Culture as instrument of peace advocacy

Peace advocacy through Culture

“World Pulse has equipped me so much and taught me to be fearless. I will always cherish this! I take advantage of the rich Bafut culture, one of the areas highly affected by the Sociopolitical crisis to involved the youths pass on peace loving advocacy messages during their performances of their beautiful cultural dance in the local dialect which everyone can understand and caring peace loving messages in English language for those who do not understand.’

 I have always loved and cherish my beautiful country Cameroon with a great variety of food, green vegetation, cultural diversity, great educational system, beautiful people and great cultural diversity. I hail from the North west Region, precisely from a village called Bafut. I loved to visit the village and spend time with my father, each time looking forward to traditional festivals where there will be different display of traditional dances sometimes with masquerades in different attires depending on the messages they have to pass on and the different clans they belonged. It is amazing hearing town criers going around at night when it is very quiet to pass on announcements of general interest as many do not have android phones and even if they do network connection is always an issue.

 the past six years has been full of fear as the North and South West Regions of Cameroon have been experiencing serious sociopolitical crisis. Almost everyone has been affected directly or indirectly by this unfortunate situation. Thousands of inhabitants have lost their lives or gone through the sad experience of losing their loved ones through direct gun shoots or stray bullets. My beloved village Bafut has been one of the highly affected area.

 Some inhabitants are internally displaced in an attempt to escape from this highly affected community to less affected areas. For example, I had to bring my father to leave with me for a while as Bafut was being raided almost every night by gun men and they had to escape t the bushes for safety foe several days.

People have lost properties and their sources of livelihood to this war through them being burnt down, looted or abandoned in an attempt to escape for safety. Gender-based violence has escalated especially rape and physical violence with women and girls with disabilities being the most vulnerable as they are financially dependent even on their perpetrators most of the time. School drops out in children as most schools have been closed down due to insecurity especially public schools and most inhabitants can’t afford to pay high school fees in private schools. The result, is increase delinquency in neighborhoods due to idleness.

Generally, youth radicalization in these rural areas have increased.

I have experienced the pain of my two children kidnapped right at my home Infront of me in broad day light, while I cry my eyes out and even pleaded to be taken away in exchanged for them just because they attend school and many more people have gone through this experience.

       Women have been in the frontline crying for peace as they can no longer bear the pains of their husbands, sons, daughters and loved ones being killed in cold blood.

On my part the past two years i have volunteered with the Movement for democracy, development and transparency (MDDT) in carrying out online advocacy for peace.

On the 28th of August 2022 I volunteered as a community mobiliser for MDDT were we carried out cultural dance competition involving four youth dance groups in my village Bafut which is one of the areas that is highly affected by the sociopolitical crises in the North west Region. These groups passed on peace messages using traditional dances (Masqueredes ) and “ Njang” (another form of traditional dance) which where basically young girls dancing and young boys singing. They passed on messages like; Don’t harm your own, Let love lead, Let’s be one another’s keeper, let’s love one another, let’s be each other’s keeper just to name a few. The messages where being song in the local dialect commonly understood by the inhabitants and also written out in English for those who could not understand. The competition ended with cash price award for the first three groups and a participation price for the fourth group. Community and Quarter heads and youth leaders were also present at the activity advocated for peace.

The turnout was massive as cultural activities are loved and valued by almost everyone in the community. Therefore, I am very confident the message went far and wide.

       There has been the absence of peace for so long now and is affecting every human activity. Peace would mean people living normal lives without the traumatic sounds of gun shots and the fear of being caught up in stray bullets.

Peace will also mean people who have lost their source of likely would be supported so they can be financially stable again and be able to take care of themselves.

It would also mean women and girls especially those with disabilities be protected from the different forms of gender-based violence especially by providing them with opportunities that will make them financial independent.

In addition, peace will mean children be able to go school to even in typical rural areas like Bafut without the fear of being kidnapped.

I am strongly of the opinion that its time to seek lasting solutions which will bring an end to this crisis and emergency situation;

On the part of the government., i recommend an inclusive dialogue, with no preconditions. This dialogue should have representatives of all communities affected by this war, Persons with and without disabilities to make it fully inclusive and who can well express their needs. Inclusiveness will also mean making information accessible to all by including sign language interpreters so that persons with hearing impairment can fully participate. There should be no preconditions but rather it should be people centered, meaning all representatives will participate in laying down conditions for holding the dialogue. The security of those to attend must be fully guaranteed. Example holding the dialogue on a neutral ground to be determined by all and involving international observers who are accountable.

In addition, there should be a lot of education, sensitization and awareness raising on the importance of not spreading hate speeches, but rather positive and peace -loving messages. This should start at the level of the homes and then into the community and on social media where more youths can access. Peace clubs should also be created in schools and communities where youths can be empowered to be peace ambassadors especially to their peers as a means of reducing radicalization.

Furthermore, more psychosocial counselors should be trained to cater for the mental needs of those who have experience any form of trauma especially those who have experienced violence in one form or the other and who could seek to avenge the situation. This will also reduce youth radicalization.

Humanitarian actors on the field in these crisis area should be trained on humanitarian principles which must be uphold at all times.

Above all no one has all the solutions to bring the sociopolitical crisis to an end, but I belief that our individual efforts can.

Therefore, I am calling on all of us to take our responsibilities and carry out more positive actions no matter how small and the people’s culture embedded in them that are geared towards bringing the crisis to an end.