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Transcript/ScriptCAMEROON CONFLICT TRAUMA (TV/R)
HEADLINE: Trauma Healing Center Helps Survivors of Cameroon's Separatist Conflict
TEASER: Center sponsored by Swiss NGO Mission 21 conducts 120 counseling sessions a month, but demand is three times that
PUBLISHED AT: 7/31/23, 1:02p
BYLINE: Anne Nzouankeu
NARRATOR: Moki Edwin Kindzeka
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE: Bafoussam, Cameroon
VIDEOGRAPHER: Anne Nzouankeu
VIDEO EDITOR:
ASSIGNING EDITOR: Daniel Schearf, Reifenrath
SCRIPT EDITORS: DLJ, Reifenrath
VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV _X_ RADIO __
TRT: 3:23
VID APPROVED BY: Reifenrath
TYPE: TVPKG
EDITOR NOTES:))
((INTRO)) Cameroon's separatist conflict, now in its sixth year, has left thousands of people dead while an estimated 2 million survivors struggle with emotional wounds. In Bafoussam, the capital of Cameroon's West Region, a trauma healing center is overwhelmed with requests for help. Anne Nzouankeu has the story, narrated by Moki Edwin Kindzeka.
((NARRATOR))
Every other week, Aminatou Moussa goes to a speech therapy session organized by the Mission 21 Trauma Healing and Resilience Center. She’s in her third session and still can't talk without crying.
In 2018, Moussa and her husband fled the conflict between government forces and separatist militant groups in western Cameroon, heading for Nigeria.
But along the way, she says, her husband fell ill and died.
Moussa says that for nearly a year, she has not been able to sleep.
((Aminatou Moussa, Internally Displaced Person, ((Female, Pidjin « local English », 15 secs))
“Most of the time, when I come to the Center, I feel better. When I come to a meeting like this and I go back, I will sleep a bit. After a while, the sleep will just disappear again.”
[[Radio track: She says that most of the time she feels better when she comes to the Center. When she comes to a meeting like this and goes home, she can sleep a bit. But after a while, the ability to sleep will disappear again.]]
((NARRATOR))
The healing process begins with therapy in groups of up to 20 people. After that, therapists hold individual sessions with patients. Mission 21, a Swiss nongovernmental organization, also organizes home visits.
((NARRATOR))
The center offers material assistance, but therapist Esther Mukong says that kind of aid is of limited help.
((Esther Mukong, Therapist, (Female, English, 19 secs)))
“If you give me a business when I’m hurting, I will not do anything with that business. So when you heal me first and I’m fine, and I’m relaxed, I can now be able to do something.”
((NARRATOR))
When Vanessa Ngang was 20, the crisis began, and her husband was killed by the separatists.
((NARRATOR))
She spent five years battling illness and unemployment. After three months of treatment, she was able to start a new life in her sewing workshop.
((Vanessa Ngang, Internally Displaced Person (Female, Pidjin “local English, 20 secs))
“I feel good. I learned a new skill and graduated. They opened my sewing shop. I thank Mission 21 for this initiative to care for people. From time to time, I still have memories of the past, but I am fine.”
[[For Radio: She says she feels good. She learned a new skill and graduated. Mission 21 opened her sewing shop, and she thanks the NGO for its initiative to care for people. She still has bad memories but is fine.]]
((NARRATOR))
Country Coordinator Togho Lumumba Mukong says Mission 21 conducts about 120 counseling sessions per month, but demand is three times as high.
He says the NGO wants to not only add specialists to its office, but also find a sustainable solution for each family.
((Togho Lumumba Mukong, Mission 21 Country Coordinator)) Male, English, 20 sec))
“We think that, we, as Mission 21, we cannot do anything without the others. So, we need local NGOs, we need even the willingness of the IDPs to work with us and then we put a hand together then we can all come out of this trauma which is ongoing.”
((NARRATOR))
According to the U.N., Cameroon's separatist conflict, now in its sixth year, has left thousands of people dead while an estimated 2 million conflict survivors are seeking help to continue their education or find work.
((For Anne Nzouankeu in Bafoussam, Cameroon,
Moki Edwin Kindzeka, VOA News
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