Healing the Wounds of War: from the Initiative to the Implementation of "Smiling Again" Project

(Reporters: Yang Baoguang and Li Yuanyuan from China Youth Daily) - On August 13th, the "Future Summit" Youth Roundtable was held in Beijing. Nkemcha Martin Tiku from Cameroon, the founder and national coordinator of Royal Boys and Girls of Ages,and Youth Leader of Basic Knowledge Aqusistion Challenge, shared the effective efforts of the "Smiling Again" project in addressing the trauma caused by internal conflicts and wars during discussions on global governance reform as well as global peace and security.

He introduced to reporter that Cameroon is currently facing a crisis among English-speaking populations. It is understood that historically, Cameroon was divided into two colonies, under British and French rule respectively. After gaining independence in 1961, the English-speaking region, which constitutes about 20% of the population, has long been discriminated against by the Francophone area, with English-speaking Cameroonians even struggling to secure quality job opportunities. In October 2016, teachers and lawyers unions from the English-speaking region initiated peaceful protests over being "neglected" and "marginalized". Subsequently, the situation escalated, with separatists from the English-speaking region engaging in continuous conflicts with government institutions and even declaring independence in October 2017. As a result, over 700,000 people from the English-speaking region were displaced, and more than 1.3 million people found themselves in distress.

To address this, they launched the "Smiling Again" initiative. "People have been displaced due to armed conflict, and now they feel depressed and angry. The purpose of the 'Smiling Again' initiative is to bring back their smiles", he said.

According to Nkemcha Martin Tiku, the "Smiling Again" initiative has two aspects. On one hand, it provides vocational skills and income-generating training for internally displaced youths, followed by providing materials to help them start their own businesses to become self-sufficient. On the other hand, the initiative promotes peace and social cohesion through sports. "Young people today are very passionate about sports. We organize competitions where young people come together. Through these sporting events, we convey values of fair play, peace, and love, guiding them towards peaceful living in their communities."

It is understood that over the past four years, more than 5,000 women have received skill training from this project. Additionally, in the past three years, over 2,000 youths have participated in sporting events organized by the project.