Life

29, October 2022

CPDM Crime Syndicate: Cholera outbreak kills over 270 ⁰

Cameroon Minister of Public Health, Manaouda Malachie on Thursday said Cholera has spread to eight of Cameroon’s 10 regions including the Center region, killing 272 people since October 2021.

Manaouda told a press briefing in the capital city of Yaounde that as of Oct. 20, 12,952 people were known to have been infected.

Efforts were underway to stop the disease from spreading but people needed to observe basic hygienic rules and go for treatment immediately if they noticed symptoms, the minister stressed.

On Wednesday, health officials in Southwest where the highest number of deaths and cases had been recorded, began vaccinating children in schools against cholera as part of nationwide measures to curb the disease.

Officials blamed poor sanitation and hygiene conditions for the spread of the epidemic.

Cholera is a highly virulent disease characterised in its most severe form by a sudden onset of acute watery diarrhoea that can lead to death by severe dehydration.

Source: Xinhuanet

14, October 2022

Nigeria: Ex-pupils of St Joseph Primary School (RCM Mamfe) Cameroon holds first convention ⁰

Members of the 1985 batch of the Roman Catholic Mission (RCM) Mamfe who pride themselves as being the children of Mrs. Getrude Jingwa, Late Pa Ojong, late Mr Nkeze, Mr Abang Vitalis, Mrs. Bridget Agbaw-Ebai, late Mr Peter Okafor, late Pa Ojongfong, late Teacher Orock Café and the tough disciplinarian the late Arrey Michael who was their headmaster met recently in Enugu, Nigeria as depicted in the picture below. From left to right,

(Police officer)ASP Okereke Roseline Ekemma of the Rivers Police Headquarters in Rivers State, Ayim Christopher Tanye of Enugu state, Kalu Anthonia Chibuzor of Umuahia Abia state, Okoye Cordelia Chinasa Jemeni from Lagos, Prophetess Okafor Eugenia Nkolika Uchendu of Onitsha in Anambra state and Pastor Acholam James Ekpo Eze ( Amoros) of Abakaliki in Ebonyi State.

The Class of 85 Nigeria Chapter used the opportunity to thank their brothers and sisters, those on ground Zero (Cameroon) and those in the Diaspora for making the reunion a remarkable one.

The Great Head Master of RCM Mamfe the late Arrey Michael

Members are also looking forward to other reunions which should result in fundraising efforts for their beloved Alma Mater.

They urged those who are not yet part of the reunion effort to join and to make meaningful contributions towards the development of the group which reminds them of their childhood days in Mamfe.

Members of the group promised to keep in touch and to keep the flame burning.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai (Class of 85)

11, October 2022

Angela Lansbury, star of ‘Murder, She Wrote’, dead at age 96 ⁰

Angela Lansbury, the scene-stealing British actress who kicked up her heels in the Broadway musicals “Mame” and “Gypsy” and solved endless murders as crime novelist Jessica Fletcher in the long-running TV series “Murder, She Wrote”, has died. She was 96.

Lansbury died Tuesday at her home in Los Angeles, according to a statement from her three children. She died five days shy of her 97th birthday.

Lansbury won five Tony Awards for her Broadway performances and a lifetime achievement award. She earned Academy Award nominations as supporting actress for two of her first three films, “Gaslight” (1945) and “The Picture of Dorian Gray” (1946), and was nominated again in 1962 for “The Manchurian Candidate” and her deadly portrayal of a Communist agent and the title character’s mother.

Her mature demeanor prompted producers to cast her much older than her actual age. In 1948, when she was 23, her hair was streaked with gray so she could play a fortyish newspaper publisher with a yen for Spencer Tracy in “State of the Union.”

Her stardom came in middle age when she became the hit of the New York theater, winning Tony Awards for “Mame” (1966), “Dear World” (1969), “Gypsy” (1975) and “Sweeney Todd” (1979).

She was back on Broadway and got another Tony nomination in 2007 in Terrence McNally’s “Deuce,” playing a scrappy, brash former tennis star, reflecting with another ex-star as she watches a modern-day match from the stands. In 2009 she collected her fifth Tony, for best featured actress in a revival of Noel Coward’s “Blithe Spirit” and in 2015 won an Olivier Award in the role.

But Lansbury’s widest fame began in 1984 when she launched “Murder, She Wrote” on CBS. Based loosely on Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple stories, the series centered on Jessica Fletcher, a middle-aged widow and former substitute school teacher living in the seaside village of Cabot Cove, Maine. She had achieved notice as a mystery novelist and amateur sleuth.

The actress found the first series season exhausting.

“I was shocked when I learned that had to work 12-15 hours a day, relentlessly, day in, day out,” she recalled. “I had to lay down the law at one point and say `Look, I can’t do these shows in seven days; it will have to be eight days.‘”

CBS and the production company, Universal Studio, agreed, especially since “Murder, She Wrote” had become a Sunday night hit. Despite the long days — she left her home at Brentwood in West Los Angeles at 6 a.m. and returned after dark — and reams of dialogue to memorize, Lansbury maintained a steady pace. She was pleased that Jessica Fletcher served as an inspiration for older women.

“Women in motion pictures have always had a difficult time being role models for other women,” she observed. “They’ve always been considered glamorous in their jobs.”

In the series’ first season, Jessica wore clothes that were almost frumpy. Then she acquired smartness, Lansbury reasoning that, as a successful woman, Jessica should dress the part.

“Murder, She Wrote” stayed high in the ratings through its 11th year. Then CBS, seeking a younger audience for Sunday night, shifted the series to a less favorable midweek slot. Lansbury protested vigorously to no avail. As expected, the ratings plummeted and the show was canceled. For consolation, CBS contracted for two-hour movies of “Murder, She Wrote” and other specials starring Lansbury.

“Murder, She Wrote” and other television work brought her 18 Emmy nominations but she never won one. She holds the record for the most Golden Globe nominations and wins for best actress in a television drama series and the most Emmy nominations for lead actress in a drama series.

In a 2008 Associated Press interview, Lansbury said she still welcomed the right script but did not want to play “old, decrepit women,” she said. “I want women my age to be represented the way they are, which is vital, productive members of society.”

“I’m astonished at the amount of stuff I managed to pack into the years that I have been in the business. And I’m still here!”

Source: AP

11, October 2022

Yaoundé sees 100% increase in mental health care seekers ⁰

Officials in Cameroon say the number of mental health patients in the country has more than doubled in the past year, as the country deals with a separatist crisis in its western regions and Boko Haram clashes in the north.

Fonbe Hedwick is the director of the Vine Mental Health Center, in Bameda, capital of Cameroon’s volatile Northwest region.

He says his center was chosen for World Mental Health Day activities in Bamenda because the number of psychiatric patients at the center increased from less than 20 in 2021 to over 100 in October 2022.

“We are receiving those who have gone through traumas, and they are sad, many who complain of sleeplessness, some who cannot be able to control themselves, they are so restless, so agitated. Some with severe anger issues. They present emotional and behavioral tendencies which are uncontrollable,” said Fonbe.

Fonbe said many families lack the resources to care for psychiatric patients at home and either abandon the patients at the center or put them on the streets.

Rebecca Nkwate is the highest government official in charge of mental patients in the Northwest region. She says the number of psychiatric patients seeking help in the region has increased from less than 2,500 to over 6,000 within the past year.

“Some of them come here already abused, so we listen to their story to increase their morale and in the course of looking for solutions, it may require that we go for home visits,” said Nkwate. “We help them at the level of the police and we work with those that go to the hospital when it comes to trauma management. We make sure that they enjoy the same human rights like other people.”

Overall, Cameroon says the number of mental patients in the central African state has more than doubled from about 10,000 to 23,000 in the past 12 months.

The government says with the separatist crisis in western regions and Boko Haram terrorism on the northern border decreasing, humanitarian workers are better able to find and assist patients abandoned in villages where fighting was intensive.

Laure Mengueme is the director of mental health at Cameroon’s Ministry of Health. She says many people lost family members in the conflicts or experienced acts of abuse, violence and trauma, triggering mental health crises.

She urges civilians to seek medical help instead of taking psychiatric patients to traditional healers or pastors who claim they have miracle solutions to mental health problems.

She says a majority of the mental patients government workers are assisting to recover their health are nervous, aggressive, irritated and violent. She simply says doctors and therapists should exercise more patience with psychiatric patients when the patients become violent. She says the country counts very much on doctors and therapists to reduce the growing number of mental patients.

The World Health Organization reports that growing social and economic inequalities, protracted conflicts, violence and public health emergencies continue to take a toll on mental health, in Cameroon and worldwide.

The U.N. says a staggering 84 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced in 2021 leading to an increase in the number of people in need of mental health care.

The 2022 World Mental Health Day theme is “Make mental health and well-being for all a global priority.”

Source: VOA

30, September 2022

Southern Cameroons Hospital Workers Say They’re Victims of Both Military and Separatist Brutality ⁰

Separatists in Cameroon have abducted five hospital staffers in the western town of Kumbo. The rebels say they were retaliating after Cameroon’s military entered the hospital and arrested or killed some of their fighters. Hospital workers tell VOA both military troops and rebels abused them.

Cameroon’s Bui Unity Warriors separatists say they abducted five health workers from Banso Baptist Hospital, BBH, Sunday. Bui is an administrative unit in Cameroon’s English speaking Northwest region.

In videos circulating on social media, including WhatsApp and Facebook, the separatists say hospital workers were abducted in retaliation after the military entered the hospital, killing one fighter and arresting three other fighters.

The fighters were hospital patients who had been wounded in battles with the military last week.

In another video circulating online, fighters claiming to be members of the Bui Unity Warriors present a man they say collaborated with government troops, who attacked fighters inside BBH.

The Roman Catholic Church in Cameroon identifies the man as Shiyntum Sergius, a priest at the parish in Vekovi, an English-speaking village in Bui, who had also been abducted.

The Roman Catholic Church in Cameroon, The Cameroon Baptist Convention that owns BBH, and the Presbyterian Church all confirm that troops attacked BBH, killed a fighter and arrested three other fighters. The churches say in retaliation, armed separatists abducted five medical staff members from the hospital and the priest, who is accused of collaborating with the rebels.

Joseph Sahfe is a patient who says other patients are scared that the hospital may stop rendering services to the sick. He spoke via the messaging app WhatsApp from the town of Kumbo, where BBH is located.

“What will become of the patients who depend on this lone institution for survival? To the best of my knowledge, a hospital treats patients without inquiring who you are,” said Sahfe. “It is a neutral ground in the midst of a crisis like the one we are experiencing. Where will the patients go if she [Baptist Hospital] has to close her doors as Doctors Without Borders did?”

In a release Monday, the hospital dismissed rumors that disgruntled staff are planning to stop working. The hospital management said it will continue saving lives despite the challenges.

The military says its troops organized raids on separatist camps in Bui last week and killed at least 7 fighters, including two self-proclaimed generals. The military said troops were searching for wounded fighters hiding in the community but did not comment on if government troops invaded the hospital.

Nick Ngwanyam is a member of the Cameroon medical council, an association of Cameroon medical doctors. Ngwanyam says it is unfortunate that both government troops and rebels are invading hospitals, which are out to save lives and reduce suffering.

“We are pushing those institutions to shut down because hospital staff [workers] feel unsafe working under those conditions and therefore, we are putting the lives of the communities in danger and peril, and we are doing ourselves a lot of harm,” said Ngwanyam. “It doesn’t matter what the reasons are, be it by the military or the boys who are fighting, we are hurting ourselves, we are shooting ourselves in the foot and the government needs to take its responsibility and stop this war [crisis].”

The Banso Baptist Hospital says it receives several hundred patients each day. Most are victims of the separatist crisis in Cameroon’s English-speaking western regions.

Cameroonian authorities have always accused aid groups of helping separatists in the country’s English-speaking western regions, a charge the hospital has strongly denied, saying its mission is only to save lives.

In August 2021, the international aid group Doctors Without Borders, also known by its French acronym MSF, announced that it had withdrawn emergency health care services amid the separatist crisis. The military accused MSF of, among other charges, aiding separatist fighters in the medical aid group’s hospitals.

MSF denied the accusation and said its only goal is to save lives irrespective of whose life it is.

Source: VOA

29, September 2022

Skin whitening products remain popular in Cameroon despite risks ⁰

Wearing a large hat protecting her face from the sun’s rays in Cameroon, 63-year-old Jeanne now bitterly regrets using skin whitening products after being diagnosed with skin cancer.

She is one of many women in Cameroon who use the controversial products that have been banned after social media outrage.

“I am embarrassed when people look at me,” the trader in the capital of Yaounde said, wishing to only use her first name.

After a lesion grew on her face over five months, she went to a doctor who diagnosed her with one of the most common skin cancers.

Doctors told her the cancer is linked to her use of skin lightening products for 40 years.

Jeanne, like millions worldwide, used the products for more “desirable” lighter skin, an ideal pushed by the beauty industry.

According to the Cameroon Dermatology Society (Socaderm), nearly 30 percent of residents in the economic capital Douala and a quarter of schoolgirls used the products in 2019.

For some like 20-year-old student Annette, the effects can be harsh. She said she suffers from red patches on her face, peeling skin and also burns.

“Under a strong sun, my face became hot and I had to stop,” she said.

The products with names like “White now” and “Super white”, are instantly recognisable on shop shelves by the fair-skinned women on the packaging.

Dangerous chemicals

The furore began in the summer after social media users criticised opposition MP Nourane Fotsing over her company that sells the products, angry that an elected official would profit from them.

Many of the products have never been scientifically tested and contain dangerous levels of chemicals that inhibit the production of melanin, a substance produced in the body by exposure to the sun.

One of the chemicals is hydroquinone, banned in the European Union since 2001 because of the risk of cancer and genetic mutations.

Cameroon’s health ministry on August 19 banned the import, production and distribution of cosmetic and personal hygiene products containing dangerous substances such as hydroquinone and mercury.

Hydroquinone is in fact one of the most used in whitening products in Cameroon, according to a 2019 study by Yaounde I University.

‘Public health problem’

“We encounter patients complaining of symptoms linked to skin depigmentation every day,” Alain Patrice Meledie Ndjong, a dermatologist at a hospital in Douala, said.

It is a “public health problem”.

According to the World Health Organization, the products are commonly used in many African, Asian and Caribbean countries by both women and men, and also among dark-skinned populations in Europe and North America.

Other skin whitening products include potions, tablets and even injections.

Some of the substances, when ingested, can cause diabetes, obesity, hypertension or kidney or liver failure, warned Ndjong, adding there was also a psychological impact on individuals like “anxiety and depression”.

Despite the horror stories, men and women believe they will become more beautiful after using the products.

“Beauty standards promoted by media, advertising and marketing reinforce the bias that lighter skin tone is more desirable than darker skin tone.”

Sociologist Achille Pinghane Yonta of Yaounde University offers blunter analysis of why the creams remain popular.

“There is a desire” rooted “in our consciences to want to look like” Western populations, he said.

“It’s a very old practice. It’s even said, in some parts of the country, that a light-skinned woman’s dowry is higher than that of a darker woman.”

But for Pascaline Mbida, she felt the difference.

“I noticed that men were more attracted to women with lighter skin and I had confirmation of this when I whitened my skin, I had never got so much attention,” Mbida said.

Black market

But the cost put off Mbida, who is currently unemployed. She spent 30,000 Central African Francs (45 euros) per month on the products.

The mandatory monthly minimum wage in Cameroon is 36,270 (55 euros).

Since the ban, police have launched raids, much to the chagrin of the sector’s players who claim some seizures don’t distinguish between the products that are banned by the government and those that are not.

The WHO in 2019 said “the skin lightening industry is one of the fastest growing” worldwide and was estimated to be worth $31.2 billion by 2024.

The cosmetic and personal hygiene market grew in Cameroon by seven percent in 2020 and was worth 380 billion CFA (around 580 million euros).

Despite the ban, there is a already a black market for the products.

Source: AFP

28, September 2022

French Cameroun: Lucky Man Who Married 4 Women ⁰

This is a celebrated French Cameroun polygamist that even other polygamists from the Ocean Division in the South Region of La Republique du Cameroun disapprove of his ways.

He hails from the South region just like the renowned Professor Joseph Owona a former Biya regime cabinet minister who lives in three homes right next to one another, with each of his two wives getting their own space.

On Tuesday 27 September 2022 in Lekoundje in Ocean Division in the South Region, this notable got married to four wives and the unconventional family opened the doors for an unprecedented peek inside their wedding ceremony.

Cameroon Concord News understands this French Cameroun Casanova will rotate every night among them so that each wife gets to sleep with him.

By Rita Akana

24, September 2022

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Hospital Administrator, two nurses arrested for treating ‘Amba’ fighters ⁰

The administrator of Banso Baptist Hospital (BBH) Jean Sama and two nurses, Teyeah Relindis (a scrub nurse) and Teba Carine, an advanced practice nursing assistant (APNA) are currently being held by elements of the Cameroon government military deployed to Kumbo for treating people considered as enemies of the state.

A sister publication Cameroon News Agency reported that the three were taken by the Francophone soldiers on September 22nd to an undisclosed location.

They are accused of treating wounded separatist fighters and it is not yet clear whether they are safe and in good physical conditions.

On September 4, separatist fighters who were receiving treatment in the hospital were dragged out of the wards and shot in front of the same hospital:

“Amba says we are working with the military and the military says we are working with Amba. What have we done? This is sad” a source quoted by Cameroon News Agency lamented.

Elsewhere in the report, CAN also revealed that last Saturday, drugs which left BBH for the Ndu Baptist Health Center were seized by soldiers loyal to the Biya regime in Yaoundé.

The BBH is a hospital of the Cameroon Baptist Convention (CBC) which is a church and is a non-partisan, non-political organization that offers medical care to everyone as an expression of Christian love.

Wounded Cameroon army soldiers have also been treated (and continue to be treated) at BBH and all other Baptist health facilities operating in the embattled region:

BBH staffs are planning to go on strike if the hospital administrator and nurses are not released. The repercussions for this could be catastrophic as BBH and its satellite health centers – are the lifeline for people with terminal conditions such as HIV, cancer or diabetes and a strike would affect them seriously.

By Fon Lawrence in Bamenda with files from Cameroon News Agency

21, September 2022

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Children should be able to return to school ⁰

Since 2016, fighting between separatist insurgents and the military has disrupted the education of over 700,000 children in Cameroon’s two Anglophone regions. As the school year starts in September, education in the conflict-affected regions is at risk again. The two sides should strive to protect schools from being attacked and keep classrooms open.

At the start of Cameroon’s academic year on 5 September, schools in the two Anglophone regions kept their doors shut to comply with a general strike (locally known as a “ghost town” operation) imposed by separatist militias combating the government in Yaoundé. The following day, only a handful of schools offered classes, primarily in the relatively safe towns of Buea and Limbe.

School’s out

Some separatist groups have ordered public schools in the Anglophone regions to remain closed until at least 1 October. On that day five years ago, separatists proclaimed the independent Federal Republic of Ambazonia, as they call the North West and South West regions. In response to the boycott, government officials said they considered shuttering so-called community schools, which are run by volunteers in separatist-controlled areas.

Civilians have borne the brunt of the fighting between separatist militias and Cameroon’s security forces. The conflict has killed about 6,000 people, displaced more than 500,000 and severely disrupted access to government services in the Anglophone regions. Attempts by Anglophone peace campaigners and foreign facilitators to resolve the conflict peacefully have stalled. Sadly, as Cameroon’s conflict parties repeatedly use access to education to push their political objectives, children are paying a disproportionately high price. The UN estimates that two of every three schools in the North West and South West have closed indefinitely.

The Anglophone crisis began in 2017 when lawyers and teachers staged peaceful protests aimed at preserving the two regions’ distinct legal and educational systems. At the time, unions and civil society organisations called for a school boycott in order to push for negotiations with the government and demand the release of detained Anglophone activists. A heavy-handed army crackdown on protesters calling for the two regions’ secession from Francophone Cameroon then hardened the resolve of many Anglophones, triggering armed rebellion.

Yet, though popular at first, the school boycott quickly lost support as separatist militias began destroying schools and killing teachers who continued working. Tens of thousands of children were denied the chance to go to school for months on end, sometimes years. By 2018, an estimated 4,000 Anglophone schools had shuttered, eventually depriving over 700,000 children of regular classes for almost four academic years.

Some died in the mayhem, too. In October 2020, suspected separatists stormed a private school in the town of Kumba, slaughtering at least seven children and injuring thirteen others. In 2021, separatists killed four students and a French language teacher in Ekondo Titi.

The lack of access to quality education is worsening the already dire socio-economic crisis plaguing the Anglophone regions. Pressure from Anglophone civil society prompted some separatist groups to formally call off the school boycott in 2020, but attacks on schools continue unabated. Overall, the conflict has severely harmed the education system. Schools that are still operational are often damaged or overcrowded. Teachers have fled, without being replaced. Parents who can afford to do so are now sending their children to schools in the Francophone regions.

Disproportionate struggles

The targeting of schools has had a particularly pernicious impact on girls. Parents who have seen their incomes dwindle prefer to send their boys to school, keeping girls at home to help with chores or small trades. Yet others who have fled to Cameroon’s Francophone regions have to fend for themselves, sometimes leaving their daughters out of school and vulnerable to recruitment into sex work.

Despite successful campaigning against the school boycott by Anglophone communities and women groups over the past two years, the latest tug of war over education risks robbing thousands of children of the chance to learn yet again. More critically, it could set the scene for another military escalation by raising tensions ahead of 1 October, when separatist sympathisers typically hold anti-government protests.

Instead of calling for a school boycott or threatening to close voluntary learning centres, Cameroon’s conflict parties should use the start of the school year as an opportunity to mitigate the suffering of children in the Anglophone regions and build trust with local communities. Separatist activists in Cameroon and abroad should unconditionally call off all school boycotts. If they do so, the government in Yaoundé should acknowledge the gesture as a de-escalating measure.

For their part, international partners who are committed to resolving the Anglophone conflict should urgently remind the two sides of their obligations to protect civilians and ensure children’s right to education.

Culled from The Africa Report

19, September 2022

Benin welcomes Hollywood take on women warriors ⁰

Benin’s historic female warriors known as the Amazons of Dahomey are legendary across West Africa, but a Hollywood production is bringing them back into the limelight.

The Woman King, released last Friday and shown at one Cotonou’s few cinemas on Saturday, is inspired by the story of the Agojie women who protected the ancient Kingdom of Dahomey and fought against French colonial troops in the 19th century.

The main character General Nanisca is played by the Oscar-winning American actress Viola Davis, who trains the next generation of recruits against a rival African kingdom and European slave traders.

The production directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood and mainly filmed in South Africa has won praise for its leading roles for black actresses, but has also generated criticism that it glorifies slavery.

At the premiere in Benin’s economic capital, a descendant of Ghezo, a King of Dahomey, who attended the screening at Canal Olympia cinema, shed tears during the viewing.

“For the princess that I am, some of the scenes were very touching. These brave women gave their lives to protect Ghezo’s heritage, which is my own,” said 37-year-old Sylvine Senami Ghezo.

A younger viewer, 15-year-old Bahunde Efanam, was also emotional and said the film gave her “shivers”.

The Amazons of Dahomey have been celebrated many times before, including in the 2018 film Black Panther in which they inspired Wakanda’s Dora Milaje warriors.

More recently, Benin’s President Patrice Talon unveiled a giant 30-metre high bronze statue representing an Amazon in central Cotonou.

The government said it chose the figure as a symbol of national identity and key part of its history to showcase in a bid to attract tourists.

Tourism

Made by Chinese artist Li Xiangqun, “the statue will be, for us and those who visit, a symbol of the Beninese woman of yesterday, today and tomorrow”, the president said of the display in July.

“What is important is that in Benin, the words courage, bravery, strength, combativenesses and honour are not exclusively associated with men,” said the president.

For those working in the nation’s budding tourism industry like Achille Remy Yelouassi who was at the premiere, the hope is also that films like The Woman King “help put Benin on the map”.

Some though said the next film should be made in Benin and not Hollywood since it concerns the country’s history.

In the United States, some have criticised the movie for not addressing the role Dahomey Kingdom played in the slave trade. #Boycottwomanking has been trending on Twitter.

But for some Beninese women, the film can also help tackle issues around women’s rights according to Senami Totin, a lawyer and activist in the country.

“In a patriarchal society like we have in Benin, you need a lot of courage and determination to defend women’s rights,” she said, listing challenges from impunity for rape, forced marriages, exclusion of women from inheritance rights, and a lack of representation in politics.

“We no longer have to fight wars against enemy armies but the fight for women’s emancipation is a daily one, and for that, we have to have an Amazon spirit,” she added.

In addition to celebrating the Beninese woman, actress Viola Davis said she hopes the film also inspires young girls around the world.

“It’s for my six-year old self… the little girl who was traumatised, the little girl who was called ugly, the little girl who wasn’t seen, who was left invisible,” she told reporters before the Toronto premiere earlier this month.

“I see you Viola. I see every chocolate girl who is like you. I’m telling you to stop running. This is my gift to you.”

Source: AFP