Eveline

Women with disabilities in Cameroon face all sorts of difficulties, and there are a lot of misconceptions about them. I believe women with disabilities should be in leadership roles, in order to bring to attention their different challenges that are unknown to many. Their presence and contribution promotes inclusive development.

My proudest moment is when I fought for a leadership position with a man and won. In fact, men have been dictating their will on women and deciding who should lead at home and even abroad. Thanks to leadership training programmes that I had attended, I refused a decision from the national association for the blind in Cameroon to remove me as an elected leader of the women’s wing of this association before the end of my mandate. They wanted to nominate another leader because I disagreed with policies that were not good for women.

This decision was meant to frustrate my ambition to stand for the position of chair of the women’s committee to the African Union of the Blind. I stood my ground for several days and the constitution was read over and over, and at last it was established I could run for the position – which I did, and finally won after all odds!

It was a big victory for women back at home who finally realised that they can question decisions made for them and since, it has been a veritable movement.