NGO protests trafficking of young girls to Asia

Gwain Colbert, freelance journalist and Co-Founder of a Bamenda based NGO, A Common Future, July 9, in female high heels, staged a protest match along the Bamenda Commercial Avenue as part of solidarity with Cameroonian girls trafficked to the Middle East, notably Kuwait and Lebanon.
    The ‘Bring back our Girls from Kuwait’ campaign heightened following a recent investigative report on CRTV’s Cameroon Calling slot where victims of human trafficking revealed frightening testimonies of their adventure to the oil-rich Arab countries.
    The protest march, Gwain says, is part of his current campaign against men’s violence on women. Gwain and sympathizers started the match from City Chemist Roundabout, ‘Liberty Square’ to the Grand-stand at Commercial Avenue. At the grand-stand, he handed a copy of the petition on social media initiated by Timothy Njobe and articulated by a media consultant, Tapang Ivo Tanku, to the government through North West Governor, Lele L’Afrique.
    The 1Km walk in women’s high heel shoes, Gwain said, was meant to drive the adage “that he who wears the shoes knows where it pinches,” referring to the plight of the girls. The protest which is one in a series is intended to bring to public consciousness, the plight of young Cameroonian girls suffering in the diaspora for no fault of theirs, Gwain said.

    The Cameroon Calling report ignited a debate on an issue known to many but hitherto ignored by public authorities and even Cameroonian families who for the most part are poverty stricken and will not take a second thought when an opportunity to leave the country for greener pastures shows up.