WORLD PULSE MADE 1ST MARCH AN UNFORGETTABLE DAY FOR MY ACHIEVEMENTS: A CALL FOR WOMEN'S DAY CELEBRATION

Looking back through the years of my life as a women I see an interesting path filled with Rocky Mountains of challenges and breakdowns turned to a beautiful valley of roses decorated with many achievements and breakthroughs. The challenge that society and my family held years back to force me into marriage and limit my education became a life testimony of an educated woman who got married at the right time. Going through my dream has not been easy especially because I have to constantly fight my way out from the negative perceptions against me coming from family, friends, society and colleagues. This extended to the level that when I was about to go for further studies friends and even family members contacted my spouse and advised him not to dare allow me to go for further education neither at home nor abroad. He was made to understand by these people, who created time to sit with him just to let him know that I am just a woman and it is unnecessary for me to get educated to a higher level. But My spouse told every one of them “she is a woman with a difference I got married to her not just for love sake but for her determination to make impacts and fight battles to get educated even before I met her and I am ready to support her to get the level of education she desires and wherever so long as I have the means.” I knew he meant his words because I went for further education abroad and he supported me to do programs in women’s and men’s groups on Sundays  especially one of my programs which I created on  women and peace at home to counter intimate partner violence. I did it every Sunday even if it is just for 3 hours. My journey of empowering women, protecting women and girls in education and playing a vital role in peace-building gave me transferable skills to work in Cameroon  and abroad as a trainer volunteer in peacebuilding,  gender and development, participate in a lot of trainings in different countries. I made a lot of advocacy about my work on social media and a face book friend saw it and was moved and requested me to join world pulse. I became a member of world pulse in October 2018. To my greatest surprise one of my first articles was awarded in December 2018 and I received $100 US honorarium. This was a surprise to me and I was very excited that my article was published by world pulse. In February 2019 I received another e-mail from world pulse informing me that my featured story has been selected to be excerpted in world pulse final report which will be delivered to policy makers and influencers. On March 1st I received an additional honorarium of $400US from World Pulse team. This date marks an unforgettable day for my achievements. It’s not just about the honorarium but the fact that my story will reach policy makers and influencers is a great achievement that  may trigger positive actions and calls for celebration on my part and other women during this festive period of women’s day celebration. I made it a point of interest to always share my achievements with my family so that they should be the ones to advocate for girls to be sent to school and they are filled with regrets after seeing my impacts.  One thing worth noting is the fact that amongst the 14 of us as siblings no one has used an aircraft to travel abroad except me and I am the last in the family. This shows that if I did not fight for my breakthrough things could have been same with me and I really feel bad for the rest of my sisters and family members who never fought. I have travelled by land,  by air by water in the ship, boat and all types of ferry just because I stepped out of the challenge to do what I am passionate about. When I told my eldest brother that I will be travelling to Italy my first trip out of the country he never believed in me until I went and return. Going to other countries like Hungary, Germany, Austria, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali, Philippines and Sweden has placed a lot of people including friends and family in a very tight corner especially the men in my family who never believed in me as a woman and were in great support for a forceful negotiated early marriage for me which I rejected. One vital thing to you who is reading this article is that unless you don’t want to be a great woman but if you want to be a great woman you will not care about what people or who so ever is talking especially about you as a woman. Stop distracting yourself about what people are saying about you and move forward. If you know where you are going focus on that and what you want to become. Do not let talks around you pull you back as a woman. Especially when you want to do something great that is when the whole world will come out to talk about you, discourage you, criticize and tell you that you are just a woman do not let this kind of things give you negative energy. Belief in yourself and step above the challenge, step above the breakdown just be you and you will find yourself sooner celebrating. It’s about whom you are never focus on where you come from or what people say think or do. The world can never move without these kinds of people but just try to be a woman with self-esteem who can foster positive changes. I am so grateful for world pulse and would like to invite all World Pulsers and World Pulse team especially Carine Milano Head of Story Telling , Kim Crane World Pulse Contract Editor, Maggi Oriah Nock to join me celebrate my great achievement and 2 awards at World Pulse.