During our visit to Cameroon we met just some of the 100 IDP women that we have helped our partner, SHUMAS, to train in small business management. The women were then each given start up materials, to the value of 50,000 CFAs (£65) to get their businesses started. In this way they have been empowered to earn their own living, pay their rent, food and living expenses and send their children to school. These women were all destitute and severely traumatised before they started on the programme, having had their homes and livelihoods destroyed by the war in the NW/SW regions. Their children have not had any education for up to five years, because all schools were closed by the Non-State Armed Groups. The majority of the women on this project have also suffered Gender Based Violence and have received psycho-social support from the SHUMAS team, including one-to-one counselling where necessary.
We met Jennifer who moved from Menchum in the North West to Douala to escape the war two years ago. She has four children, three of whom are at school, and her youngest, Laurence – just one year old, who stays beside her as she works. Following her training, which she said was ‘so wonderful’, SHUMAS provided flour, sugar and oil so that Jennifer could make puff puffs, a popular pastry, to sell on the streets. However this business didn’t fit well with her childcare commitments, so used the profits from her puff puff business to change to buying and selling pegs. She now has a regular stall selling different types of pegs: she makes a good profit and she is managing to pay her rent, pay school fees, feed the children and save money to increase her capital. She is so happy to be able to support her family once more.
Agnes, a widow, has the next stall to Jennifer and sells garden eggs and cocoyams. She came to Douala from Wum after one of her children was killed in the war. She still has seven children and four grandchildren to look after: five in school and two in University. She was very complementary about the business training she received from SHUMAS and says she learned a lot. She is very happy with her business, which makes about 5,000 CFA (£6.50) profit each week. She travels to the main market three of four times a week to buy her goods and hopes that, one day, she will be able to expand her business to include rice and Maggi seasoning. She says she feels settled and now can look forward to the future.
Elizabeth has a business smoking fish and selling them. Following her training with SHUMAS she made her own smokery from old oil drums whilst SHUMAS gave her firewood and her first batch of Munga fish. The fish take two days to smoke and her profits can fluctuate between 2,500 CFA (£3.30) and 3,000 CFA (£3.95) per week but she really enjoys the work and she has built up a popular business over the past year. Elizabeth fled to Douala from Bamenda with her five children because she was so frightened by the frequent crossfire during the war. She had nothing, but can now pay her rent and electricity, provide food for the family and pay for her children’s school fees. She is proud and happy about what she has achieved.
Nicoline is a young mother with three children, aged 7, 5 and 1, who left Bamenda because
the level of violence was so frightening. She has lived in Douala for almost a year now and has had to learn French in order to run her snacks business. The climate in Douala does not suit her youngest child, Tracey, so she has had to modify her business until Tracey becomes more accustomed. She currently makes coconut sweets and doughnuts (which we can attest are delicious!) to sell as snacks to the children at one of the local schools, but she has to travel 5 Kms each way from her home to her pitch. She manages to save 2,500 CFA (£3.30) per week and her aim is to run a small restaurant business from her home, selling lunches of beans and rice and puff puffs.
Florence is another young mother with three children, aged 10, 4 and 1. She fled from her village in the NW region two years ago because it was often targeted by the warring factions, when she would have to run to the bush with her children and live there until the fighting calmed down. Florence and the children arrived in Douala with nothing. They were given shelter and food by a woman who had a small business selling foodstuffs, in return for Florence helping her. SHUMAS included her in their Economic Empowerment for Education programme and gave her start up materials of tomatoes, fish, oil and gari to sell. Florence has now expanded her business to include beans, rice, onions, chicks and charcoal. She has regular customers and makes sufficient profit to pay her rent and send her children to school. She saves 500 CFA (£0.66) every day to build up her capital and she is studying every afternoon for her A levels because her aim is to train to become a teacher.
Kelly is just 24 and fled to Douala from Donga Mantung in the NW region three years ago, where she was running a tailoring business. Her mother and elder sister had died in the fighting and her grandmother insisted they should leave before they were killed too. Her boyfriend abused her so she left, taking her grandmother and her baby daughter. Following the training with SHUMAS she started her first business but was driven from her pitch by jealous neighbouring business women. She started another business from the capital she had saved and is now running a small restaurant selling meals and snacks from 6 a.m. – 10 a.m and again from 6 – 10 at night. She has regular customers and manages to pay her rent and bills, feed her family and still save to build up her capital.
Marceline used to live in Nkwen (Bamenda) with her husband and four children – but two years ago her husband was shot dead in crossfire during the war and she fled to Douala with her children. They have all been sharing one room in another family’s house and Marceline was not able to pay the fees to send her children to school. Following the small business training, she decided to make street food her business. She works from 6 – 10 pm every evening and provides meals for the local community. She had brought her own stove with her and made her own stall whilst SHUMAS provided the first batch of pork meat and plantains for her to cook and sell. 1 Kg of pork pieces costs 5,000 CFA (£6.50) and she buys it in batches of 12 Kgs. Her cooking is very popular and she has attracted regular customers so she sells out most evenings. She makes a profit of between 2,000 CFA (£2.60) and 5,000 (£6.50) per day so she can pay her rent, buy food and pay school fees for all the children. Marceline is hoping to be able to save sufficient deposit to rent their own place soon.
We then travelled on to Bafussam in the West region and met more inspiring women:
Marie Claire used to live in Kumbo. Her family, five children and a husband, lived in a house that was close to the roadside but once Kumbo became a hotspot in the war, there was frequent crossfire and random shootings at houses by the road. They decided it was too dangerous to stay. Marie-Claire now rents one room, in which the entire family lives. The rent is 10,000 CFA (£13) per month. She is also renting a pitch on the front porch of someone else’s shop. Following her training, SHUMAS provided her with flour, oil and soap to start her small market stall. She has invested the profits in expanding her business by buying other products and the MTN – a mobile money service. She says that on market day she can make up to 5,000 CFA (£6.60) profit and she is gradually being able to pay school fees for the four children that are still in school.
Emmanuela fled from Nkar, near Kumbo in the NW region when the fighting became really bad three years ago. She and her husband brought their six children (aged 21, 18, 15, 7, 5 and 3) and her sister’s two children with them. All ten of them now live in one room in a dilapidated building for which they pay 10,000 CFA (£13) per month. Emmanuela was put on the empowerment programme in October and set up a business selling fish pie, however as there was too much local competition for this product, she had changed the focus of her business and now sells dried fish, drinks, cigarettes, candles, sweets, beans, corn and sachets of whisky. She makes about 500 CFA (£0.66) profit per day and has saved enough to pay all the children’s school fees.
Isabella is from Sabga near Ndop in the North West region. She has four children, two of whom are still in her care, as is her elderly mother. Her two children are in secondary school where the fees are 32,000 CFA (£42) each annually. Following her training with SHUMAS Isabella started a business selling the ingredients for a popular beef stew called Eru but she decided that she could do much better if she cooked the Eru herself. She cleared the land in front of the one-room dwelling she is renting and built her own outdoor kitchen. She starts cooking at 10 a.m every morning to catch the lunchtime customers. She walks around her neighbourhood selling the Eru with Fufu at a cost of 200 CFA (£0.26) per plate. This is very affordable for anybody to buy. She sells out every morning and starts cooking again at 4 pm to sell as an evening meal. She makes 3,500 – 4,000 CFA (£4.60 – £5.25) per day profit and is very satisfied with her business.
Odilia is from Donga Mantung in the NW region. She has 6 children and has been renting two rooms for 15,000 CFA (£20) per month, but the landlord has put the rent up to 20,000 CFA (£26) so she is looking for a smaller place. Three of her children are in primary school and the others are in secondary.
When she arrived in Bafoussam, she took a job doing housework but the work was so hard and the pay was so little (just 15,000 CFA (£20) per month) that she became very stressed and lost a lot of weight, and she had to give up the job. She was given a place on the programme and, after the training, was given beans, rice, corn and gari to start her small business. She makes about 7 – 8,000 CFA (£9 – £10.50) profit each week and manages to save 3,000 CFA (£4) a week after paying all her expenses and instalments on the children’s school fees. She is very happy with how her business is going and is gradually getting over the trauma of the past few years: she is even putting some weight back on!
Rose came from Wum to Bafussam three years ago with her three children (twins aged 2 and 7). She also looks after her sister’s children (aged 15 and 16).
She shares a stall at the market with someone else so she doesn’t have to pay rent however she has been asked to move from her current location so needs to find a new site in the coming weeks. Rose sells the fresh ingredients for Eru which are Kandar (cow skin), water leaf, huckleberry and water Fufu.
Hostencia left Kumbo in 2018 because of the war. She moved in with her sister when she first arrived in Bafussam but now rents a room for herself and her five children, three of whom go to school. She has been suffering from high blood pressure because she was so frightened at her change of circumstances.
SHUMAS gave her charcoal to start up her business, the profit from which allows her to pay for her healthcare, the children’s schools fees and save each week.
Hostenica has now learnt French and her business is growing. She is now starting to feel settled and happier, “SHUMAS made me smile again”.
Emmerencia comes from Kumbo. She has three children (aged 20, 15,14) and pays 170,000 CFA (£225) for school fees each year.
Since her training with SHUMAS Emmerencia now rents a stall at her local market for 3,000 CFA (£4) per month and sells groundnuts, red oil, agussi (shelled pumpkin seeds that used in many popular African dishes).
She makes about 1000 CFA (£1.30) profit on each of the items on her stall and is able to pay for the school fees, the rent for the stall and the room in which they all live.
Vivian, who has six children, came from Kiyan (a village near Kumbo in the NW) two years ago with nothing. She was destitute. Soon after her business training with SHUMAS and having been given items to sell at the market, she had a house fire and lost everything again. SHUMAS helped a second time with gari, tomatoes and beans to sell on her stall. Over the last few months she has managed to add yams, potatoes and some other small items.
Vivian can pay for the four children of school age to attend classes which costs a total of 210,000 CFA (£277) per year. She has no savings yet but keeps her capital.
Judith fled from Kumbo with her husband and daughter three years ago, because her house there was burned down. Her husband died when they got to Bafoussam and last Ocober she was burned out of the house that they were renting and lost everything for a second time. She was begging for food on the streets before she met with the SHUMAS team and was included as a beneficiary on the programme. She used to have a business making Omo when she lived in Kumbo so chose to do this again after her training on the project. SHUMAS provided her with the ingredients to make the Omo, and this is selling very well. Judith is a very determined woman and is now making good profits in her business. She has found a shack to rent and has opened a small bar beside her shop, where she sells palm wine and corn beer. She has also expanded her range of shop goods to suit her customers – these include cigarettes and sachets of whisky! Her daughter had a child soon after they arrived in Bafoussam and is expecting a second one. By tradition, she cannot share a bed (and therefore the small shack) with her mother. Judith is paying rent and food for herself, her child and her grandchild, ploughing profits back into her business, and still manages to save 5,000 CFA (£6.50) per week.
Lariza is another former resident of Kumbo who moved to Bafoussam because her house was burned down during the war. She arrived with her husband, her child (aged 2) and her sister’s child (aged 8) one year ago. Her sister was not able escape with them. Her husband tries to earn some money by occasionally borrowing a motorbike from a friend and using it as a taxi but the young family was really struggling. Lariza was included on the programme and has set up a small stall in the quiet residential area where they are renting two rooms for 20,000 CFA (£26) per month. She sells mainly wood and charcoal and supplements these items with onions, garlic and soap. Her weekly profits are around 6,000 CFA (£8) and she would like to expand her business to include groundnuts, which are popular locally. Her sister’s daughter has recently started going to school for the first time. She is doing very well and, when the first term’s exams were set, she came 7th out of a class of 32. Lariza cannot afford to pay the whole year’s school fees 35,000 CFA (£40) but pays in 10,000 CFA (£13) instalments when she can.
Maimuna is 26 years old. She is one of five siblings who were sent to Bafoussam by their parents in order for them to continue their education. All the schools were closed down in the NW region because of the war and their home in Ndop was in one of the hot-spots for the fighting. Maimuna, acting in loco parentis, at first found a job doing housework but the work was too heavy and paid very badly. She was put on the empowerment programme so that she could fulfil her wish to put her siblings (aged 19, 17, 13 and 11) through school. SHUMAS provided her rice and oil to sell on her stall but she has used the profits to branch out into textiles. She has also learned how to embroider clothes and is now selling traditionally embroidered dresses on her stall. She makes a good profit on her textiles and has already had to re-stock her stall four times. She says she is very happy with her new way of life and, as well as keeping her siblings housed and fed, she is managing to pay their school fees (totalling 220,000 CFA (£290) each year) and still saves 1,000 CFA (£1.30) most weeks.
Rebecca is 70 years old. She came to Bafoussam from Ndop when her house was burned down during the fighting. She would love to go back but she doesn’t know if that will ever be possible. She has eight children, who are all grown but are not earning enough to put the five grandchildren through school, so Rebecca was put on the empowerment programme to enable her to pay the school fees. She now runs a small stall outside her one-room shack, where she sells the corn, beans and oil provided by SHUMAS and has branched out to include salt, gari, Maggi, Kola nuts and firewood. She remains very cheerful even though she is not in good health and lives in absolute squalor. She saves small amounts when she can and her dream is to buy herself a mattress.
Comments are closed.