Empower Internally Displaced Youths

Roland  is an Internally Displaced Youth who left from Mundemba,  in the heat of the crisis and fled to Kumba in October 2018. “I lost 04 of my family members during  the crisis,  and things got worst when I also lost my uncle, the breadwinner of the family  through crossfire”

Due to high insecurity in Mundenmba, he left for Kumba where he believed things will be relatively better. He inherited his uncles’s very old bike, and intended to use  as a source of  livelihood. This bike instead caused more harm than good, as he turend to spend more money on reparing it. He therefore adopted very negative mechanisms to cope with life, so that he can feed his wife and three kids. “I knew what i did was extremely wrong, but then, I had no choice. My family and I had to survive, says Roland.

He was introduced to Reach Out when she had a project with the World Food Program and he served  as a distribution assistant but he lost his job when the project ended. Things got extremely worst for me, I thought of going back to what I use to do. My oldest son dropped out from school and we had to move to a less expensive and uncomfortable house.

REO therefore introduced him to this project, titled “Empowerment of IDP”. With our assistance, a business plan was drawn for him and he was given the sum of 100,000FCFA ($178) to start a provision store in Kumba. “This sounded like a breakthrough in my life and again I could have a decent source of income for my family and I. His business is doing great as he can take care of his basic needs (Rents, feeding, shelter).  He testifies he could register his son again for a holidays classes

Reach Out is a Demi-God in my life, and I thank you immensely for your great assistance

 Many other youths, will forget about their negative coping mechanisms and do something more decent for themselves  as a source of income if given the opportunity to

Your donations has changed the life of this Cameroonian who had lost all hope. Thank you all for your continuous support

This microproject, titled “Help Empower internally Displaced youths in Fako and Meme had as goal to support 15 youths who have been grossly affected by the current crisis by establishing small businesses for them, as a means to regain their dignity and boost their livelihoods.

After identifying the beneficiaries and drawing their business plans, the past three months has been marked with capacity building and disbursement of seed capital for establishment of projects by the identified population

09 internally displaced youths have so far received support in Fako, after being trained on business management, book keeping and menstrual hygiene. Funds disbursed have been used for the establishment of their businesses

Edith, one of the beneficiaries shares the following testimony

She has been able to add dry spices to her fried corn business as she was supported with the required sum of 100.000FCFA ($170). Formerly, due to the great number of people who rely on her for food and the small nature of her business, she could not do any form of savings as instead she was reducing money from her business capital to feed her family

“With the recent support, I have been able to do my business and register some savings as well.

I am extremely happy that I can now do my dry spices business, something I have admired for so long. This has enabled me forget all what I lost during the crisis. Thank you all for your support and may God continue to richly bless you, Edith testifies

Ayuk Doris also confesses of haven increased her food business as she now buys in bulk which is considerably lower than buying through retail. She has also been able to increase her daily savings from 1000 Frs daily ($1.5) to 1500 Frs Daily ($2.5). “I don’t have to rely on a man for my basic needs as I use to do

Thanks so much for your generous donations. It is and will continue to impact the lives of Cameroonian youths and better their communities. Your generosity goes a long way of curbing the crisis.  

This microproject, titled “Help Empower internally Displaced youths in Fako and Meme has as major objectives to support 15 youths who have been grossly affected by the current crisis by establishing small businesses for them. In Meme, 05 IDPs have been selected for intervention because this area has for the past two years served as host community for many Internally Displaced Persons from other parts of Meme such as Ekombe, kwa-kwa, Mbonge just to name a few. In Fako, areas such as Molyko, Koke and Small Soppo which has witnessed an increase in IDP population recently with people coming in from Ekona, Muyenge, Bafia and others were chosen for a start of this project.

 Major criteria for selection was that the IDP must be between the ages of 18-35  years and should be willing to do business and to comply with the organization’s monthly follow up procedures.

So far, the following activities have been carried out:

• Identification of 30 Internally Displaced Youths from Kumba and Meme
• Social enquiries of the beneficiaries conducted
• Drawing of business plans of  12  beneficiaries
• Documentation of stories and challenges from beneficiaries
• 12 youths have been selected to pilot the project

Edith, one of the identified youths to be empowered shared the following story

Edith is a mother of four who was displaced from Ekombe (Meme division) to Koke (Fako division) where she has been living  for over two years. She has a sister in kumba but could not live with her because her quarter is frequently attacked by the SAG and NSAG. Together with her husband  and 10 kids ( 6 are her  sister’s own kids) now rent a room in Koke a locality in Buea. She hawks and sells fried ground nuts just to make a living. Presently,  she has a capital of 10000 frs ($20) which she manages to make a living together with her family. With support from her husband, she struggled in the first year and all of the children started schooling.  Though I stress in selling the fried ground nut because i hawk around, the business is really profitable but since I don’t have enough capital, I can’t really save anything out from my business as I use the profit to feed the family which most often than not it is not sufficient for 12 people in the house.

Edith has a desire to add dry species to her business if she can raise a sum of 100,000 frs ($200). This is a business she admires and has helped a friend of her’s to sell when she just came to Buea.  But her desires or dreams are threatened because two of her sister’s daughters who are schooling with her are pregnant. “Now am confused and don’t know what to do. Do I look for money to feed the family or do I look for money to register them for anti-natal or what”? If she had to start saving for the desired business now she will be forced to divert the money to the needs of her pregnant nieces. Never the less if Edith is assisted she can and will be able to support her family.

With support from Reach Out Staff, her business plan has been drawn and she will receive the money next week to start her new business

Thanks so much for your generous donations. It is and will continue to impact the lives of Cameroonian youths and better their communities. Your generosity goes a long way of curbing the crisis.