Grassroots Voices
CAMEROON
SHAPING GRITTIER GIRLS
INSIDE AND OUT
A process of institutionalizing sustained aspiration,
passion and perseverance
Carole Nyemeck
Fatima is an eight-year old
girl who lives in Briqueterie, a
neighbourhood in Yaoundé,
Cameroon. The neighbourhood
is constituted in a predominantly
muslim area.
She is the youngest of a family
of six and does majority of the
work in the household. Her two
elder sisters who are barely out of
adolescence, are already married
to polygamous husbands to whom
they have begun bearing children.
Her elder brother was sent to
the family’s village farm in the
Northern region. Fatima’s parents
have not gone to school and earn
a living through selling grilled
meats commonly called soyas that
come from the village’s farm.
At ten, Fatima will be married to a
man 30 years older than her and
who already has four wives. He has
paid a huge dowry to her parents.
Thanks to their future son-in-law,
Fatima’s parents have been able
to expand their village’s farm and
their soyas business. This gives
them no chance to look back. As a
result, Fatima can no longer focus
on her studies. She has barely two
years left to get ready to be a good
wife and mother.
At the public school that Fatima
attends in Briqueterie, all her
female comrades share the same
fate. School cannot be a priority
for them. Besides being forced
into marriage, they have the daily
difficulties of getting up early to go
and fetch water many kilometers
away from home, washing dishes
and clothes, cooking, and helping
their parents sell.
In that environment, Fatima, who
wanted a different life, dreamt
of finishing elementary school,
getting her high school diploma,
and eventually going to a pilot
school. Every night, she prayed
that Allah hears her and helps
her realize her dreams. At school,
she uses her breaks to study her
lessons. Her friends laugh at her
“foolish dreams.”
Fortunately for Fatima, a
Cameroonian NGO had just set
headquarters in Briqueterie,
with the intent of empowering
disadvantaged girls and women.
During the International Day of the
Girl, the NGO, which receives funds
from UN entities and other global
stakeholders visited Fatima’s
school. Fatima soon gained the
attention of the NGO, when during
the Q & A session, she told the
whole class that she dreams of
becoming a pilot. The NGO began
to get in touch with Fatima and her
family, and explained to them the
benefits for a girl getting a quality
education. They succeeded in
convincing her parents that if they
let her finish elementary school,
they will give her a scholarship
to study at their boarding school.
They also helped them earn a loan
to pay back the dowry of the man
who was to marry her.
Seven years later, Fatima earned
her high school diploma in
Mathematics and Physics, with
honours. She had no problem
finding a full scholarship to enter
a prestigious pilot school. Fatima
finally became a remarkable pilot,
www.changemag-diinsider.com Change Magazine September 2017
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