(BFI) – The situation in the North-West and South-West (NoSo) Cameroon continues to cause concern. Indeed, the country office of the American NGO Search for Common Ground is organizing from May 6 to 8, 2024 in Douala, a training and capacity-building workshop for women victims of trauma and violence in the two regions of the country with the aim of aimed at equipping them with first aid and victim care.
Nearly 25 associations from the NoSo regions have been receiving training in Douala for several days on the first steps to take during an attack against women and children. Under the supervision of the regional delegation of the Littoral Ministry for the Promotion of Women and the Family, this workshop led by Tatiana Lobè, country representative for the American NGO Search for Common Ground, focuses on healing trauma by a women-led organization.
For Ms. Gisèle Ekoh, ministry for the Promotion of Women and the Family Regional Delegate for the Littoral, it is “about reassuring the women responsible for associations fighting against trauma and violence in the North-West and South-West regions of what they must be aware of that they are safe and that the government, which supports their initiatives, takes all possible measures to guarantee them security at all levels.”
Trauma is defined as a set of mental disorders that can be attributed to a harmful physical or psychological action and among the causes of trauma are acts of violence directed against others or against oneself. In Cameroon and particularly in the NoSo regions, these cases are commonplace. And the country office of the NGO Search for Common Ground intends to « equip the women of NoSo who live in permanently crisis zones in order to give them the basics of gender-based management but above all giving them practical tools for first aid to women in distress linked to community conflicts » indicates Tatiana Lobe and continues »our expectations come from the fact that women assimilate the concepts of gender-based violence in the aim of providing help to female victims who will come closer to them but above all that they are able to each go to their respective area to provide this training. The goal is to reduce this gender-based violence and relieve the victims.”
“This is a good initiative from Search for Common Ground which will help us improve the way we manage crises in our association. I hope to have the knowledge from this training to enable me to help the disabled women of Bamenda that I represent here. To help them with the trauma they are victims of Learn to give first aid which we were unable to master in the public service. My expectation is to understand what I can really do in terms of my work in Bamenda in order to improve the living conditions of women with disabilities,” explains Veronica Ngum Ndi, head of the Community Association for vulnerable Persons (CAVP) based in Bamenda.
This 4-day workshop aims to give participants the opportunity to respond to the skills they have learned, apply them to their lives and personal experiences, and normalize trauma and traumatic reactions. Concerning the consequences, it will be a question of exploring the effects of the trauma on the individual, the family and the community. For recovery and meditation exercises, the organizers planned to provide the women responsible for the associations present with tools to help manage emotions, strengthen the mind and body, and initiate reflections on confidence in itself, and increase public awareness. Among other topics of reflection, Ms. Tatiana Lobe worked to give participants basic knowledge on the management of vulnerable people, especially infected people and the elderly. At the end of this workshop, practical sessions on the management of first aid in the event of a fire, to strengthen their capacities in terms of fire management and evacuation are offered to allow us to see if the participants have assimilated the modules of training.
Search for Common Ground (SFCG) is a nonprofit organization with offices in 36 countries whose mission is to transform the way the world deals with conflict, away from confrontational approaches and toward cooperative solutions.
