MARILYN EDOH OFEH

Marilyn holds a Master’s degree in Public economics, and currently a PhD student in the same field at the University of Dschang, Cameroon. After obtaining her Master’s degree, her passion for research pushed her to join the Association for Promoting Women in Research and Development in Africa (ASPROWORDA) as an intern, after which she was promoted to the position of Research Assistant in the organisation. Marilyn hopes to continue in the field of research and build a career in Academia and the private, where she can practically contribute in societal welfare, women and youth empowerment.

“Failure Is not Failure But an Experience with A Lesson”

Q: Tell us a few things about you! Your background, your childhood and early beginnings! 

I was born in Cameroon, a country in Africa. I have lived and grown in Cameroon for my 26 years of being on Earth. I am from the English-speaking part of Cameroon (Northwest) and born into a family, with father and mother all from Cameroon.

I started school at an early age and focused my education from high school with main specialty being Economics. I have always loved writing (poems, stories) from a young age and in my early university days, I started being attracted to gender issues. Adolescent girls’ concerns and struggles, which pushed me to undertake an internship in a women-centred organisation in 2021 after which I served in the organisation as a research assistant in gender studies for a few months.

Q: What are some of the key challenges in your society currently?

Some of the challenges include; civil unrest and wars, heightened insecurity, disturbing health issues, gender struggles for survival in crisis infested zones, network problems, severe unemployment, and continuous price increases.

Q: Share with us some of the hurdles that you had to overcome in your life so far? How did you handle them? 

-Working in a crisis infested zone has been and is still one of the hurdles I face. Most often I disguise myself when going to work as a means of handling the situation and grooming my mindset to be strong. Equally, putting faith in God and relying on Him for protection has been most important. 

-Working, schooling and being married at the same time has not been an easy situation. However, arranging my schedule and being time conscious has helped me cope with the responsibilities both at work, at home and in facing my studies now.

Why is the role of a mentor important for you? 

The role of a mentor in gender-related aspects is very important for me because it helps give me orientation and direction on how to really insert myself and grow in the sphere of gender advocacy as I have little experience in it and my knowledge in it is limited.

Q: Do you have a lesson that life has taught you and you would like to share? 

When I graduated with a Master’s degree, I faced difficulty in getting onto the PhD programme, which weakened me a lot. I missed that academic year, which to me, I considered a failure. I was greatly disturbed. However, I learnt from that experience that failure is not failure but an experience with a lesson. In that year when I missed school, I gained work experience by working with a gender association and went to school the next year.

Q: Name a project, a foundation or a person in your country that you think is doing great work in helping improve other people's lives! 

-Nascent solutions

-COMAGEND (Common Action for Gender Development)

Q: What are some of the challenges that women in your country face and what efforts are being made towards gender equality?

• Social inclusion especially in the public domain

• Gender-based violence

• Gender suppression (No voice in certain places) 

To curb these issues, more and more organisations are speaking out against it and extending helping hands to help women to start a life and a livelihood. Equally, more women are speaking up against it on social media. They are finding their voices and denouncing it.

Again, the social welfare service is taking up cases on gender-based violence and bringing the defaulters to order.

Q: Share with us a motto you live by. 

Trust in God - Hard work - Discipline

Q: If you had all the money needed to launch the project of your dreams, can you describe what you would do? 

• Establish a training centre for women, to train them on sewing and provide them with setup capital to establish a little business of theirs at the end of the training period. 

• Reach out to struggling single mothers, especially the young, and help them by providing a home where their children can be cared for and nourished while they are at school and equally provide a little start-up capital for those with brilliant and feasible business ideas.