Linda’s revolution

Linda 25 years old and a single mom of one Loves in the north west region of Cameroon and a school drop out due to one or two reasons from her immidiate family

she had her son at an early teenage age through rape. She got raped by three unknown gun men on her way back from the farm with her siblings who were boys and very young so we’re spared

she narrated to me how she struggled in the hands of her perpetrators who held her closedly so much that she couldn’t shout to the hearing of anyone closer to

the area. Her siblings were asked to stand quietly while witnessing what their sister was going through. It was a horrible experience which left her bleeding and so hurting and she couldn’t walk when they were done with her. Her siblings had to rush home and called the attention of the elders at home

they rushed to her and with poor knowledge and distance of medical centres in the area. They took her home and tried to heal her bleeding traditionally which I can’t really tell how it was done and little did they know she was pregnant from the incident. Three months later it was found out that she was pregnant and that was a the saddest moment of her life. What Pains me Is they didn’t try to follow up to see who did the act on her even when she tried to describe one of the guys in the group and one of her uncle knew him , since the uncle owed one of the perpetrators a huge sum of money he didn’t want to engage in that fight for fear they might harm him. It’s sad to hear. Months later she had her baby and lived a mixed feeling life each time she was with the child and remembered the rape incident

one day she decided to go away. To make this happen, she snicker out of the house on an early Sunday morning while everyone was asleep and left her 9 months old baby to the care of her mom who became so worried since she didn’t know the whereabout of her daughter. Linda came to the city and became so stranded and that is what let to her joining the prostitution gang against her wishes. She thought she was living a happy life until she came across Someone who spoke to her about Self care and dignity. I got to learn about her story when a freind of mind introduced her to me for counselling and we became friends and now she has gone back to her village and reconciled with family and has taken her baby and is ready to learn a trade to empower herself. She has abandoned the prostitution job and now focused and there’s a lot of change. And I hope to see her get better in life