Temperature is rising and rising this week as we all look forward to join you in commemorating #IWD2016 to support the pledge for parity. In fact there is nothing more important than taking advantage of the heavy dose of Mother Earth to commit to memory all your efforts in changing lives positively. As March 8 approaches, you should always know that real men will be along to accompany you throughout the year and not just a single day. The pure will be there to make a #PledgeForParity. However, joining you in celebrating the social, economic, cultural and your political achievements is a goal we all stand to achieve for our homes, community, Division, region, Nation, continent and the world at large.
My dear sister, yesterday one wise politician, (Sa Majeste Michel Kamse, Mayor of Yaounde III) inspired me alot when he turned to advice a couple at wedding. He said beauty lies in a smile, kindness, actions and deeds. And let me contextualize the description by adding that the little you have been doing is what is changing the face of humanity and the progress that we have registered. I salute you for your bravery. Ahead of this memorable day, I continue to look up to you as the woman emancipators. From a distant, you stood out of the madding crowd in a world where men (us) claim their position next to God. When in homes, along streets and in drinking spots we still have men who wear Mike Tyson to transform women to bunching bags. I know and I believe you have succeeded where others did not.
In Cameroon, they are millions of women who have moved above the male artificial barriers to becoming Ministers, Directors, Senior Divisional Officers, Parliamentarians, development experts, lawyers, journalists, pastors etc. In fact this rare specie of woman apart from the fact they are caring mothers in their various homes have become role models to other young girls. However, since charity begins at home, I would like to use this opportunity to pay respect, appreciation and love to the woman who brought me to this world, my mum, Regina Muchop as she is known by her young girl’s name. Nothing is worth celebrating than a lifetime achievement in purely masculine dominated world. To my personal person, my better half, Beri Comfort, I say thumbs up for constantly challenging the blind exercise of power for me to understand that no institution is immune to change. The story of other women like Rosa Parks, Mother Teresa, Queen Elizabeth, Allen Johnson and many others continue to act as a stimulant to the woman.
Thumbs up woman. Exceptionally, one woman whose philanthropist gestures have touched the heart of Cameroonians is Madame Chantal Biya, the first lady of Cameroon. She is a model example of a mother who look closely at people by doing just what the communities need. The fact that she was crowned goodwill ambassador is indicative of the good work she has been doing to improve on the standard of living of the rural poor.
Nothing is more fascinating than celebrating the Life of these transformed women, who have rose above their own adversity, self doubt and have directly or indirectly impacted the lives of other women, especially those that suffer from childhood abuse and/or molestation. Today these statistics speak by themselves. It is inspiring to know that women:
• Are 52% of the world’s population
• Are responsible for 66% of the world’s output
• Earn 10% of the world’s income
• Own 1% of the world’s property
On this International Women's day may we rededicate ourselves once more to improving the quality of life for women especially by working hard to get women elected into positions where they can influence policies.
Here below are women who according to my own critical judgment analysis has done extraordinary things in a very common way to the point that her actions have attracted public attention and admiration.
Let me raise my voice to shout a big bravo to the following sisters:
Ma Yaah Patience Tamfu. She is CPDM Section President in the United States. Her trappings as a career politician speak volumes. In fact, to have risen above the artificial barriers to be elected Section President in Uncle Sam's country is a feat. If there is any area in Cameroon where the Beijing platform can be assessed, it is in her participation in political and economic sphere which was former a no go one for the woman. This woman has shown that women in leadership could mean a lot to Cameroon. Ever since this daughter of the great statesman, late Hon. SN Tamfu became the sparkling flicker, the ever first woman to strengthen the CPDM party in the United State of America. She has become a symbol that women in leadership position could mean a lot to Cameroon. Hitherto considered a no go zone for women, Yaah Patience Tamfu has not only dismantled the male barriers constructed round politics but has more importantly serve as a woman emancipator. Where two or three are gathered to talk development, Patience Tamfu is always present. Though living in the USA, her contributions to development initiatives in Mbum land are surplus. Congrats Ma Yaah and Happy Women's Day.
Comfort Mussa, I would say is young, talented and jam-packed with the energy that has given her the
leeway to understand the breaks between the lives and experiences of men and women of this Andriod generation. It is not for nothing that Global Press named her among the top 15 women journalists around the world covering women issues. Commy as fondly called has not just been an event reporter but has taken risks of investigating life dreaded stories that even some men would never take risk. This International winning award journalist has in a short time achieved what others could not in several years of practice. She is easily described as "Journaliste competente et engage". Comfort Mussa is doing great in empowering women councilors. Her strives with the women councilors of the Nkambe council has produced extraordinary results to the point that out of the four deputy mayors, there are two women. Besides, she is founder of SisterSpeak237.com, a lavender that has contributed to impact the lives of young girls and women. Comfort Mussa's legacy at the helm of CAMASEJ Bamenda are up the ladder. Yes, they are and such astute achievements could only come from someone with veritable leadership qualities. Keep the spirit Commy.
Mary Awudu Ngayi, Mami Mary is a politician, perfect public speaker and woman emancipator whose
trappings with the Socialist women can never ever be erased. The Fon of Kup village recently described her as the Hilary Clinton of the Mbum people. Madame Mary Awudu is a woman whose talent and ingenuity have been likened to those of Hilary Clinton. The “Manju” of Mbum land is a woman whose life successes continue to spur young girls in Mbum land. She is a successful politician, a climate change campaigner and a successful business woman. Her rise to fame in the field of politics can easily be justified by the statement that life is a journey. In fact, John Bungam’s pilgrim progress is a classical expression of this truth that clearly portrays her as a political genius. Ma Mary as she is often referred to by youths, elders and other women to start with, she is a multi talented woman and describing her as an intellect is to use one of the weakest dictions to illustrate a genius. She is well-groomed and has the meticulous brain weave that is unbreakable. Anyone who comes across her for the first time is attracted by her cultured manners which have made her a career politician and quite often she is referred to as the Campaign Manager. Meet her in one of her political trips in the field and you will confirm that she is woman with conscience and character. Or meet her talking to women on the phenomenon of climate change and you will be thrilled by her aptness in the domain.
She is always exceptional everywhere she goes. She started her political progress in the Social Democratic Front-SDF party where she is training and education secretary. Pregnant with political maturity and strategies, her desire to express her political ideas freely and pragmatically makes her an extraordinary women loaded with expedients.
Mafor Yaah Achidi Achu Judith is Commercial Director at CAMTEL. Many say she is a woman of abilities but I would confirm it by adding that she is the greatest gift to humanity. This is a woman who unlike others is busy round the clock. She doesn't like documents to be treated today for tomorrow. From CAMTEL Douala to South West and North West where she served as Regional head, her trappings continue to have a place ahead others who came before and after her. She is devoted to promoting the welfare of rural women reasons why Donga Mantung Fons honoured and coroneted her Ma-Yaah. In a bit to promote the football nursery of Donga Mantung Division, Mafor Yaah Achidi Achu has proven that what a man can do, a woman can do it better.
Her devotion for work and down to earth nature ignited fons of the North West and she was honoured with the title of “Mafor”.
Amy Banda is an outstanding peace advocate and journalist with LTM. Besides, she is the Chief Executive Officer of AB Consulting. The history of women who have done extraordinarily in shaping lives around the
world can never be complete if Amy is not mentioned. Her online campaign to promote, propagate and instill the preservation of peace among communities and nations made her as one of the most practical woman of all the women engaged in peace building. Committed to the fact that peace is necessarily the cornerstone to development and emergence, Amy's approach in crusading for it like little drops of water gradually made it way to the world stage of of innovative ideas which the world had begged humanity to have. What a way to give the Voiceless a Voice. She is perfectly bilingual and a rare specie of advocate. To any body who wants to enjoy Amy do not go to challenge her, go to discuss with her and you will not regret for having met such a super intelligent woman. She is of the school of thought that holds the conviction that Africa is rich but the problem is with it the absence of peace. The range of her creativity has attracted the world not just because she is a woman for that matter rather because she appears to come from a rare breed of woman. Her weblog Amy Blog is the heartbeat of the crusade for peace. In short Amy is our own Oprah.
Nfor Winifred Laye is a farmer based in Nkambe. She owns a large farm estimated at about 20 hectares
of land where she cultivates maize, beans and other crops. Besides, she is also into the cultivation of parennial crops, and actually expanding the over 5 hectares of palm plantation to make up 10ha. Her success story as a farmer is the beginning of a new page for women who have avoided large scale farming. Skilled with the little knowledge in hand to mouth farming, Nfor Winifred's determination is the locomotive to her achievements today. Despite the fact that she had never received government subventions to farmers, she still believes in the African root concept because she remains a mother and a home maker, whose successes lies only of self-determination and hardwork. From her farm yields, she is ranked among the riches women. Even those who work in offices envy her.
Hon. Esther Ngala Ntala is a female political giant whose rise to prominence could be compared to the rough driving along the Bamenda Ring Road where you need to withstand all the odds against. And trying to
change the mentality of a society that was purely male dominated is also an up hill task that only dynamic women can overcome. Yet, Hon. Esther Ngala Ntala, SDF Member of Parliament for Ndu in Donga Mantung Division of the Northwest region is one of those exemplary female politicians who have dismantled these barriers. Before becoming a career politician, her hard work, determination and involvement in community work and sound education shaped and influenced her life to where she is today.
This good natured, self-motivated and sparkling political icon has had a distinguished career as a teacher before a jump-start in politics where she is going into records in great names. Conscientiously speaking she has been rated as the agrarian political messiah who continues to stimulate the woman that “what a man can do in politics, a woman can do it twice”. This is great motivation because she is and continues to make a difference in the lives of the rural woman as she is on her second mandate as Member of Parliament.Besides, she was also a member of the Steering Committee of the Grassfeild Participatory and Decentralized Rural Development Project-GP DERUDEP. All these positions were not handed to her on a platter of gold but were as a result of hard work and merit. At the National Assembly, she is the Chairperson of the Social Committee. Yet, Hon. Esther Ngala moves along with innovation, meet her on her political trips and you would have met a politician of great magnitude.
Nakinti Besumbu Nofuru is Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Rescue Women. Besides, she is a
The most comfortable act on earth they say is to fulfill ones dream and Nakinti is not a woman to pigeon hole with. When it comes to reporting and accompanying actions that impact the lives of women, Nakinti is ever green. It is not for nothing that Ta Nformi Dr. Christopher Fomunyoh in his acceptance speech as The Guardian Post Newspaper Man of the Year acknowledged what she is doing.
reporter with Global Press Journal and Global Press Institute.
In fact, Nakinti has an International reputation that makes a great difference. The truth about her is that she is first of all very courageous and result-oriented. That is why she is a force to reckon with given her story with Rescue Women where she is empowering youth girls in ICTs.
Nakinti is a good orator and a perfect public speaker. Meet her for a discussion on gender based violence and you would agree with me that she is the Rosa Parks of Cameroon.
Angela Forbin is a journalist par excellence and the most formidable journalist of all the journalists
in a
world where real-time social media have become a platform for citizen journalism at its best — Cameroon's own celebrity is Angeline. She left an indelible mark of greatness at Canal 2 where she worked as a journalist.
practice. That she is a "news breaker" is just the truth. Talk of Cameroonian women rocking the social media, Angie Forbin is one. If Forbes were to classify the most influential women on the social media, Angie should be the most influential Cameroonian woman on Facebook. But by my own ranking, she is the most prolific based on her brilliant insight on burning issues. If you are hoping to make it on social media, make her your role model. A visit to her timeline takes you round to the satisfaction of everything you have ever wanted to know about what is happening in the country and around the globe. She is also a human rights activist. The most recent is the advocacy she embarked on the Eva case in Douala.
Edith Kah Walla is the Coordinator of Cameroon O’Bosso and founder of Strategy, a not for profit making organization. She is also the chairlady of CCP party and was female Presidential candidate in the 2011 Presidential Elections. To begin with, Kah Walla is a very brilliant woman.
With Strategy, a not for profit organization she was able to move mountains reasons why the World Bank selected her among the most brilliant enterprising African women some years ago. In fact, Kah Walla has an International reputation that makes great difference with her peers. The truth about Kah Walla is that she is first of all very courageous and result-oriented. While in the Social Democratic Front where she occupied the privileged position of head of the Strategic Committee she was as excellent and accurate as a mathematics teacher. Being a woman did not hinder her from performing the most demanding and strategic role for the SDF party. Yet, Kah Walla decided to quit the SDF to be record holder as the ever first Cameroonian woman to declare her ambitions for the Presidency. Waoo, a woman with Presidential ambitions is not just any Jack, Dick or Harry but someone who knows she has the potentials. However, Kah has become a force to reckon with in Cameroon and one of the few politicians that creates panic when she addresses burning issues. She has the God-given knack that she is clicked by the charm that easily convinces people. When she launched her Presidential race to the Unity Palace, the Kahwallamania syndrome took Cameroonians like the hike in the prices of coffee and cocoa took farmers unaware.
Prof. Uphie Melo Chinje is a researcher, like other result oriented researchers, she is transforming theory into practice. Moving research results from the laboratory into the field of production has been one of her
major achievements. In the past, accusations have been more compounded by the fact that research results never go beyond the laboratory. Reasons being that majority of the research results never tie with local realities because most of the researchers prefer to think globally and act globally. Welcome Prof. Uphie Melo Chinje who is a mark departure from the madding crowd because she thinks globally and act locally. As a woman she has shown proof of being a systematically thought out of the box. As a researcher and a woman for that matter, she has always been worried why there are practical problems to be solved in society and researchers spend time in abstract things. She is one of those rare researchers who believe in the value of work. Far from being an academic exercise, she is of the school of thought of Beacon who saw research and the acquisition of knowledge as planned work. Knowing that everything in the world is purchased by labour, Prof. Uphie Melo Chinje put herself to education and learning that would make her useful in the field of work. And being a God fearing person, her inspiration has often come from Genesis 1:28 which states that: “replenish and subdue it”. It is therefore a noble sentiment that she has not only replenished the earth but has been subduing it.
As General Manager of the Local Material Production Authority-MIPROMALO, she has been redefining the use of the earth especially it soil. Through her meritorious research work, she demonstrated that local materials are more resistant and she succeeded in putting local construction materials at the front stage in Cameron. That is how she is transforming President Biya’s greater ambition program.
Caroline Bih Bongwa is Mayor of Bamenda I. Ma Caro as she is commonly known in Bamendakwe is the
first woman to head a council in Mezam Division and one of the three female mayor in the North West Region. Her being elected as Mayor of Bamenda I was not an error but by merit. When judged from her trappings, she is already entering into records as a development luminary and career politician. This daughter of a former statesman, Pa Bongwa was two years ago decorated by North West Governor for braving the odds to emerge in politics. Born into a political family, Caroline Bih has a wide experience in politics of the CPDM. Though trained as a teacher, Caroline's success in politics continue to act as a spur to women who intend to take leadership positions through politics.
Regina Mundi is the lone female Member of the Politbureau of the ruling CPDM from the North West
Region of Cameroon and an alternate senator. The fact that she is a Member of the Polibureau of the CPDM is a clear testimony that determination and devotion are the corner stone to success. As a matter of truth, she is a stanch militant whose continues preaching about the goodies of the CPDM and its chairman Paul Biya has changed the political landscape in the North West Region. While there are CPDM militants who are SDF lackeys at night and CPDM during the day, Ma Mundi as she is commonly known is CPDM for 24 hours on 24, 7 days of the week and 12 months in the year. Her commitment to President Biya’s political ideologies and the CPDM is not sheer fanaticism. It is for this reason that during the 50th anniversary of the Armed Forces in Bamenda, Regina Mundi was catapulted and recognized. She was decorated by the Head of State President Paul Biya. This graduate of Trinity College-USA has entered history books in varied names, such as the first female to be appointed cultural and social affairs adviser to the then Governor of the North West Province. She was the first woman to occupy the position of secretary in the then CNU party and it was through her efforts that she created the first women group in Mezam. Politically, she has risen from a central committee member to polibureau member.
While many CPDM militants only pay lip service to the ruling party and its national chairman, Ma Mundi has remained CPDM from the day of its insertion to date. In the early 90s when Bamenda was likened to Bagdad, Ma Mundi was the only female politician who could publicly identify herself as a militant of the CPDM. Even when her house was destroyed against the backdrop of post-electoral violence, she was still committed to the ideals of the CPDM. What is interesting about politics in the North West Region of Cameroon is the fact that there are many people with different political views; yet, Regina Mundi has stood the taste of time as the most convincing female politician. Ever since she entered into active politics, she had never told a lie. In fact she is widely appreciated as a rare specie of politician that is very hard to come-by nowadays. She has always told the population whenever she has the opportunity to make a statement that even though some people may sympathize with the opposition; they know that the opposition has nothing to offer. Being a female politician in the fief of the leading opposition in Cameroon was an uphill task that she gradually transformed into assets. If you have never met a convincing politician, meet her in the field and you will agree with me that she has the God given charm that attracts people
Colonel Nga Rose Angeline is the deputy Director at the military in Younde and the first woman in the military to attain the rank of Colonel in the Cameroon army. It was in January 2001 that Nga Rose Angeline
entered the book of honours as a military officer thanks to her hard work and strength of mind. Though trained as a medical Doctor at CUSS, Nga Rose Angeline against all the odd, decided to jump above the masculine artificial barriers to make a jumpstart career in the military. She was one of the two first female candidates who in 1985 passed the entrance into the Military Academy-EMIA. Apparently, she entered EMIA with the mission to make the difference and to stand out when even most people (women) seem to blend in. While at EMIA, she proved to be an all weather woman given that upon graduation she was among the first three. From all indications, Colonel Nga Rose Angeline is the rare breed that if you teach her how to fly a plane today and the next day she will make a round trip around the world. Obviously, it is her multi-talented of always making the difference that makes her a role model in the military.
As pediatric in the military, Colonel Nga Rose Angeline has proven beyond reasonable doubts that her success story, hard work, and attachment to do just what is right is linked to her humble up bringing and her unshakable belief in the Words of God. From Garoua to Yaounde where she served in various capacities, she had always tell her patients, friends and colleagues that come for the treatment of their kids that, man, no matter how rich or poor, big or small is the same in the eyes of God. Based on this physically powerful and entrenched belief of hers, she has been nick named “Iron Lady”. Yet, coming closer to Colonel Nga Rose is to make a new discovery of an army officer who is humble and levelheaded.
Christelle Bay Chongwain is a woman of the future who was born with the knack to cater the need of
others. Accompanying rural women and needy children through support has been her line of action in fostering the empowerment of the poor as well as building a better future for all. And providing scholarships to orphans as well as encouraging the education of the girl child is what has made HOFNA Cameroon the Best of the Best in Child result orientation. It is also this art of reaching out to the needy that has catapulted Christelle Bay Nfor in various communities in the North West Region of Cameroon. What makes her dissimilar from others is that she does uncommon things in a very common manner.
With the collaboration of funding partners and with donations from members, HOFNA has reached out to over 500 primary schools pupils in the North West Region by donating didactic materials. In her move to encourage communities realize their worth through the education of the girl child; HOFNA has offered scores of scholarships to little intelligent girls in the region. The most recent was the scholarship she offered to one brilliant girl at CS Ngwanri in Nkambe Central. This she said is a way to raise hopes in communities and build a better future for the next generation. Coming closer to Christelle Bay is discovering a pictogram in child welfare and an advocate for the right to education for the girl child. As a matter of fact, she is putting and has been putting HOFNA Cameroon on the ladders of the trusted NGOs that Cameroon needs to achieve the Vision 2035. HOFNA Cameroon from all observations inspires hope given that her devotion to work for a sustain future is what is making her to think of moving climate change issues from workshops and symposium to the classrooms for children to be informed and empowered on mitigation strategies.
Sally Ebot Gentry is a woman that takes her inspiration from the art of giving. In live, there are two
categories of people, those who think about themselves and their families and those who will have sleepless nights thinking only on how to impact the livelihood in the entire community and beyond. Sally Gentry falls in the second category.
If the Fuh Calistus Scholarship fund is breaking grounds in Donga Mantung Division, it is thanks to Sally Gentry. This is so because she has never failed to make an emblematic gesture every time she meets those in need. In 2012, she started by mobilizing Misaje women based in Yaounde and raised funds to acquire benches, textbooks, and other didactic materials which were donated to schools. Breed in a purely Christian political background, Sally Gentry sees philanthropy as the art of being serviceable to the community as virtue that should be passed on to generations to come. Early in 2013, Sally Gentry took the Christian Community of Misaje sub Division aback when she donated tons of religious books including Bibles to all the denominations. Like Mother Teresa, she looks beyond the common boundaries to make a significant contribution towards changing lives. Her devotion to support the promotion of the education of the girl child is being applauded. This is also where she has proven her dexterousness. Time and again, she makes significant contributions to the Ako Misaje Scholarship Fund which is promoted by Minister Fuh Calistus. She makes sure that she personally present to encourage beneficiaries of the scheme especially girls. The act of giving is what characterizes her everyday activities.
And being a God fearing person, her inspiration has often come from Genesis 1:28 which states that: “replenish and subdue it”. It is therefore a noble sentiment that she has not only replenished the earth but has been subduing it.
Juliette Schegl Fotsing is a refined writer, journalist and woman worth celebrating. The history of women
that have done and continue to do extraordinary things would remain uncompleted if the name Juliette Schegl Fotsing is not written in gold. Like Rudyard Kipling, who once said that “if you can keep your head when all around you are losing theirs and if you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat the two the same, yours is earth and everything that is in it”, Juliette is a mark of deparure from the madding crowd. In fact there is no doubt that Rudyard Kipling had this inspiration from the obstacles and barriers we often crush to get to prominence especially in a masculine dominated world. In our contemporary society this statement could only be referred to one person, Juliette Schlegl Fotsing. “Timshall” is written in the most refined style and tells the story of a young woman in search of “greener pastures”. In “Timshall” she portrays her language power. In fact she writes with superb descriptive power, especially in the scenes where her character’s aloneness and the world’s indifference come together to create the most reflective passages. In her early life, her education, her search for a job, and on to her career, there runs the psychological scar that seems to her more birth right than accidental set of circumstances – made by the serrations of history and destiny.
“Thus, her career or path in life is described in the subtitle A Saw-Toothed Career. Readers, though, can readily accept what the author says – it is truthful, a very intelligent and moving reading of a problematic world – and it is said in the spirit of a life-giver successfully transmuting the base elements into spiritual fullness.”
On her website, she states that “If she had chosen any other path in her pain filled life, would she have demons running after her in the process of surviving and making a life?” What is very plain to see despite the fact of the character’s inherited problems as a Cameroonian and later issues of assimilation in Europe, is that her life has been based upon a moral foundation, a remarkably, even stunningly strong one. Thus, the Steinbeck imperative works as a perfect influence, the philosophical vehicle running throughout this book.
Senator Eno Emma Lafon hails from Bui Division in the North West Region. Before she was elected
Senator, she was the Director of Scholarization and Scholarships in the Ministry of Higher Education. Indirectly, many universities were under her. Her rise to fame in the field of politics can easily be justified by the statement that life is a journey. In fact, John Bungam’s pilgrim progress is a classical expression of this truth that clearly portrays her as a political genius. To start with, she is a multi talented woman and describing her as a genius is to use one of the weakest dictions to illustrate a genius. Ema Lafon is smart and has the political thoroughness that is hard to come by. Anyone who comes across her for the first time is attracted by her cultured manners which have made her a career politician.
She is always exceptional everywhere she goes. She started her political progress in the CPDM party where she is a Member of the Central Committee of the CPDM and holds the position of WCPDM national Secretary. Pregnant with political maturity and strategies, her desire to express her political ideas freely and pragmatically made her to move to senate on CPDM ticket. It is that mastery in grassroot politics and doing little things that matter in a common way that has raised her to be cherished by all and sundry in Bui Division. The fact that she flushed the much talked about mayor of Kumbo council Njong Donatus was not by error.
While she has been transforming lives while Director of Scholarization and Scholarships, and doing the same like Mother Teresa, Senator Ema Lafon Eno is also an advocate the girl child. She has always been apt to stand up against people in society that keep others in abject poverty for the sake of a few who have wealth and power. To her, the door of success only opens those who value hard work. Senator Ema Lafon is on record for having paid for the reinstating of public taps in Kumbo, regrettable, the SDF took it as a challenge to the point that today, Kumbo is again without public taps. And above all, she is also noted to have offered computers to the catholic church. To sum it all, there is no village in Bui that can raise a finger that the villagers have not benefited from her largess. With a professional career that spans over 30 years within the higher education sector, Senator Emma Lafon is accredited as a dynamic staff with respect for hierarchy and proven diligence in her duties. It was against this background that Dr. Gabsa Wilfred from the Ministry of Higher Education during her homecoming described her as “Good Substance” for the Senate. Many have found in her, a blessing to Bui Division given that her rich professional career will certainly benefit the Bui community and Cameroon in general.
Nkenda Margreta is today a household name when it comes to the cultivation and processing of red palm
oil. Her dexterity in the sector has earned her numerous awards and recognition. In 2011, Nkenda Margreta won the first prize palm oil at the Ebolowa National Agro-pastoral show. The fact that she competed and won the prize wasn’t by error but the fruit of her hard work and determination. This distinction at the National Agro Pastoral Show also placed her on the ladder of fame as she was voted Donga Mantung Woman of the Year by readers of The Eye newspaper, Best Farmer by listeners of Savannah Radio Nkambe and again Best All Round Farmer by readers of the Watchdog Tribune. It is thanks to Nkenda Margreta that the CDC Oil Palm Expansion programme developed interest in Donga Mantung Division. By winning the national first prize in palm oil, she created the needed awareness that Donga Mantung Division has suitable climatic conditions for the cultivation of oil palms. Meet her in her plantation and you will be filled by the gulp of having met a professional farmer. To her farming is not just a profession but a calling.
However, what makes her different is that she is a very hard working woman and besides being a house wife, she moved above men established artificial barriers to create an oil palm plantation. In Misaje where she hails, women hardly own plantations but she has not only defeated that notion. She is a practical example of the long established slogan that “what a man can do, a woman can do it better”. With over 10 ha of oil palms, Nkenda Margreta says her dream is to expand her plantation to about 25 hectares. What is however very interesting is that she has a very good knowledge on local processing techniques. Anybody who has had the opportunity to come closer to Madame Nkenda Margreta would agree with me that she is a professional farmer given that she envies nothing from those who work in offices, “my office is my farm”, and she once told this reporter.
Florence Njimptoh is a farmer based in Binka village in Donga Mantung Division of the North West Region
of Cameroon. What makes Florence Njimptoh to stand out of the madding crowd of rural women is her philosophy to life and work. At her young age, she grows up with the notion that stumbling blocks in life are stepping stones to go to higher heights. And when she finally engaged in farming as a fervent profession, her thoughts were govern by the notion that anything that is worth doing should be done well or not done at all. As a crop farmer, suddenly became a perfectionist that set standards even for herself. In fact she is a farmer that has proven her worth in piloting many innovative programmes. Apparently, Florence Njimptoh has the ardor of a bee and the power of a stallion when it comes to accomplishing a job. It is not for nothing that in the year 2000, she was recognized as the Millennium Farmer of Donga Mantung Division. From 2000 to 2013, Madame Florence Njimptoh won 8 different prizes both at the Regional, Divisional and Sub Divisional levels thanks to her farm produce. Part from cultivating 7ha of beans every year, she also does market gardening. In 2011, she was the only farmer in the Division who was chosen to produce new variety of beans. She emerged first in the North West Region in the best farm competition and in 2013 she was voted by readers of The Eye Newspaper as Donga Mantung Best Crop Farmer.
Give some people a tree to plant and it will never grow, but with Florence Njimptoh the story is always different. The truism in her success is first the passion for farming and secondly she of that group that could easily grow maize on sand. “Farming is my only source of income and from my harvest I have been able to send my kids to the best schools” she says. Although not born in misery, Florence Njimptoh was not born in wealth. What she has today is the result of hard work and determination.
To her, farming is a worthwhile business that never fails. “I have gone places because of my farm and I think those who say that farming is a profession for the poor are on the wrong side of history. It is the backbone of our economy and I am happy as a farmer”. She benefitted a lot of training from Non Governmental Organization and travelled widely too thanks to her farm work. Apart from working on her farm, she is the leader of the largest women group in Donga Mantung Division with about 2000 women. Today she is not just a farm manager but a resource person to extension services. Whatever crop she cultivates, she remains a teacher to other farmers. To know Florence Njimptoh is to have a cue of the acts of those who are propel by the passion to sustainable action. When two are gathered to talk about sustainable development in the Nkambe Central Sub Division, count her the third person.
When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)
I am deeply honoured by this exceptional recognition and truly humbled that the jury arrived at its decision unanimously. I am also honoured reading through the pedigree of previous recipients -- a current Head of State, Sultans and Fons, Governors and Ambassadors -- and therefore feel very fortunate to be among the selected few onto whom this distinction has been bestowed.
Please let us now observe one minute of silence as we remember all the victims of Boko Hara, and in honour of our brave men and women who have fallen while protecting our fatherland.
