2022 International Women’s Day: Repentant Female Separatist Fighters Fete With Sports

By Timfuchi Aaron

As part of activities to celebrate International women’s day, Women of the Bamenda Disarmament Demobilization and Reintegration center, DDR, have taken part in a handball match against Salvation women of the Full Gospel church.


The game which ended in a 19 to 15 victory for the DDR women forms part of moves being made by the government of Cameroon to ensure that the ex separatist fighters are ready for social integration.

Over 200 ex-separatist fighters stay at the Bamenda DDR center and 55 of them are women.

Kum Henry Echu, coordinator of the center talking to the radio service of the national broadcaster says most of them need psycho-social assistance and activities like the handball game are therapeutic.

“The DDR children are not what the public thought they were. They are very psychologically and socially comfortable”, Kum Henry noted.

He also revealed that The ladies of the Bamenda DDR center are being trained in income-generating activities like tailoring, hairdressing, agriculture, and livestock production to serve as a means of sustainability.

On women’s day, the women of the Bamenda DDR center will organize a cultural evening where they will carry out some activities like dancing and choral singing to celebrate.