Cameroon Native, Girls Education Advocate Visits Collegiate

Today she met with Upper Schoolers and Middle Schoolers and explained how she grew up one of 18 children in northern Cameroon, in a culture that expects women to forgo school in favor of marriage and motherhood.

 

Even as a child she was unconventional, she said.

 

“I liked to play football, but when I say football, I mean soccer,” she joked.

 

An early love of books and the library opened up a world to Ms. Tchitchiche that compelled her to learn more.

 

She saw her friends getting married, having children and taking care of their husbands and realized she wanted a different life.

 

“No one liked me because I was ‘too educated,’” she said. “So I said, ‘I will make you more mad and go to college.’”

 

In 2014, she was forced to flee Cameroon after a dozen men believed to be members of the Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram attacked her as she walked home from class at the University of Maroua.

 

“They left me for dead and I didn’t want know what to think,” she said. “It’s hard to talk about it.”

 

A short time later she came to the United States for a teaching-exchange opportunity in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, and eventually was granted asylum by the United States. She has been accepted into the Ph.D. program at the University of Pennsylvania and will pursue her studies in women’s and children’s rights there in the fall.

 

She says she cannot go back to Cameroon right now, but is hopeful to return someday.

 

“I am certain I need to go back home and reach out to girls who are like me,” she said.

 

In the meantime, she is immersing herself in American culture and taking opportunities to help Americans – including Collegiate students – learn more about hers.

 

A primary reason for her visit to Collegiate was to celebrate the release of Pagne Pals: A Story of Cross-Cultural Curiosity and Friendship. She helped translate this children's book about life in Cameroon into French. It was recently penned by Collegiate Lower School art teacher Holly Smith and illustrated by students in Mrs. Smith’s 2^nd Grade Studio Art classes.

 

"Martine was instrumental because she [also] helped make sure these illustrations were accurate,” Mrs. Smith said.

 

Since 2013, 2^nd Graders in Mrs. Smith’s Studio Art class have used fabric they’ve received from Cameroon to create artistic pieces for an African Market hosted in the Lower School once a year. The 2^nd Graders use proceeds from those market sales to buy workbooks and textbooks for Jam’s Academy, a small school in Cameroon with students the same age as they are. The book purchases have enabled Jam’s Academy to start a modest library, and thus far, Collegiate’s support has built it up to five shelves of books, Mrs. Smith told 2^nd Graders yesterday, during their visit with Ms. Tchitchiche. This year’s 2^nd Graders sent 55 books to the school, she said.

 

Proceeds from the new children’s book, Pagne Pals, will also be used to support Jam’s Academy. Parents of 2^nd Graders had an opportunity this morning to meet Ms. Tchitchiche, learn more about the book project, and buy copies.

 

"With this idea of polarization and fear, it is great for our students to have a foundation that keeps them connected,"  said Mrs. Smith.

 

Ms. Tchitchiche did not attend Jam’s Academy, but she was delighted to learn about the Lower Schoolers’ longstanding support for the school, which was a volunteer site for Mrs. Smith’s daughter during her Peace Corps stint in Cameroon.

 

Ms. Tchitchiche told the 2^nd Graders about her favorite books as a young girl, and she encouraged Collegiate Upper Schoolers to always value reading and learning.

 

“Somewhere across the world people are fighting and working hard just to bring home a book. Don’t take for granted the available education.”

 

 

For more information on Martine Tchitchie, please visit her website: http://www.martineoutofafrica.org/

 

To purchase copies of Pagne Pals: A Story of Cross-Cultural Curiosity and Friendship, visit the Cougar Shop.