Introduction
Hello everyone in this amazing community, accept Steem greetings from @chant, from the chief town of the North West Region of Cameroon. Today I am super excited to share with you all about my job.
My Images edited on Pixelcut
There are some jobs that when we engaged in, it is frustrating to the extent that you feel like quitting and better stay back at home. However, there are equally some jobs that you feel like retirement should never come because of the impact you created. That is my feelings right now, I feel like doing my job over and over again till the day the Lord decided to call me to rest.
I will be talking about my job, that is what I do as daily activity, the challenges I faced, and my hopes about my activities in the future. My work location is focused in Mezam Division.
What are your daily tasks at your place of work or your daily activities?
I am a human rights/gender equality officer and my duty is to protect and promote human rights, carry out field investigations, follow up on cases of human rights abuses, managed cases of gender-based violence (GBV), do empowerment programs, do counseling and psycho-social support.
It is not an easy task facing vulnerable groups in the communities. Some situations can cause your life especially as I am working in a conflict area.
One of my priorities is to make communities free of violence. I know it is difficult to have violent free communities because human beings are always in a state of conflict. Nevertheless, I try as much as possible to prevent violent behaviors within communities. This I do through constant sensitization in communities because I believe that knowledge is power. You cannot defend yourself if you are ignorant of the laws that protect you.
Doing community sensitisation via a local radio station
I follow up on cases of inhumane treatment and illegal detentions at the military tribunal. Remember I said I am working in a conflict area where a lot of innocent civilians are detained without access to families and lawyers. Some are beaten to death and no one to rescue them. We constantly follow up on cases as such to see that justice is rendered to them.
At the military Tribunal following cases of rights abuses
GBV case management happens to be one of my work life. I have a passion for protecting especially women and girls who are trapped in violent relationships and communities. We all know that during conflicts, women and girls are the most victimized because they are considered the vulnerable Sex. They faced rape, forced prostitution, forced marriages, physical abuse, psychological trauma, etc. My focus here is to build a friendly free space for these vulnerable groups where they can meet and discuss freely without anyone abusing them.
One of my activities is to counsel and offer psychosocial support to survivors/victims of rape, and other related abuses within communities. We should all know that the highest disease that is killing especially women and girls is depression. Most victims suffer from depression if the cases are not well handled. The counseling and psychosocial support I offer to them help to build back their confidence and boost their morals.
I organized and equally participated in workshops to promote and protect human rights. Everyone has the right to be protected and it is the responsibility of the government to protect our rights. But in my country, the state has failed to adhere to its responsibility. So, we as human rights activists have to step in to see that the government is held accountable.
Attending a Workshop Organised by Women International League for Peace and Freedoms (WILPF-Cameroon)
I monitor cases of human rights violations, and investigate, record, and document human rights abuses within the country.
Doing field investigations
Persons with disabilities are the highest neglected persons in my community. They faced abuse daily and some of them suffer depression caused by the abuse they faced. One of my daily activities is that I have a focus group discussion with them to know their priority area of support. Remember you cannot help someone if you haven’t heard from the person what they needed. What you think is their needs might not be useful to them. Therefore the baseline survey helps me to know what they need.
Carrying out Need assessments of persons with disabilities
What is the biggest obstacle you have ever experienced while doing this activity?
Oooh my gosh 🙆🏿🙆🏿, in this my field of work, it is not easy at all but remember I said it is my passion to protect vulnerable groups in my community. However, I will explain a few of some of the obstacles because they are all the biggest 🤩🤩.
The first obstacle I experienced is the day I and my team went to the prison to follow up on a case of human rights abuse. I can never forget this day, we were almost arrested for no good reason, just because they refused us access to the prison meanwhile our office had a mandate to visit the prison at any time deemed necessary. The prison guard refused access to the prison and when my boss insisted, they threatened to arrest us all☹️😞. Our boss had to make calls to the hierarchy in Yaoundé before we were allowed.
Another biggest obstacle is constant threats from both separatist fighters and state military fighters. I am working in a conflict area and at times while in the field, we are attacked by separatist fighters that we are government agents and spies. At times the state military molests us for no good reason.
As I earlier mentioned, it is my passion, and obstacles or no obstacles, I keep doing my job.
What is your greatest hope in the future related to your activities?
My greatest hope is that in the future communities should be void of violence. Let everyone live peacefully without fear of being violated or abused.
Presently in my country, many are living in fear of the unknown. You might be with someone and in the next 5 minutes you departed away, you receive a call or see on social media that the person is dead. That is the state of things now and my greatest pleasure will be to see people move about their daily activities freely.
There is a lot of child trafficking and most of the victims are girls. The crisis in my region has caused many girls to be trafficked to other regions in the name of “helping them”, meanwhile they are used and abused. I hope that my job will permit me in the future to seek out most of such cases and protect more girls not only within my community but in my country as a whole.
Conclusion
In sum, my activities at my job side are my priority and I do take them seriously. I faced many challenges but I do not relent in my effort to see that we live in a violent free society. My hope for the future is to protect more people and overcome all obstacles. I will invite @ijelady @ngoenyi @patjewell, and @ijebest to share with us their entries to this contest.