Penn Solange a war displaced mother of three children receives aid from UIVPIC
My names are Penn Solange I am 27 years old, I am married to James we are from Bafut a village in the North West Region of Cameroon, which is about 65 km from the regional head quarter Bamenda. We have seven children five of which are my biological children. My husband was a taxi driver. One faithful morning my family and I left for the farm and there was an open confrontation between the military and the boys. We ran from the farm to our house only to fine out that the house we left in the morning and the taxi of my husband was burned to ashes. With fear, and the rate at which young men where been killed, my husband ran to the bush while I and the children took off for Bamenda.
We trekked until the children started scrolling on the ground with their stomach, I could not take it again with my pregnancy I was completely exhausted. Then we met a boy who felt petty for us and gave us his room. For us to sleep. We were sleeping on the floor eight of us that is my seven children and I. I had two thousand frs with me that I used it to get plantain and plume to roost and sell. The fact that I was sleeping on the ground and then roosting plantain under difficult condition, I developed complications and went to the Regional hospital for help and they checked my pregnancy and asked me to get money for echography.
I didn’t have money to feed talk less of the want for echography. So, I did not do the echography. When I was due for delivery, I went to the hospital and was operated upon and my baby came out with mal formation. I stayed in the hospital for long as I did not have money to pay for my hospital bill. One blessed morning the Doctor came and asked me to go home. Now with the new born baby I could no longer sleep on the bare floor. My husband struggle and came up to Bamenda with some little money that we rented a two bad room and bought a small matrass to sleep on it with the new born baby.
My husband then went in to craft and started fixing chairs with bamboo. We were now able to feed but as days goes by, the baby’s health became worse and all the little money that we had went on her health. We could no longer pay our rent or even feed our children. I met a staff of UIVPIC at the women empowerment center and she invited me for a meeting of internally displaced persons in the organization.
After that meeting I was helped with the sum of 75,000frs that I still used it to take my baby Angel to the hospital. The rest of the money I used it for house hold need. I am back where I stared surviving with the little that my husband is able to make from his craft.
Please as you can see, we still need help for the family and for the Angel’s health.
