Women from the "Le Renouveau" Association after the screening
Esther Nyacke Ntah
Community Manager WWO, French-speaking Africa Zone
For Ms Maxance Onana, it would be a good idea for the World Women's Observatory (WWO) to also campaign for the eradication of violence against children. This suggestion was made on Sunday 28 July 2024, the day on which the Association "Le Renouveau" viewed the WWO documentary "Invisibles". To support her point, Maxance Onana mentioned her own case. She told us that during her early childhood, she had so often seen her mother endure torture at the hands of her in-laws that it ended up traumatising her. The shock was so violent that she decided never to marry, to avoid suffering the same humiliation as her mother. Fortunately, the pain eventually subsided, although she adds: "It took a lot of time and advice from people close to me for me to change my mind". It is these disturbing memories that lead her today to suggest that children from families wracked by violence should also be protected, because "by seeing their mother suffer, children are so traumatised that they end up making decisions that destroy them".
The screening of the film "Invisibles" took place at the home of Ms Philomène Evini, Founding President of the Association "Le Renouveau". Before the film was launched, Mrs Evini asked the Observatory's Community Manager to explain the WWO's missions to its members. Once the ladies of "Le Renouveau" understood that the Observatory's role was to make the cries of African women victims of violence and discrimination heard, their enthusiasm for seeing Lia Beltrami's film grew even more. Ms Evini justified their enthusiasm by saying that the issue of violence against women is very important to them, because it is seen as a social gangrene.
After the screening, almost all the women in the association deplored the fact that the WWO film was not sufficiently realistic, since it did not show any scenes of beatings or verbal aggression against women. However, they congratulated the film's protagonists (Agnès, Noeline, Eya, etc.) for having the courage to tell the world about their miseries. Among film enthusiasts that Sunday were some widowed women. The film 'Invisibles' brought back despicable memories of their widowhood ceremonies, and they immediately expressed the wish that the Observatory should one day look into the ritual of widowhood in Cameroon. They hope that their plea will speed up the process of eradicating shameful practices during widowhood ceremonies.
As we can see, the screening of the film "Invisibles" for the ladies of "Le Renouveau" association raised a number of issues relating to the mistreatment of widows and child abuse. Thanks to Ms Onana, we understood that confining a mother in the presence of her offspring can leave deep scars. This suggests that gender-based violence produces not one victim, but several victims in a family. Hence the legitimacy of the mission of the World Women's Observatory.
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