PROBLEM STATEMENT
“My parents cannot afford a single meal per day for the family. I cannot starve to death! I prefer to go join the boys fighting. At least they will feed me as one of their fighters”
says John, a 17yr old boy who joined the armed groups
Over 100,000 teenagers are out of school within the Northwest and Southwest Regions of Cameroon. A good number got engaged in the violence, perpetuating brutal killings, burning down of schools, and even more. We can barely count those who are direct victims of the violence and bloodshed.
OUR WHY?
Teenagers in several communities have lost interest in Education. Some have been made to understand that, with the high unemployment rate in our nation, Education truly is even worthless.
Very low standards of living in some communities left teenagers with no other option, but to join other senior youths in taking up arms. At least they will be fed, and have a place to call “family” after having lost their families and friends in the course of the crises.
IS THERE A POSSIBILITY OF RAISING A COMMUNITY OF TEEAGERS, YOUNG ACTIVISTS AND STUDENTS WHO WOULD CHANGE THIS NARRATIVE?
This is why we exist!
MISSION STATEMENT
Founded in 2018, the Teens-4-Teens Community is a community of teenagers, students and young activists, collectively promoting the education, rights and livelihood of their peers, as tools towards combatting youth radicalization, spreading love, healing the scars of those bitterly affected by the crises and building a culture of Peace.
OUR PROJECTS
A) LIGHT UP THE FUTURE
A report published by UNICEF in 2019 proved that at least 855,000 children in the Northwest and Southwest Regions of Cameroon remained out of school due to the Anglophone crises with at least 4000 schools shut down. This project promotes the education of children and adolescents affected by the crises. Through this project, each survivor is linked to a teen mentor, in charge of supervision and follow up. Funds are mobilized within teenagers within the community to support the education of these survivors and address emergency livelihood situations at the level of their homes.
Since 2018 we have supported the education of 321 Teenagers/children across the Northwest and Southwest Regions of the country.
B) TeenJUSTICE
teenJUSTICE is an advocacy project which uses data and statistics to propose policies around the protection of the rights and livelihood of children and adolescents in orphanages and care homes. After carrying out assessments in several orphanages, we were mainly concerned with the fact that, at a certain age, these orphans are sent out of the orphanages in to the world. Without skills for employability or a source of income, thy become vulnerable. This was our inspiration for the second phase of the project which was characterized by a skill acquisition training for 20 orphans in one of the target orphanages. The project was funded by LEAP GIRL AFRICA for an implementation from December 2022 through March 2023. The full project report can be found here https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UlQINaKGA_zcrOSCps3QqApgKXOWDENL/view?usp=drivesdk
C) Peace Advocacy Tours
This involves media and in-person sensitization on the ills of hate speech and youth radicalization. Through this campaigns, we also preach peace and spread love especially to the population directly hit by the devastating effects of the crises. We have successfully reached out to at least 4768 persons in numerous schools and communities around the Northwest and Southwest Regions of Cameroon.
D) Humanitarian Response
An intricate part of our work deals with providing humanitarian relief for victims of the crises, especially for the teenagers we work with and their families. Thanks to the generosity of other teenagers and persons of goodwill, we are able to penentrate the very interior communities, extending a hand of hope to the hopeless. This cuts across basic necessities of life, to psycho-social support and follow-up of victims. We have supported 198 families within the Southwest, Northwest and Western Regions of the country through our Humanitarian response program.
E) TEENS RISEUP!
We are currently trying to raise funds for the implementation of this project. It will be characterized by a weeklong series of engaging activities during summer holidays with teenagers and children in some of the most affected parts of the crises. Fun games, educative sessions on the value of peace and love in our communities, the role even teenagers play in peace building and community development, skill acquisition sessions for empowerment, healing and therapy sessions for some victims. This project is set for September 2023-February 2024.
F) GIVE BACK WEEK
Beign a community of teenagers and students, annually we designate a week inorder to giveback to much older needy adults within the community. This year, we would commemorate GIVE BACK WEEK on the second week of July and this will be in Mile 16, Buea. We will be reaching out to persons living with disabilities, some which came about as a result of the crises.
Spreading love and restoring hope!
WE BELIVE IN THE ROLE YOUTHS HAVE TO PLAY IN TRANSFORMING OUR COMMUNITIES
“I grew up in a small community characterized by violence and other societal ills. The teens-4-teens community is my little contribution to making the world a better place“
Okuke Mary Marvelous Mudi,
Founder of the Teens-4-Teens Community
