Skip to playerSkip to main content
  • 5 months ago
Cameroon is preparing for presidential elections in October. But violent separatists in the country's anglophone regions have imposed a near total curfew. They have banned travel, closed shops, and forced the closure of schools.
Transcript
00:01Emanuela had been attending a school parade last year when the blast went off.
00:07It was an improvised explosive device.
00:10Now, she's lost both her legs.
00:13She was just 17 years old.
00:16We stand and we were just watching her.
00:21They were making the activities and we just find ourselves done.
00:27They took me to the hospital. After that, they have worked with my wound before.
00:33I know that something happened to me.
00:36How did you feel?
00:38I was feeling too much pain.
00:41I was very sad. I was crying.
00:44Now my own is finished because I cannot work again.
00:50The atrocity happened in Kambe, in the English-speaking part of the country.
00:55During the celebrations for the National Youth Day.
00:59The anniversary of the 1961 referendum when anglophone areas voted to join French-speaking Cameroon.
01:07The separatists regularly impose boycotts of school and public life.
01:12Anyone who defies their orders can become a target.
01:17When I heard the news of the attack, it was very difficult for me.
01:22I didn't even know if I would have the strength to get to the hospital.
01:26When I arrived, I fainted and didn't know where I was.
01:29I arrived at the hospital and saw my daughter's amputated legs.
01:32I fell down and collapsed.
01:34Despite her suffering, Emanuela is determined to return to the classroom.
01:44She will be attending school this year and says she wants to fulfill her dream of becoming a doctor.
01:54The deteriorating security situation has forced many students to flee to safer areas like the original capital, Boya.
02:03But even here, schools protected by troops standing guard at the entrance don't open during the boycotts.
02:12And the influx of students here means classrooms often have more pupils than they can accommodate.
02:19About 2,000 schools remain closed in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon.
02:24According to a UN report published in May, this has left over 223,000 children without access to education.
02:33We traveled to Moyoka in the countryside, about 30 kilometers out of Boya, where education has been worse hit by the conflict.
02:42A teacher from a local school agreed to speak to us as long as we protect his identity.
02:48You are teaching in class and you suddenly hear gunshots.
02:53And you and your students lie down not knowing who is shooting who.
02:57And you wait till it subsides and all of you find your way back home.
03:01Hoping that the following week things could get normal and so on.
03:05So it's really very dangerous.
03:06You know, each day I go to work preparing my mind.
03:09Like I never come back because sometimes you're on your way to work and you don't know that there are gunshots ahead.
03:15Unfortunately, a colleague just sent you a message and tells you not to come because there's danger ahead.
03:22As attacks like this continue, local authorities insist the violence must be stopped.
03:30We have realized that this crisis is not helping us.
03:35It's time for us to come back like mature people in the spirit of love and understanding for us to send back our children inside the classrooms.
03:49The government has tried sending troops to the region to stop the violence and implementing an amnesty program for separatists to lay down their arms and surrender.
03:59But here in Moyoka, the technical high school has been abandoned for years and not a single government run school is open here.
04:08is open here.
04:10the objective is open here.
04:12brought to 1970s
04:13was needed the
04:21first day when we launched another second
04:28year.
Comments

Recommended