Susan is a teenage girl raised by her hunter dad. Unlike her brother, Diamond who goes to school, she stays home to help her mother with house chores. In her free time, she visits the church and partakes in a series of religious activities.
Her already uncertain future one day becomes bleaker when she returns home to find out that her father, mother and brother have concerted to marry her off to a wealthy Prince. Their prime goal is to benefit from his wealth.
Feeling cornered and drained, she finds the courage to speak up for herself. In the process of unpacking her pain, she exposes the underlying cracks and overstretched strings holding the family and society together. Not even the church is spared, as she pulls away the dark veil covering the fact that even the priest had forced himself on her.
She rises to the occasion lending her voice for cause and for all girls that have been/are victims of breach of trust, forced marriages, gender based violence, similar vices society makes them judged for.
Susan is a character brought to life by Anwi Carine in Ade Joseph’s play, Sanctuary.
It was performed by the Buea-based Ideal Theatre Troupe on September 08 at the Goethe Institut in Yaounde. Deconstructing her role at the post-play conversation, Anwi Carine remarked that it was partly her personal story as well as those of millions of other girls.
According to statistics made available in 2022, up to 42.2% of women in unions are confronted with multiple forms of violence. The figure stretches way further in more general cases.
Among the least spoken-about of these consequences is abortions. Anwi Carine’s Suzan character Sanctuary was lucky to not have to deal with a pregnancy she did not want. But hundreds of thousands of girls and women in Cameroon are not so lucky.
From unwanted sexual experiences to naivety and inability to bear the financial and social burden of childbearing, reasons for abortions abound. But with the notion of the law’s sharp edges on the practice in Cameroon, unsafe abortions remain a thing to worry about.
30% of maternal deaths, to the Society of Gynecologists and Obstetricians in Cameroon (SOGOC), can be attributed to unsafe abortions. It is for this reason that the institution is seeking a more comprehensive assessment of the law’s perspective.
Medical experts describe an abortion as the loss of a pregnancy due to the premature exit of conception products from the uterus, due to any cause. This can be medically induced or spontaneous.
But the law sees the entire process as a criminal offence. The penal code accords 15 days to a year’s sentence with possibility of a 5.000 to 200,000 FCFA fine for unsanctioned abortions. But activists note that the ambiguity and social stigma only pushes women and girls to seek unsafe outlets.
In 2020, Cameroon’s maternal mortality rate stood at 436.00, declining by 0.45% from 2019. But experts believe it can and should be better. SOGOC has expressed the belief that primary focus should be on providing quality healthcare for women. By relaxing the grip and making this quality healthcare accessible, maternal mortality it assures, will be greatly reduced.
At the end of the play, Sanctuary, Anwi Carine recommends education as the foundation for addressing gender issues. “Education is not just going to school and writing exams. It is way bigger than that,” she explains. “Education broadens your mind, your perspective and your belief system.”
As is with issues of gender-based violence, women’s rights and the like, education on safe abortion too remains vital for preserving lives. This will definitely go a long way to save a few of the 6.2 million lives put at risk due to unsafe abortions in Sub-Saharan Africa annually.
Postcript: This article was ranked third best submission at the 2023 #IAmSafe contest organized by the Cameroon Society of Gynaecologists and Obstetricians (SOGOC) in partnership with International Federation of Gynaecologist (FIGO).
This was adeptly put, Ndzi. Congratulations on your win; we are glad you used SANCTUARY as your case study. Ideal Theatre Troupe always brings forth the best, using theatre to challenge the norm and change the narrative.
More wins🎊