Speech Delivered by Outgoing National President of EXSSA-USA, Sara Bame Kum at the Convention Gala in Minnesota on August 1, 2015.
Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen:
With profound gratitude and sheer joy of heart, we, ExSakerettes, welcome you to Bloomington MN to our 14th annual convention. We appreciate your presence, your kindness and your generosity of spirit. Your presence here today, and your support, is the validation and impetus we need to continue our work.
The obstacles that face Cameroonian girls are the challenges that impede the growth of our nation and its sustainable future.
Never before has the future our girls been so at risk, never in our history have we known terrorism, suicide bombs. Never have we seen so many girls traded into bonded slavery and human trafficking, high rate of school drop-outs, or forced early marriages.
Maimouna is 9 years old. She lives in Maroua, in the northern part of Cameroon. She has never set foot into a classroom. Throughout her life, she has been told that she is only good for marriage and child bearing. She does not know how to read or write. She has never seen a cell phone, or a computer. All she has to look forward to is a husband, an older man who has been chosen for her by her parents. She can envision a future with ten children and servitude to her husband. In this future, Maimouna will not know the difference between malaria and typhoid. Her contributions to her community or family growth are limited to decisions made by her husband, who too, is uneducated. Maimouna does not understand risks in pregnancy, yeast infections, ovulation, and family planning. Yet, her husband is gladly taking her home, into his bed and into motherhood. Maimouna will raise the next generation of Cameroonian men and women.
Magadalenjue is 15. She lives in Mamfe. She made it through primary school and dropped out soon after her father’s farm suffered from insect infestation and the family was left begging for food and money from relatives. Hope soon turned into despair, despair to desperation and in an attempt to get some quick cash, Magadelene, will marry a sixty year old business man in two days. For Magdalene’s parents, marrying their daughter to this business man is the only escape from poverty. They do not realize that as the 6th wife, Magdalene’s future is bleak. Her life will be taunted by the other wives who see her as the latest threat. Magdalene, will never see the doors of a classroom again. She too has joined the path to motherhood, with no education. How will she help her children with their homework? How will she ever question a teacher? Magdalene is raising the children of Cameroon’s future.
Enanga is 19. She lives in Ekondo-Titi. Her story isn’t much different. Unlike Magadelene, she completed high school last year and the family’s financial resources ran out. Her father sent Enanga to Uncle Sammy, so he could help with her education. Enaga is paying the price! Uncle Sammy is lecherous. He does not hesitate to feast on her Nubian body. Should Enaga discuss the rape with anyone Her education will come to an end. She is traumatized. She runs away, into the unknown. Her only opportunity for an education has come to an end.
Masoma, Dione, Giselle, and Michelle are recent university graduates who met each other at a local employment agency. They are all excited about the new job opportunity in Belgium and consider themselves very fortunate to have landed a lucrative job picking apples in an orchard in Europe. Their visas airtickets are paid for, and so is lodging. Unknown to these girls, they are dealing with a pimp, who preys on young girls with big dreams. These girls future will be locked behind dark doors for years. These girls are the mothers of tomorrow. An educated breed lost in desperation.
These girls are not strangers to us. They are our sisters, our cousins, our neighbor’s daughter. It is no longer acceptable to be silent and watch the lives of so many girls wasted in shame and agony. These girls are our future, they could contribute so much to our nation.
We, present here today, hold the key to growth, we hold the key that can unlock the doors of opportunities for many of these girls. We are neither too big nor too small to bring change. No resource is too big, or too small.
I was once a girl, with big dreams for myself. Those dreams only came to fruition because someone dared to challenge the status quo and sponsor me through college education. Today I am a woman, raising kids, challenging them to maximize their potential, researching resources that make them better than what I am today. My kids are better because I was educated, my kids will be higher because they know that higher is better, my kids will be assertive, because they know that a woman should have a voice, and that a woman plays a critical role in society. My kids carry themselves with confidence because I am confident in who I am. Because I earned an education, I made critical decisions impacting their lives. They in return will do same for their children, and their community. In so doing grow responsible citizens, grow a society where girls education in every field will be promoted, grow a nation. How many Cameroonian girls today can we say have the same?
Areas of intervention and opportunities to impact change are as small as the eye that spots them. Ethan King, was only 10 years old, when he noticed that kids in Mozambique used plastic wraps as football. Ethan started a cause to bring real soccer balls to kids in Mozambique, by so doing raised awareness to other issues impacting them. Today 75 American corporations have joined Ethan in delivering more than 4 thousand soccer balls to kids in Mozambique.
When WFP gave Molly, a 12 year old girl in the slumps of Kenya, a camera and showed her how to use it,she was very excited and filmed everything and anything she thought was interesting. Little did she know that by filming her world she was giving an opportunity to people in very far countries to see what life is like in the slums of Nairobi. A few days ago her teacher told her that her film had won the first position in the student/mentor category of the WFP program.
These are the small things that bring great change to lives. You, don’t have to be a celebrity to impact change. You just have to want to do more. You know you can.