The girl who requested anonymity said she tried to commit suicide on several occasions until she met a nongovernmental organisation which helped her regain self-confidence. By narrating her story, the victim says she intends to encourage rape victims to know that they were not the only persons affected.

At 13, her uncle was the first who forcefully had sex with her. She couldn’t open up about it and suffered with the pains, until she decided to inform a priest. The priest rather added the wound by raping her too. She explains that it was hard for her to go through the pains, until she found solace in cigarettes and drugs. In school, she was raped by her teacher.

She was lucky to come across Voice of Hope(VOH), the nongovernmental organisation who gave her money and offered her psychological support. Rosaline Fonkwa , head of the organisation says they want to help the victim publish her story in a book to help rape victims. The victim is also expected to help young persons in schools, sensitising them based on her experience.

It is uncommon for rape victims to open up in Cameroon, as most often the society look for excuses to blame the victim for luring her rapists especially when she is a teen. Some rape cases go unreported while others go unpunished.

Between 1970 and 2008, the German Technical Cooperation during a campaign to stop rape in Cameroon, revealed that at least 400,000 women had been raped. Cameroon Health and Demographic Survey, DHS also revealed that 21% of women in Cameroon are forced to have sex.