October 8th: Migrant and Refugee Girls

Hear from EXSSA here.

Who We Are:

EX-SAKER STUDENTS ASSOCIATION (ExSSA), the U.S.A., whose members are popularly known as, Sakerettes, is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization with over 500 members who are all former students of Saker Baptist College, Limbe Cameroon (West Africa). Our mission is to improve the lives of women and girls through education programs, mentorship opportunities, and training programs that will enable their social emancipation and economic empowerment.

Our Association believes that empowering women and girls, providing them with educational and economic opportunities, and securing their health and human rights are essential in eliminating poverty and achieving social justice in Cameroon and beyond.

EXSSA-USA boasts a distinct and dynamic group of ladies with varied talents, diverse cultures, experiences, and backgrounds. While a majority of Sakerettes hail from Cameroon, Africa, some of our members are nationals of Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, the United States, Great Britain, and France. This diversity enriches our Association and allows us to synergize our unique in-house talents and efforts to improve and empower individuals and communities in Saker, Cameroon, and the Diaspora.

EXSSA-USA is committed to:

Empowerment: Enable women and girls to act in their own best interest

Education: Allow women and girls access to quality education, programs, and initiatives

Fellowship: Saker alums and patrons from varied backgrounds and perspectives will work together to improve the lives of women and girls

Resource Development: Identify effective models and tools for Saker girls and alumnae.

Ex Saker Students Association seeks to empower adolescent girls irrespective of their societal status. We chose to highlight migrant and refugee girls because our Association is sensitive to their plight. Migrant and refugee girls without permanent accommodation or shelter are often exposed to rape, sexual harassment, or forced marriages. In the 1980s, Saker Baptist College, our alma mater, graciously opened its doors to Namibian girl refugees who had fled from their country during the Namibian war of independence. These refugees became our sisters. Interacting with them taught us empathy. In 2019, Students from the class of 1984, which includes one of our Namibian Sakerette sisters, organized their 40th anniversary of meeting in Saker in Windhoek, Namibia, where President of Namibia, Hage Gottfried Geingob, received them.

Our Namibian refugee experience inspired us to launch a scholarship program for young, internally displaced girls in Cameroon. The crisis exacerbated these adolescent girls’ already precarious financial and familial situation.

When families get displaced due to war or heightened insecurity, they move to big cities that find it challenging to absorb the growing population. These IDPs suffer many challenges, including a lack of shelter, healthcare, unemployment, and no access to basic amenities. Young IDP girls are especially vulnerable to gender-based violence and sexual assaults.

If you or your organization is investing in Internally Displaced, migrant, or refugee girls in Cameroon or any other African country share photographs of your activities or beneficiaries with us on social media.
If you or your organization is presently investing in the education of underprivileged girls in Cameroon or any other African country share photographs of your activities or beneficiaries with us on Twitter.
Are you a woman who has been empowered by education? Please retweet our posts or share your story or word of wisdom.
Do you want to help provide Dreamer scholarships for girls in Cameroon? Donate today to ExSSA USA. https://www.mightycause.com/story/Dreamersscholarship

Some of our recent Projects:

Dreamers scholarships for Adolescent IDP girls: ExSSA U.S.A.’s Flagship Program

In keeping with our mission to empower the girl-child and our empathy for displaced young girls, we launched the Dreamer Scholarships in 2020 for intelligent young girls who are impoverished. To these young girls, attending a secondary school is a dream, not to mention attending the high-ranking and prestigious all-girls Christian boarding school, Saker Baptist College.

While the underlying eligibility for this Scholarship is extreme and prolonged unusual financial challenges, we may decide to focus on a specifically disenfranchised group each year. Our target group for the pioneer cohort is young girls “Internally Displaced” due to the armed conflict in Cameroon.

The four young girls selected in 2021 have been awarded full scholarships for six and seven years to Saker Baptist College, Limbe, Cameroon, from form one or form two to upper sixth. This Scholarship also ensures that these young girls are catered for holistically to ensure success beyond the classroom. Our Dreamers completed their first year in Saker and just resumed their second academic year.

Water tank Restoration and Borehole Construction: For us, empowering girls also translates to enhancing their living and learning environment and overall well-being. We were able to clean out, wash and restore all existing storage water tanks on the campus of Saker Baptist College, home to over 900 adolescent girls. In addition, ExSSA U.S.A. dug two new boreholes, one equipped with a solar pump, installed an additional storage tank, and restored the existing borehole on campus. The students currently have water pending renovation of the plumbing system, which is about 60 years old.

Donation of 50 Computers: To enhance effective learning in this information technology age, ExSSA U.S.A. supplied two servers and 50 N-Computing units with accessories to equip the computer lab. The computer students were able to use these to write the General Certificate of Education (G.C.E.) exams.

Summit

11 Days of Action