Meet Marthe Wandou, a 58 year old lawyer and activist in Cameroon who has spent decades fighting to protect women and girls against sexual violence, and helping survivors heal trauma and rebuild their lives.
Born and raised in Kaélé, a village in the far north of Cameroon, Marthe witnessed first-hand the brutal reality for women in her region. “There was not a single girl who had not experienced, at least once, gender violence.” Against all odds, Marthe became the first girl in her village to attend university, thanks to a supportive family who valued her education.
Graduating with a law degree, Marthe started her career in the development sector and realised that to improve conditions for women, she needed to tackle deep-rooted cultural practices and stereotypes around girls. In 1998 she founded a model of community-based child protection, in which families, teachers and community leaders are trained to prevent and report violence, and girls are provided education, life skills support and trauma counselling.
In 2013, when Boko Haram began abducting school-aged girls in the region, forcing them into marriage and using them as suicide bombers, Marthe’s mission became critically important. Survivors had been raped, beaten and often left alone to care for children because their husbands had been killed. Through Marthe’s organisation, they received counselling, community support and were taught technical skills like tailoring, carpentry and computer science to help them gain financial independence.
More than 50,000 girls and women have benefited from Marthe’s work and her organisation has helped gradually eradicate the practice of early marriage in Cameroon. With increased awareness, more women are reporting violence and families and traditional community leaders are now engaged to help survivors of sexual violence seek justice and a chance to rebuild their lives.
“We work so that they can heal these traumas and reach autonomy, and resilience. Before, when you were a victim of violence, you didn’t explain it, not even at home. That's the story of my life, I am also part of them.”
