By Kesah Princely and Tanjong Moses, Cameroon.
Either to live or be killed, this is the tight situation which innocent Prince Edwin Nsah faced 32 years ago, when he was born in Bum, a rural community in Cameroon’s Northwest region.
Not even his royal blood could make villagers consider him human.
Socio-cultural inclusion of persons with disabilities in Cameroon remains a fantasy.
Edwin’s only crime that he would not live was that he was born blind and many felt he be killed inorder to prevent curse from settling in and impeding community progress.
This is because Edwin is the first ever Prince known to be blind in his native Bum community
Edwin recently revealed in an exclusive interview with DNA that being alive today to tell his story is thanks to the love his dad had for him. His father, king of Saf, a locality in Bum district refused to adhere to advice from other traditional rulers to kill his son.
“my Father was advised to terminate me on the basis that I was a wizard and a curse to the community,” he said.
“infact, my Father became a laughing stock among his colleagues and even villagers because he chose to let me live. This brought him so much pain,” he added sorrowfully.
This was in 1991 when he was born and discovered to have a vision impairment.
Three decades down the line, Edwin admits that not much has changed with regards to recognising disabled people and ensuring their meaningful inclusion and full participation in cultural activities.
In some villages in Cameroon, children with disabilities are immediately tagged names such as “evil spirits, Fools, bad lock, financial drainers” and this usually brings so much shame and trauma on family members.
In the case of Edwin, limited opportunities for blind children like him thirty years ago only exacerbated society’s derogatory and degrading treatment shown him and his family.
A future which all seemed clouded by hopelessness suddenly turned green one morning when Edwin found a new life in formal education for the first time.
“as soon as I got enrolled in school, the hatred and stigma greatly reduced,” he said with relief.
In 1997, the young Prince was referred to a school for the blind in Bafut, a locality about 12 kilometres from the City of Bamenda, capital of the Northwest region of Cameroon, where he learned writing and reading of Braille before being integrated in primary school.
The school for the blind, Sajocah which was founded by the Tertiary Sisters of Saint Francis of the Roman Catholic mission has received and produced many shining intellectuals leading in different walks of life and Prince Edwin is only one testimony.
So eager to fight harmful cultural beliefs towards children with disabilities, the Prince knew this was only possible through hard work at school.
Consequently, he crossed through primary and secondary education, and then took a bald decision to further with Journalism in the University, arming himself to break the barriers to socio-cultural inclusion not only in his Bum district but elsewhere across Cameroon and beyond.
Prince Edwin believes a single hand cannot tie a bundle, and reason why he works in synergy with other leaders of persons with disabilities who are also poised to rewrite the history of disability within local traditions.
Like in most African countries, Cameroon has over 250 clans with different languages and cultural inclinations.
Prince Edwin is convinced his advocacy would heal fruits, if the different cultures embrace and promote disability inclusion.
One of the leaders he works with is Galabe Henry, Prince of the Baligham kingdom, a village in the country’s Northwest region.
Henry, 54 , told DNA that the day he became mobility impaired marked the beginning of his long struggle for a place for persons with disabilities within local culture and traditions.
“I don’t see any place for persons with disabilities within the culture of my village,” he said.
“this is not only the problem of my village because society thinks disability means inability which is a serious insult to our humanity,” he sorrowfully intimated.
Now married with five children, Henry says even his position as a responsible father and Prince is not enough to have a place within the tradition of his village.
He revealed that when his late father ceased to be king, he was not among his brothers who were heir to the throne on grounds that he was a person with mobility impairment.
Kingsley Ambe, a Bamenda based law scholar, intimated to DNA that a solid legal framework is in place to guarantee the meaningful inclusion and full participation of persons with disabilities in cultural activities.
“Saying persons with disabilities should not hold positions means same that they should not exist,” Kingsley said, arguing the 1996 constitution of Cameroon amended in 2008 frowns against discrimination.
Despite passing a law on the protection and the welfare of persons with disabilities two years after amending the constitution, the legal scholar strongly intimates that issues of discrimination against disabled people continue, and often without any penalties.
He said this was because of delays on the text of application in implementing the 2010 law.
However, the country’s prime minister in 2018 passed a decree, issuing a text of application for the said law and it was expected that discrimination and exclusion of persons with disabilities in cultural activities and other inhumane treatment such as labelling disabled children witches and wizards would be on a steady decline.
Article 23 of the said law empowers and recognises persons with disabilities as people with capacity to occupy political and cultural offices.
To complement national legal frameworks, the government of Cameroon through it octogenarian President, Paul Biya, in December 2022 ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD, 16 years after it came into force.
The UNCRPD remains the biggest international legal framework in the 20 first century with over 180 endorsers, including Cameroon.
According to the said convention, persons with disabilities have rights which must be respected in order that they live a fulfilling life.
It calls for the inclusion of persons with disabilities in all sphere of life, including culture.
To Samuel Nyuincho though, persons with disabilities hardly work towards taking their positions within cultural spaces.
“I think persons with disabilities face ignorance and lack the influence within tradition,” he said.
Pa Sam, as the 52 year old visually impaired promoter of tradition is fondly called, is member of the traditional council of Kedjum Keku, another village in the Northwest.
He is equally erstwhile executive member of the Kedjum Keku Cultural and Development association.
Pa Sam feels that his peers still shy away from cultural activities which he says now accommodate them.
This however, does not suggest that the barriers to socio cultural inclusion have been eradicated.
Edwin and Henry are still awaiting the day they would have the opportunity to participate in cultural activities like their nondisabled mates do.
They are conscious that such a change won’t come if they do not fight to expose the ability in disability each time need arises.
Njukang Princeley