Young teacher, Clement goes blind

His name is Clement and he hails from Achain in fundong Central Subdivision of the North West Region of Cameroon. He was trained as private teacher at ENS and graduated in 2017. He says he never had a school to teach in 2017/2018 school year since their graduation was after schools had started. Clement picked up his first and last teaching job in a private school in Douala, Cameroon’s Littoral Region. “I only taught there for about 4 months.” Since December 24, 2018, Clement started having stomach bites and when the situation persisted and he started feeling weak, he went to the hospital to consult. Clement had been poisoned. He was administered promethazine which destroyed his nerves. Today, the ambitious, young nation builder is blind and renting in Bamenda. He said he thought of going back to the village and wondered how that was going to better his life and also considering that he was the bread winner of the family. Talking to us he said he has gone for about three months without being able to pay his rents and feeding is an ordeal because the crisis makes it difficult for food to be sent to him from the village. Asking about his health condition he said, I quote, “ I am fine…but they told me in the hospital to eat more fruits like carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers and for about two months I haven’t smelled any because things are really hard.”
However, Clement has decided to accept his fate and to live with the situation. “People have eaten poison and are dead, so, being alive; I must accept it and thank God… I have done some lessons in brail and plan to go back to the University in the coming school year with or without money”
Clement counts on people of goodwill to help him live and leave the world someday better than he met it.

Story by Awoh Caleb in Bamenda