Less Privileged Women in the N.W Freely Trained on Income Gerenation

Less Privileged Women in the N.W Freely Trained on Income Generating Activities
By MAIKEM Emmanuela

Smiles and portrayal of appreciation plus satisfaction could be seen on the faces of some internally displaced women, widows, women with disabilities, minority ( mbororo women), and unemployed women in the North West Region over the weekend, at the Winners Chapel premises while receiving their attestations of training at the end of a three months program on income generating activities to enable them economically empower themselves. 

Organized by Madame Ngabir Rita Yenjong Buriya, a young entrepreneur in Bamenda, the participants at the end of the session, were given a startup capital in kind.

With the prevailing situation in the region, many of these women have been forced to leave their homes, become jobless and homeless, while others who find shelter have to share their privacy with 15 other room mates. They sometimes have to go for days without eating. However the free training program has helped some of these women get little food on the table.

According to Senguo Emmanuela, she left her village (Batibo) because of the violent conflict within which many people have lost their lives. She got stranded in the city of Bamenda as she had nothing to do. Things got better when she met Madam Rita Buriya who introduced her to the training program which has enabled her learn the production of coconut oil, detergents, body lotions and necklaces made with beads. She sells some of these items and uses the money to get food feed her family.

Empowering these women in income generating activities and life skills can be a sure way of helping them sustain the life they have at present and in the long run. Miss Siah also from Batibo, lives in a two rooms house with fifteen others. They left Batibo because of the ongoing killings. Joining the program has helped her take care of her family as she no longer buys detergents, soaps and body lotions. She now produces them, sells to get money buy food for her family. She intends moving back to Batibo her hometown and  opening a shop there when the crisis will be over because to her, there is no place like home.

Talking about supports, so far these women have been receiving material support such as cloths and food from the community as well as from the Now Movement Humanitarian Program of  Barrister Akere Muna. The program supported with a training space, chairs and startup capitals for the women. According to Madam Rita Buriya, "Helping the needy is time consuming but it's worth it when you have a vision. Looking at the need of these women has inspired me to ignore the time I spent training them. Some of the graduates have volunteered to help in training the next batch which is made up of over forty women and that will go a long way to solve the problem of time."

Since the start of the Anglophone Crisis in 2016, many young people have lost their jobs, businesses and homes. Many look forward to the day the crisis will come to an end so things can get back to normal.