Busy Busy!

Hello from Bamenda,I have had quite a busy week. For those of you that don’t know, a film crew from Orange County, California was here for a few days filming a documentary on child trafficking. I conducted several interviews with trafficked victims and I was also interviewed several times. The documentary will be out in October and they promised to send me a copy so I will show those of you who are interested.

I have been working with three separate child trafficking cases. One case is very serious because the child is infected with HIV and her mother refuses to allow the child to take ARVs. She was trafficked on foot to Gabon and was kept captive as a sex slave. A second case is problematic as well because the child is living currently with a woman as a “house girl” which consists of domestic labor. The third case involves a young boy who worked as a “house boy” for several years, received no payment and is socially fragile.
Tomorrow is the International Day of the African Child. The theme this year focuses on making Africa fit for children. GLOWA will use this as an opportunity to interact with people, hand out information about the organization and our location.

I have been spending these past couple of days on my computer creating a simplified version of the Declaration of Human Rights produced by the OHCHR and the Convention on the Rights of the Child for children in the community. These hand-outs will be in conjunction with a brochure I made stating the current Cameroon anti-trafficking law that. I proposed to the organization that we have an “Adult’s Group” and a “Children’s Group” where we can each week provide refreshments and discuss the objectives of GLOWA, human/children’s rights, and the prevalence of child trafficking in the North West Region. I found this really helpful book by the UN which lists activities and explains how to properly discuss human rights with children. I thought it would be most effective separating adults and children for a period of time for several reasons: 1. Children may be more open to discussion without the influence of adults; 2. Adults will be educated on different prevention and protection tactics than children; 3. And finally, many of the adults and children will be at different learning levels so information on trafficking will need to be presented in a different manner.

After discussing with Jamils, I have decided that I will spend a couple of weeks in the capital city of Yaoundé. There are several human rights organizations in Yaoundé who dedicate their efforts to upholding children’s rights. I am hoping to visit these organizations and discuss possible partnerships with GLOWA. Several of these organizations in Yaoundé have psychologists who work with children which is a very imperative aspect to rehabilitation and reintegration. I am going to see about pro bono work for GLOWA’s benefit.

While in Yaoundé I will be staying with a woman who works at the U.S. Embassy. She is in charge of the Cameroon cultural division of the embassy. She has some great contacts which she has offered and will aid me in continuing my research not only for my M.A. but for GLOWA.
On a personal level, I am still quite sick but my work has been keeping me busy. There is a 1 ½ year old that I live with who has decided to call me mama. I somehow won the joyous prize of getting her to fall asleep while she lies on top of me. She still calls me Auntie I which is her aunt who has very light skin.

I hope all is well, I miss my family and friends terribly but I am grateful to have this opportunity to be here.

SOME INDIVIDUAL MESSAGES:
Mandi, Karla and Madison, the fantastic camera you donated to GLOWA has been taking some fantastic pictures. One session which I am sure you will feel personally connected to was at a small small town called Mendakwe. There are a group of widows who have taken it upon themselves to educate and raise several dozen orphans.

Mom and Zoe I love you and miss you. Zoe stop taking my clothes out of my closet; even though I’m not there I know it’s happening!

KB, I ate some boiled peanuts the other day!!

And finally, Andy, happy birthday I love you and miss you and wish I could be there to celebrate with you