Société

Bawnyo Susan: “I Can Now Begin Fending For Myself!”

Par Kimeng Hilton
29 oct. 2021 15:00
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She recently received support from the United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA to restart life. After fleeing the conflict in the North West Region and resettling in Douala. For one who hitherto depended entirely on others for every basic need, the start of

“I am so overwhelmed with joy! At last, I can now begin fending for myself! Thank God and thanks to LUKMEF, UNFPA and other partners for this timely assistance! I received a100-kg sack of baking flour, yeast, litres of groundnut oil, a sack of salt and other items,” was the reaction of Bawnyo Susan (her real identity is not disclosed for safety reasons). “With this, I can now begin to produce and sell “puff-puff” (a local pastry). My dream has finally come true! No more suffering!” Susan continued to pour encomiums on the United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA initiative.

On October 19, 2021, the 25-year-old mother of three was amongst 14 vulnerable women and young girls in Douala - all survivors of Gender-based Violence, GBV from the Anglophone Crisis – who received material support from UNFPA. Through its European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations, ECHO-funded project.

The ceremony in the Martin Luther King Junior Memorial Foundation, LUKMEF safe space in Bonaberi, Douala, held in the presence of UNFPA Cameroon Representative, Siti Batoul Oussein. And officials of some United Nations agencies and the European Union. The 18-month project lasting from December 2020-April 2022 is financed by ECHO, the European Union’s humanitarian wing.

Today, Susan now lives in Douala. Four years since fleeing the armed conflict from her village in Ngoketunjia Division of North West Region. Taking along her then six-year son. But abandoning her aged grandmother behind. Orphaned and then a single mother living with the grandmother, life was barely bearable for Bawnyo in the village. With little education, she depended entirely on subsistence farming for sustenance. Thus, the war only came to add salt to an existing gaping wound!