOSO crisis, Cameroon

NOSO crisis, Cameroon

NOSO crisis, Cameroon

Hello !
My uncle's daughter who was involved in this war is called Hope. She was living in Eclewundé with her family when the war started.
That day she was on the farm with her parents working. When they returned from the farm, armed men were everywhere. They had surrounded the village. The people were in panic, they didn't understand what was happening. Hope and her parents made the choice to flee and return to the fields, their farm. They stayed there for days, fearing for their lives. When they returned to the village, they found their house with a broken heart. It was half burnt, looted. They fled the village and this time hid in the bush. She lived in the bush for a long time. She did not go to school for two years because it was also burnt down. Living in the bush and witnessing atrocities caused by the war, Hope lost her mind.
Her parents called me to ask if I could take my niece to my home in Yaoundé so that she could return to school. So that she could be in a less violent environment. I took her with me here. I enrolled her with great difficulty in a local school because she had no documents (no report cards, no identity papers) following the burning of her school and their house.
This crisis took a heavy toll on my family. Today, my aunt has only one hand, she lives in Mutenguene. Armed men had come for her son; she stood in the way and they shot her hand. Because of this, I don't want to go back to my village.
To this day, her parents, my uncle and his wife, are in Eclewundé. They live the war and its horrors on a daily basis. They live between their house and the forest where they hide during the fighting between the belligerents.
This crisis has deeply destabilised my family and me. They are not happy because they have no possessions. They don't have peace. It is sad. When you leave your own land, your own home, you have no peace and comfort.
French speakers have bad intentions towards us. When they hear that you are an English speaker, they treat you like a foreigner. I want them to understand that we are all Cameroonians. They must know that we must be united despite this war.

NOSO crisis, Cameroon

In October 2016, when the war started in the North West and South West, I had children in Bamenda. One was in polytechnic school. It was his first year in the school. I paid for everything: his study fees, the rent for his student room... When the war started, soon after the schools closed. I thought it was a temporary stop; I thought my children would go back to school afterwards. I thought the problem would be solved. I lost everything: the expenses for my children's education, the rent that I couldn't get paid back...

In 2017, I went to get them in the South West and they live here with me.

All I want is for peace to return to these areas. It is very difficult because this war has
been going on for five years already. I pray to the Lord to touch the heart of the leader of our country so that he will stop this war because we English-speaking people are suffering a lot.

NOSO crisis, Cameroon

NOSO crisis, Cameroon

I am 12 years old

I am from the North West region, I come from Bamenda.

I was 7 years old and I couldn't go to school that day because my mother was shot in the back on her way to the market. A victim of the war. My mother was a small, quiet shopkeeper.

My life was so good when my mother was still alive. After she died, we lost everything, even the love we had. When our mother was alive, we had plenty to eat.

My aunt came to pick me up in Bamenda after my mother's death and took me to Yaoundé. Soon after my sister joined me. I have resumed my studies, I am enrolled in a local school. I have many friends here and we can play, whereas in the village I couldn't even go to school because of the war.

I would like to be a teacher. I managed to escape the gunfire but my mother didn't. I will teach others that in the future they will be able to learn. I will teach others that in such a situation they should not lose hope and that they should pray.

If ever I have the opportunity to say what I wish to our leaders, I would ask the government to find a way to stop this war.

NOSO crisis, Cameroon