By SANDRA LUM
Wilcy-Myrha, a young Cameroonian woman, bears the scars of a harrowing journey marked by violence, loss, and survival.
Born on June 24, 2004, in Kumba, Meme Division of the South West Region of Cameroon, she grew up navigating the increasing tensions in her homeland.
Cameroon’s English-speaking regions plunged into conflict in 2016 after a protest by lawyers and teachers turned violent. An armed movement of separatists claiming independence for the so-called republic of Ambazonia emerged following the government’s crackdown on protesters.
School boycotts have become common in the Cameroonian region as have enforced moratoriums on public life known as “ghost towns”.
At least 6,000 civilians have been killed by both government forces and separatist fighters and thousands displaced since the violence started.
As an Anglophone Cameroonian, Wilcy-Myrha’s life took a tragic turn amidst the ongoing conflict between the separatist fighters of Southern Cameroons and the government forces.
On May 28, 2022, Wilcy-Myrha left Douala, where she had been completing her high school education, and traveled to Kumba to spend time with her parents.
She was accompanied by her father’s driver and another man. As their vehicle approached Muyuka, a town in the troubled South West region, they encountered a terrifying reality—separatist fighters, commonly known as the “Amba Boys.”
“It was a tragic moment for me because of the stories I had heard about them,” she recounted, adding, “I never thought I could ever come face to face with them.”
Without hesitation, the separatists shot both men in the vehicle, killing one instantly and other left still breathing.
As they debated whether to take her (Wilcy-Myra) captive or execute her, the air was suddenly filled with gunfire from a nearby direction.
Government forces were advancing, forcing the separatists to retreat into the bush. Left alone amidst two men shot (one dead and the other still breathing), Wilcy-Myrha was soon caught in the crossfire.
“I felt like it was a dream,” she said. “Everything was happening so fast.”
Two soldiers from the Cameroonian government forces arrived at the scene and, instead of offering protection, subjected her to unimaginable horror.
“They questioned me about what had happened, and before I could finish explaining, they took turns torturing, mistreating, beating, and raping me,” she recounted.
She was forced into degrading acts, violated repeatedly, and physically assaulted until she lost consciousness.
The next thing she remembered was waking up in a hospital in Kumba, where her parents stood beside her bed. A good Samaritan had found her and taken her to the hospital, using her identity card to contact her family.
Wilcy-Myrha spent two weeks in the hospital recovering physically, but the emotional scars ran deeper than any wound.
“After my discharge, I felt like taking my own life,” she admitted.
She struggled with the weight of her trauma, the senseless brutality she had endured, and the reality of a homeland torn apart by war.
Such attacks are recurrent in Cameroon’s English-speaking North West and South West regions, where separatists since 2016 have been engaging government forces in open combat.