Disability In Times Of Conflict

Seven years today since tranquility gave sit to intense violations in the two Anglophones regions and still no great effort to tackle the issue of providing adequate responsive measures to protect persons with disabilities caught in protracted crisis has been proposed. It is as if some lives are less important than others. It is not a hidden fact to say that the perception of disability in Cameroon has not seen great change till date despite the noise of some movements who run up and down advocating for disability rights they know little about. The nonexistence of research study on disability in the country proves well how disability is viewed in Cameroon.

Marginalization of persons living with disabilities is not something new. This is a problem of ages that is worsening today as the crisis in the two Anglophones regions persist. The persistence of the conflict in the two regions is rendering years of efforts worthless. It is increasingly becoming extremely difficult for persons living with disability in Cameroon to afford taking responsibilities for their basic needs without always depending on receiving charitable gifts (small token) from either relatives, well-wishers, government or some organizations as they can’t have good paid job that will enable them take care of their needs because the criteria for employability eliminates them at very beginning based on their physical or moral conditions. The crisis in the two regions has worsen their already difficult living conditions making things three times harder for them.

Having no escaping means, persons with disabilities were and are still forced to stay and face on a daily basis all types of ill treatments inflicted by either party who use them to their own selfish advantage and are very much exposed to being killed as they are tasked with the responsibility of a spy. This places them on a very low surviving scale considering that society views them very negatively. In 2020 in Benakuma, one of the villages in Cameroon where the conflict has caused more trauma, a youth in his early 20s who was suffering epilepsy was killed by separatists because he refused to be an informant.

For those that have managed to flee the conflict areas, the battle for survival hasn’t ended as they continue to struggle to sustain themselves or to get humanitarian assistance in their host communities which at times do not spare to remind them of their conditions especially those who their families have abandoned. The living conditions of IDPs living with disabilities is deplorable and require quick attention.

THE ROLE OF ORGANIZATION

Again it is important to ask if those who claim to help are genuine in their intentions. In this crisis, it has been observed how persons with disabilities were used instead of being served. It is a pity to report that organs that are supposed to work out things to better the conditions of persons with disabilities are the first to commit more harm on these people they claim to protect. 

The worst in this whole picture is that they fail to hold on to their greed even when it comes to children. They do not hesitate to use the children to their own advantage also. Most at times and this for many years, assistance to persons with disability hardly reaches them. With the crisis, persons with disability are often left and find it difficult to get assistance. Many persons with disabilities have fallen victims when trying to seek assistance. It is the case of a physically challenged young woman Hilda who has gone missing after she left with one man who is said to work with one nonprofit and who assured her he will take her to Douala where she will continue her education.

In cases of crisis those who turn to suffer the most are children and most especially children with disabilities as they have limited chances of surviving in crisis areas because of the absence of medical facilities that are forced to go close. Many children in the two Anglophones regions have suffered a lot from different parties who have been using them for their selfish personal interest. Children have been used and are still being used as spies and in other cases they serve as cover to travelers going in and out of the villages. They are also used by their families as petit traders as they are the ones to go out to buy or to sell. Some children have to walk long distances to carry out this task. Many children have not been able to make it after the long hours of walking. They lost their lives either on the road or after getting back home. Rhoda a 14 years old physically challenge girl was raped in Ambu during one this market days when she join her bothers to go and sell groundnuts at the borders with Nigeria. Investigation could not be made to trace the perpetrators because the conditions weren’t and are still not favorable to follow up the many complaints of children who have been abused in the area.

Education for persons with disabilities in Cameroon is very expensive as it demands a lot of sacrifices. A demand which families can’t always afford. Education for persons with disabilities has taken a huge blow as there is a significant reduction in the percentage of those with disabilities who are in schools today as education doors are yet completely opened. It remains very challenging for children to go miles to attend school and with no protection on bush paths children and adults are not safe. Illiteracy has drastically increased and effort to curb this increase is not enough as not all parties are not in favor of school resumption in the Anglophones regions. Today many children who are forced to stay out of school because of the distance or because they have nobody to help transport them to school are unable to read and write. Many have been lured into marriages and are today abandoned with children they can’t take care of. Children with disabilities have always had challenges getting educated even before the crisis. 1 out of 10 Parents of children with disabilities will accept to send their child to school. They believe that children with disabilities are not productive and can’t achieve nor contribute anything in the family so educating them is wasting resources on what is not productive.

Text by Bache Matilda Owuh, author of three poetry books; Co-founder Grace Charitable And Rehabilitation Organization. She’s passionate about the SDGs, and a disability rights advocate.