CEO/ promoter Down syndrome Association Cameroon

Sometimes our calling finds us long before we have the words to describe it.

I was only sixteen when compassion stopped being an idea and became a way of life.

It was in our small Besonabang village, in the Mamfe area of Manyu Division, South West Cameroon, I met this little girl who changed me forever, Ma Nyongho, as we called her was only about two or three years old, born with Down syndrome, and she was my beautiful little neighbour.

I can vividly remember the atmosphere around her, the air was often filled with cruel words and myths.

People called her funny names and whispered terrible things due to her condition; even some of her own family repeated them: words like “She turns into a snake when no one is watching…

she eats all the food from the pot… when everyone is absent...

her parents will be poor if she lives… they will never have more children while she’s alive.”

Oh God, those words cut through me like sharp stones.

But when I looked at Ma Nyongho, I didn’t see a curse. I saw a child; I saw a light, lovely, warm, and full of life; whose only desire was for someone to hold her and love her. She reached for arms, not judgement. She offered smiles, not harm.

Is at that moment, standing there as a 16-year-old, I realised how powerful kindness can be. It taught me that every human being, regardless of condition or circumstance, deserves dignity, compassion and a place in our hearts. Ma Nyongho awakened in me a lifelong commitment to speak for and serve those whose voices are often silenced.