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Ending Violence Against Women and Girls in Cameroon

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By Merville Njounkeng Daize (YES 2017-2018, Cameroon, hosted by PAX in Bluffton, IN). Story edited and submitted by Sibyl Nghobueh Lambeh (YES 2017-2018, Cameroon, hosted by AFS in Charlotte, NC) 

Ending Violence Against Women (EVAW) is an activity that aims to end violence against girls and women. The YES alumni in Cameroon worked in collaboration with LUKMEF Cameroon to make this activity a success. During this period 21 trained volunteers (from YES alumni in Cameroon, Lukmef Cameroon and YALI), dedicated their time to sensitize the general public on the harm women are subjected to. The sensitization was aimed mainly at encouraging the public to speak up in case of any violence against women and girls. The volunteers worked from door to door, shops to shops and even spoke to people they met on the way, we shared fliers that educated them on what should be done in case of any harm subjected to women and girls. In total, we spoke to about 120 individuals.

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Raising awareness around town by hanging up informational flyers.

Gender based violence is experienced world wide. Women and girls are subjected to many ills such as rape, wife battering, sexual harassment, commercial exploitations and many others. According to UN women, 1 to 3 women are have been violated at least once in their life time, but that shouldn’t be the case. All people are equal, women/girls shouldn’t be ill-treated because of their gender. The YES alumni in Cameroon aims to put an end to this malpractice, it should be a thing of the past. We aim at educating the public on how to eradicate this discrimination.

We the YES alumni would surely call this activity a success. Speaking to the public was one great experience. We got to hear their experience “some really emotional.” We showed them a way out, we urged them to seek help by reporting through the (Ops4women) app. This app was created by LUKMEF Cameroon and it gives a platform for survivors and witnesses to get help in case of violence against a woman or child.

The community was first of all really impressed that young girls and boys like us were already fighting for this great cause. They loved the idea and they promised to call the helpline and make use of the app. They asked several questions and equally participated in the discussion.

We certainly plan do this again sometime in future and reach out to more people. Working together with other organizations was a great approach and we recorded great results. I will certainly not forget the session we had after the activity. It was really cheerful, when all the volunteers gave their experience from the field work. 

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The group of 21 changemakers!

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