Emergency support to 60 families escaping conflict

“I am so happy that I got this assistance but I do not know where to start to make my life normal again. My family and I have been suffering for so long. We lost everything when our house was burnt, and we have nothing at all now. It is scary. When I was in the bush, some of us got really bad malaria. We tried to use some drugs but it did not work, so we had to come to town and get it treated. I had no money to pay, so we have a giant bill.

That’s the first thing I will do. Pay for that bill so we do not have to worry anymore. Next, I need to buy food, find a place where we can live, and so much more."

Rose

Dear donor, thanks to your support, we could help 22 families like Rose’s (132 people).

Last week, the number of displaced persons in the region was updated to 246.000 by the United Nations. We are very few organisations working in the ground. We need to help many more families in the coming months. That’s why we just created a permanent project you can follow here.

On Saturday, July 14^th, a team of Reach Out met with 33 heads of Internally Displaced families in Buea.

The purpose of the meeting was to discuss modalities of assistance in a participatory manner and to explain at length our mission and the source of our funding. It is very important, in this context, to clarify that you are an independent organization not working with the government, as many of the displaced persons are afraid of the state.

The families in high need were too many, so we also agreed to use a running project in the community, the Keep a Girl Alive, to support those households that were headed by single mothers. (11 of them joined this program that same week).

The help given was a direct cash transfer, we chose this because of the variety of needs, and the impossibility to satisfy them with in-kind support. The families have their cash transfers to:

• Reunite with their families in the forest and take them back to the city,
• Medical treatment.
• Pay some months of rents, being able to move out from highly congested households.
• Food.
• Almost all of them used a portion of the grant to create a small business to generate a stable income.

 We spoke with all of them at length, and these are some more of their stories.

 “I have not spoken to my family for 4 months. They are still hiding in the forest. I need to see them, there is no phone network where they are. Right now I’m living on charity. With this money, I will go back to the forest around Big Gwandi and I will take them with me to live here. The rest of the money I will give it to my elder sister, who is good at business.”

Thomas, 20 years old.

“War made me leave Ekona. I have high blood. I can’t stand the shooting. So my children said I should come to Tole.”

“I don’t know how old he is. He says he is 60 but it can’t be. I’m 55 and he is my father’s brother. The family came to my house running away from what is happening down at Ekona. I can’t really take care of all of them. Before you guys came in, we would spend a day without a normal meal. We would trick ourselves. We would not eat until 3’00 o’clock. We can’t be having breakfast every day! We can’t afford that.”

-How will you spend the money?

“It’s Pa’s money, he needs to decide. But we will certainly buy medicine, he needs certain prescription drugs.”

“I will buy the medicine. My legs are swollen. After, I will see if I can manage to support them to feed for a while. God will give you more power. I appreciate you for the good work you do.”

Mr Martin (host) and Pa Mbe (his uncle)

Thanks very much, you saved 132 lives.

Remember to keep in touch with this crisis through our new project. You can also like our facebook page, join our mailing list or ask me any question at marc@reachoutcameroon.org

Have a great day.

P. D: All attendees signed consent forms that authorize us to share their images and their stories with you.

P.D2: Three weeks ago Rose give birth to a healthy baby.

Links:

• facebook page
• Mailing list
• New project