This is the film that brought a great change to many a life.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Youth Migration: The case of Rita
Rita
Her decision to move to the city started when her father lost his business and could not continue to support her continue her education.
Rita is the first daughter of a family based in Douala after having travelled to seek for a job, born in 1989 when the father was a labourer in a carpentry workshop earning about €50 (27000FCFA) per month.
When the father lost his job in 1996, he had to move back to the village with the children already four in number at this time. In the village it was very difficult for him to adapt to the living conditions, where he tried all the odd jobs he could think of. He finally started a business in drugs (marijuana) which was flourishing very well. He started educating his children very well. But as always is the case knowing that he was doing a fraudulent business that could not last for long and with the drug money which is always sweat and easy to squander, he become even more poorer than as he was before when the police discovered his business and were behind him.
This time Rita has passed from form three to four (2004), despite the fact that she was attaining the Government secondary school where the father could not spend more than €60 (30000FCFA) a year on her, it was impossible for her to continue her education.
At the age of 15 she was given out to one supermarket owner where she worked endlessly. Her salary was given directly to her father. She will work in the supermarket carrying heavy cartons, serving customers, keeping the large and busy supermarket clean before returning to start the domestic works at her patron him. She will work till late in the night to get up very early the next morning and prepare the morning breakfast.
Despite all these and with her salary given directly to her father, the father was still demanding more from her. At one time a foreigner visiting saw this bright small girl working in the supermarket and was so suck that he made an enquiring about her. This foreigner handed €100 (500 000FCFA) to Rita to continue her education that she was still too young to abandon school and to do such laborious work. When Rita handed this money to her father she could not say a word as of date on how the money has been used.
With the continuous demands from her father Rita started implementing herself in fraudulent acts in the supermarket. At one time when she was caught by her patron in one of those fraudulent acts Rita almost committed suicide. Following this unbearable situation the patron of the supermarket terminated her contract.
Rita who was already the bread basket of the family with instructions from her father had to search for another source of revenue as fast as possible to let her younger ones continue their education and to sustain her parents. Rita had to no choice rather to move to the city of Yaounde.
In Yaounde Rita made contacts with one of the members of NORSR. She revealed her story and how she has arrived Yaounde, where she was staying with friends who were ready to send her out at any time. Through some research and findings NORSR was able to identify some of her relatives. Mr. Godlove working with a renounced institution and a relative was able to help Rita. He took Rita to stay with him enrolled her in an evening school, gave her all the privileges one could give to his own daughter. Rita was ready to stay with him and continue her education as she was now aware that without the basic education she could not do much. But there was the continuous pressure from the father, who has become demanding to the daughter as the daughter had become the sole bread fetcher of the family.
Not long when Mr. Godlove, his family and Rita had to travel to the village after three months of stay of Rita in Yaounde, where Rita went to visit her parent. When their return period was near Mr. Godlove made a visit to Rita’s family to have serious talks with the parents but was only told that Rita has gone to Bamenda for a job, and that education was not meant for her. She will not go and spend her time in the classroom while her younger ones are there dying of hunger.
We still recall when Rita (at the age of about 18) contacted us she was ready to even take a room on her own while looking for a job. She was ready to take any job so far as she will have money to help her family back home.
Mainsah Gilbert
237 744 621 40
magishavision@yahoo.fr
norsrcommunity@yahoo.com
NORSR, Nkomkana, yaounde
Cameroon
Her decision to move to the city started when her father lost his business and could not continue to support her continue her education.
Rita is the first daughter of a family based in Douala after having travelled to seek for a job, born in 1989 when the father was a labourer in a carpentry workshop earning about €50 (27000FCFA) per month.
When the father lost his job in 1996, he had to move back to the village with the children already four in number at this time. In the village it was very difficult for him to adapt to the living conditions, where he tried all the odd jobs he could think of. He finally started a business in drugs (marijuana) which was flourishing very well. He started educating his children very well. But as always is the case knowing that he was doing a fraudulent business that could not last for long and with the drug money which is always sweat and easy to squander, he become even more poorer than as he was before when the police discovered his business and were behind him.
This time Rita has passed from form three to four (2004), despite the fact that she was attaining the Government secondary school where the father could not spend more than €60 (30000FCFA) a year on her, it was impossible for her to continue her education.
At the age of 15 she was given out to one supermarket owner where she worked endlessly. Her salary was given directly to her father. She will work in the supermarket carrying heavy cartons, serving customers, keeping the large and busy supermarket clean before returning to start the domestic works at her patron him. She will work till late in the night to get up very early the next morning and prepare the morning breakfast.
Despite all these and with her salary given directly to her father, the father was still demanding more from her. At one time a foreigner visiting saw this bright small girl working in the supermarket and was so suck that he made an enquiring about her. This foreigner handed €100 (500 000FCFA) to Rita to continue her education that she was still too young to abandon school and to do such laborious work. When Rita handed this money to her father she could not say a word as of date on how the money has been used.
With the continuous demands from her father Rita started implementing herself in fraudulent acts in the supermarket. At one time when she was caught by her patron in one of those fraudulent acts Rita almost committed suicide. Following this unbearable situation the patron of the supermarket terminated her contract.
Rita who was already the bread basket of the family with instructions from her father had to search for another source of revenue as fast as possible to let her younger ones continue their education and to sustain her parents. Rita had to no choice rather to move to the city of Yaounde.
In Yaounde Rita made contacts with one of the members of NORSR. She revealed her story and how she has arrived Yaounde, where she was staying with friends who were ready to send her out at any time. Through some research and findings NORSR was able to identify some of her relatives. Mr. Godlove working with a renounced institution and a relative was able to help Rita. He took Rita to stay with him enrolled her in an evening school, gave her all the privileges one could give to his own daughter. Rita was ready to stay with him and continue her education as she was now aware that without the basic education she could not do much. But there was the continuous pressure from the father, who has become demanding to the daughter as the daughter had become the sole bread fetcher of the family.
Not long when Mr. Godlove, his family and Rita had to travel to the village after three months of stay of Rita in Yaounde, where Rita went to visit her parent. When their return period was near Mr. Godlove made a visit to Rita’s family to have serious talks with the parents but was only told that Rita has gone to Bamenda for a job, and that education was not meant for her. She will not go and spend her time in the classroom while her younger ones are there dying of hunger.
We still recall when Rita (at the age of about 18) contacted us she was ready to even take a room on her own while looking for a job. She was ready to take any job so far as she will have money to help her family back home.
Mainsah Gilbert
237 744 621 40
magishavision@yahoo.fr
norsrcommunity@yahoo.com
NORSR, Nkomkana, yaounde
Cameroon
Monday, October 25, 2010
YOUTH MIGRATION
It has always been our wish to bring out a report that will raise awareness about the need to develop responses that protect the right of the youths regardless their place of origin, their sex, their age, their ethnic background, their working conditions or their civil rights in general. In our researches we have been exploring the situations of some of the youths in the cities with the case study the town of Yaounde.
There are thousands of youths entering the capital city, Yaounde everyday; self migration, taken to the city for jobs, to continue their education, and the list may continue. The advancement in technology and especially the telephone, faster and cheap transport, and the continuous development centred in the cities have made it easy for youths to migrate to the cities. The notion of better jobs and living conditions in the cities are pushing more youths to migrate to the cities.
There are many who leave their communities with little or no belongings, without a precise destination but with only the great idea of their youthfulness. And because of their age, and the educational background they are open to high risk societies and groups. Many of these youths lack the working skills or professional skills that may help them integrate easily to the new environment. This makes them vulnerable, where they may be given odd jobs which they accept because they do not have any choice. Many especially the girls end up in the nets of prostitution, or domestic works which are semi-slavery. It is the need and pride of each household to have a domestic servant of the Anglophone origin. The moving of these youths reduces the work force in most of their communities.
The dream of moving to the cities may vary among the youths. In most of the cases there is the idea of jealousy, especially among the girls. For instance, Rita1 from an average family living in the village will certainly be jealous of Geraldine2 from a minimum family who is in the city and regularly sending gifts to her parents. In this case Rita will make everything possible also to travel to the city so as to help her parents, where she will not take into consideration what might be the source of her income.
There is also the case of one after succeeding in the city will like to bring the others. This is the normal phenomenon among the boys. James1, a motorcycle rider, after some progress in the city will call his village friends to join him.
Many other reasons maybe highlighted for youths moving to the cities: in search for jobs, escaping conflicts, after having lost or been separated from their parents, in search of a better education, to be reunited with family members, or for marriage (arranged or forced marriages). There are parents who support their children to move to the cities to escape poverty, conflict and marriages without taking into consideration what they will be doing in the cities and with no precise destination.
There are also the individual aspirations, cultural mindset, and the quality of life that influence youths to move to the cities. There is the belief among the youths in most of the communities that travelling to the city is a rite of passage. Among the girls travelling to the city and doing a domestic work is like a custom and a way of acquiring some skills, where among them it is a way of preparing themselves for marriage life apart from the knowledge gained in their families or in their communities.
While some of the youths know the risk of travelling to the cities and take the necessary precautions others do not and end up disheartened with unsympathetic living and working conditions.
There are the types of work that favour youth migration to the cities. Young men are preferred in physical jobs like construction sites and security services. Well educated young men especially those who are highly skilled in the information and communications technologies and scientific research are recruited by multinationals. Young women mainly come to the cities for domestic works, where if there is the lack of the basic domestic work skills they end up in sexual abuse and violence, which usually leads them to prostitution.
Youths in the past were found only among family members where they serve in domestic works, learning of a profession, or following their education. But now there are the numerous youths with some as young as 12 moving to the cities in search of jobs and better living conditions.
The absence or lack of data on youths moving to the cities is a major obstacle to community development and especially when dealing with policies and responses for youth empowerment and integration in the development process.
In the 2005 there was the high rate of girls from the North West Region coming to Yaounde precisely as prostitutes. There was the high number of brothels that were growing up in some of the quarters, like Carriere, Mini Ferme, Hôtel de Ville, and Central Town. It was becoming a normal phenomenon for men, be it marriage men or youths to visit these Brothels (Circuit) at will and at any time of the day. The case was alarming in the Carriere neighbourhoods.
We, some of the youths, to remedy the situation instead of calling these places Circuits started calling it GRAVE YARD (SAIY) so as to discourage men from visiting such localities despite the alarming rate of HIV/AIDS. To most of the girls (whose ages range from 15 to 25) the GRAVE YARD referred to environments where men come and buried their money and not themselves.
With the alarming situation we, NORSR, among the many suggestions decided on media communication as a means to educate the population. We started with pictures and later with video documentations.
In 2006, working with young men and women selected randomly from the society started a video documentary (film) where we envisage the education of the population on the ills of migrating to the cities; the emotions, love, action, patience, and the sympathy revealing a true story of the day to day experiences.
This film made a great impact on the lives of many young men and women in the cities especially those who had the brothels as their meeting points. We could not count the number of girls especially the Anglophones that abandon these brothels, get marriage, and get into lucrative businesses in town. The number of men recognises the rate at which HIV/AIDS was really taking some of them away and hard to abandon visiting these GRAVEYARDS to take care of their families.
Today we are acknowledging the mass movements of young men and women to the cities where they have little or no working skills. Integrating these youths into the job market is one of the many issues that need to be taken into consideration. Movement of these youths cannot be stopped but needs some elements of good behaviour and professional skills as long as there is demand for labour from cities of destinations.
Today the ICTs are believed to be the cornerstone in community development and members’ participation. Through this, NORSR is raising the problem: Is there a relationship between the use of Internet, computer technologies and community participation? NORSR seek to raise the many practical ideas that seek to help youths and women in developing their ICTs skills and also participating in their community development, where community participation helps to put these youths at the centre of learning, enabling them to know the importance of community participation especially as it is directly linked to their performance and community development. And to do this there is the need for NORSR to make some research on youths moving to the cities, study their situations, and propose long lasting solutions. Here we believe and maybe convinced that with the use of the best communication tools: internet (elearning, websites), video production, projection of such videos in the local communities will help very much in the applied learning skills of these youths and their abilities to participate in their communities. Participating in their communities will be giving the feelings of remaining in their communities as we shall be looping for ideas and suggestions of projects that they can implement in their communities.
Mainsah Gilbert
Technical Director
NORSR
2377446 21 40
Nkomkana, Yaounde
Cameroon
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