Ismaila Ibrahima: “I Feel Human Again!”

Hopes for a joyful future were smashed. So early in childhood. When a domestic accident left him with club-like feet. Thereby making movements clumsy and difficult. As a result, he became reclusive. Feeling unsure - and even ashamed of himself. Because, according to him, his new disability meant he was no longer “fully human.” To add salt to injury, some of his peers would jeer at him, questioning how “useful” he was to society!
Then came the brutal civil war in 2014. Compounding the woes of the young man. The only hope of survival was to flee across the border. Alongside his aged father, older sister and two younger brothers. Having lost their mother. “When I arrived in Cameroon in 2014, I had just one pair of torn clothes,” recalls Ismaila Ibrahima, 26, a Central African Republic, CAR refugee in Gado Badzere Camp in Lom and Djerem Division, East Region.
“But thanks to volunteer services as community mobiliser since 2015, I have been able to get myself some clothes, take care of my father’s health challenges and keep two younger brothers in school. When I just arrived, I kept to myself, feeling frustrated and disappointed with my disability. Gradually and by mixing up with UNICEF and other aid agency workers, I was encouraged to feel human again – in spite of my handicap,” Ibrahima recounts. “I chose to be a mobiliser to help my new community,” he says. Adding with a wide grin, “Today, I am a “celebrity” in the refugee camp! And I feel at home with everyone.”
Ismaila participates in vaccination campaigns. “We receive training and are debriefed on how vaccination will take place, and other details like the age groups concerned,” he explains. Before the National Vaccination Days against polio and Vitamin A supplementation in Cameroon and neighbouring countries from May 13-16, 2022 and June 10-13, 2022, Ibrahima undertook door-to-door visits of refugee homes to ascertain the number of eligible children. Briefing parents on what the campaign entailed. He later returned with teams to vaccinate children and administer Vitamin A supplementation.
So far, he has encountered few cases of resistance to vaccination and Vitamin A supplementation. But they were promptly handled after explanation and counsel. “My major challenge is findi...