In the shadow of war and Corona
Perhaps some of you who have read our earlier blogposts remember the articles from March 31st and April 1st, 2020. It was about war in times of the corona pandemic. Or rather, it was about the absence of the civil war between the French-speaking and the English-speaking parts of Cameroon, which had been smoldering for many years. Our kantharis from the English speaking part sent us almost euphoric messages: “As the whole world closes its schools, we are thinking of finally opening after many years, because now peace has returned in Cameroon!”
Peace lasted three weeks, and then we got a message from Joshua. He was desperate, but asked us not to do anything, it was too dangerous to act. Now as time has passed by, we can write about the incident because the perpetrators are behind bars.
Joshua is a 2019 kanthari graduate. He is the founder of “Peace Crops”, an organization that wants to free young people, especially war orphans, from the spiral of violence through becoming active in organic farming. He himself grew up in an orphanage after his father was murdered in front of his eyes by a street gang. Joshua experienced hunger in the orphanage and since the youngsters could not help themselves, they took to the streets and demanded their daily bread through violent threats.
But Joshua soon realized that there was a better way moving forward. He focused on growing cereals and vegetables and was able to feed himself and his friends. This gave rise to the idea of a training farm for young people, so they get away from violence and can contribute to a more peaceful tomorrow. His farm initiative went well. Despite Corona’s curfew, he was able to achieve a lot in his village.
But then it happened. On April 13th, in the middle of the Corona Lockdown. Only 5 days before he was to get married and when preparations were in full swing, several armed men attacked his village. His fiancée’s older sister was shot in front of her mother’s eyes and four other villagers, including the mother of a newborn, were kidnapped.
In the following days, ransom demands were made. US $ 800 per person needed to be paid to let the hostages go. Each family found a way to contribute a little and after they begged, finally, all were released. But it did not stop there. Just a few days later, Joshua got a phone call. The caller identified himself as the leader of a separatist group and made it clear that he knew everything about Joshua’s initiative. If he did not show himself cooperative and donated money to the separatist group, they would find and shoot him. At first Joshua thought of escaping. But then he got angry. He had enough. “Come and get me! I’m sleeping at my door, I’m armed and ready for anything.” In fact, from that day onward he slept outside his front door, machete in hand, waitin….
We were very worried, Paul was in daily touch with Joshua through Whatsapp.
Joshua had made a decision, a decision to stop being scared. “I’ve already lost so many family members. Let them come and try!” The killers didn’t come, maybe Joshua’s determination and reaction had impressed them.
Luckily, the police were able to trace the caller’s number and arrests were made soon after.
“They were young guys,” said Joshua. “they wanted to use the guise of the separatists, but they were ordinary young criminals.”
When we asked him what he was going to do next, he thought for a moment: “Putting my project on hold is not an option. I promised my people in the region to do something about crime and hunger. And after all this, I am even more convinced that we are desperately needed! ”
More information about Joshua’s work can be found at: http://www.peacecrops.org/