Displaced Cameroonians step up to new life with sandals

Cameroonians who have been displaced by Boko Haram attacks have been trained to make leather goods in order to generate income. (January 2019)
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
Cameroonians who have been displaced by Boko Haram attacks have been trained to make leather goods in order to generate income. (January 2019)
Aminatou Sali (r) is one of 150 Cameroonians who have been taught to produce leather goods by IDP Goods.

Aminatou Sali (r) is one of 150 Cameroonians who have been taught to make leather sandals who were displaced by attacks by armed insurgents in the north-east of the country. Some people say those men belong to the outlawed Boko Haram group.

 

UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
Cameroonians affected by Boko Haram attacks have been trained to make sandals and other leather goods to provide extra income. (January 2019)

The 30-year old mother of five fled her village two years ago when armed men crossed at nightfall from Nigeria and burnt down her house in Mora. She has not seen her husband since. “After Boko Haram came my life went back to zero,” she told UN News at the workshop in Maroua. “Selling these products is helping me to rebuild my life.”

UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
The NGO, IDP Goods, has trained internally displaced people in Cameroon, who have been affected by Boko Haram, to produce leather goods. (January 2019)

Sandals made by Aminatou Sali and others can sell for up to US$7 in Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon. She and her peers are now looking for overseas markets.

UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
Charlie Wandji set up the NGO, IDP Goods, in Cameroon in 2016 to provide jobs to people who had been displaced by Boko Haram. (January 2019)

The idea to help internally displaced people make a living from artisanal products came from Charlie Wandji who set up the non-profit organization IDP Goods in 2016.

UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
IDP Goods which sells artisanal products manufactured by internally displaced people in Cameroon was set up in 2016. (january 2019)

“We wanted to provide Cameroonians especially displaced people who have been affected by terrorism with the opportunity to earn income,” he told UN News.

UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
Balkisou Buba works for IDP Goods which trains internally displaced people in Cameroon to make artisanal products. (January 2019)

IDP Goods also focuses on efforts to prevent the spread of violent extremism, especially amongst Cameroonian youth and according to the organization’s Balkisou Buba has trained 10,000 young people. 

UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
A cartoon book warns young Cameroonians of the dangers of radicalization. (January 2019)

A training manual in cartoon form warns young people of the dangers of joining extremist organizations and focuses on the benefits of staying in school and getting a job.

UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
35,000 people have fled from Nigeria to Cameroon in the last two weeks of January to escape attacks by Boko Haram extremists. (1 February 2019)

Boko Haram and other armed Islamist groups continue to mount violent assaults and spread terror in the north-east of Nigeria and Cameroon. The United Nations supported a recent influx of 35,000 Nigerians into Cameroon after the city of Rann in Nigeria was attacked by extremists.

UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
Go back