The Untold Stories of the Anglophone Crisis

It is August 2015, I am that excited young girl, very proud looking at my GCE Advance level results slip into my hands ready for the University. The joy continues as I have been admitted into the University. “Oh God, I am finished”! I exclaim with despair as it is already December 2016, one month at home with no hope of school resumption anytime soon.

“Mom, Dad, I’ll be going back to Bambili come January, some of my friends are trying to go to school,” I say to my parents. With so much anger my father scolds me, “You want us to lose you, you are too intelligent to die, whenever the crisis ends, you will go to school” I watch my mom who always supports me join my father to agree on this.

 “Henceforth no child goes to school in this house,” they say to all of us the children. As days go by, I see my hope of being the graduate I so much Desire fading away as students are being killed daily across the two English-speaking regions. I watch days turn to weeks, months, and of course years.

Finally, I decide to stay home, learn a skill, and take care of myself, not satisfied with this kind of life, I go back to my hopes to have my degree and of course, a Masters’s degree when the crisis ends or whenever I have the chance to. God being so good, in 2020, one evening, my phone rings, it is my elder sister, reluctantly I answer. “Hello Chan” with all excitement while I on the other end wonders what the excitement is about, she continues, “You have always been the most intelligent and the best, congratulations Baby you shall go places, you have passed NAHPI “, this is a glimmer of hope I feel proud and happy but scared because of all the kidnappings I hear in the university area.

I have stayed home for too long, my friends and mates in other regions are already working while I’m here still a student who doesn’t even know what tomorrow holds for me. I, together with other students sleep with an eye open daily while in school.  My right to education was violated for 4 good years, others are out there who are still not able to go to school.

If we continue in this situation, what will become of our youths in the near future?

Who will be the leaders of the tomorrow we are hoping for?

The streets will be filled with more illiterates and clandestine youth. Therefore, I so much rely on every stakeholder to take action to bring an end to this crisis!

I am Lineh Chantal, a peace advocate.