A trauma and counselling programme in Cameroon has integrated forgiveness and art to restore lives of traumatized internally displaced people and other survivors of conflict in Central and West Africa including Cameroon’s Anglophone conflict that broke out in 2018.
The Afrogiveness Movement has helped over 100,000 people through its Afrogiveness centres and ‘forgiveness clinics’ which offer comprehensive support that includes psychological first aid and artistic expression that has been instrumental in restoring the dignity of many that carry scars of conflict.
The movement is the brainchild of Franca Ma-ih Sulem Yong Akinboboye, a psychologist, art therapist and former journalist. Franca’s first experience with the power of forgiveness came after she chose to forgive people that had bullied her in her earlier years due to an Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) condition diagnosed when she was a child. She was later diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
“My teenage and early adult years were emotionally challenging due to experiences of bullying and intolerance in school, which left me deeply hurt and struggling with depression. I was aware that my brain functioned differently and that I lived in a world that is intolerant to differences,” Franca told Christian Daily International in an interview.
She also became acutely aware of the destructive burden of holding on to anger and seeking vengeance, and though the process of forgiveness was long and difficult, she made a conscious decision to heal “not just for myself, but so I could help others heal as well.”
It is this new-found freedom that later became a driving force behind her passionate advocacy for mental health, trauma healing and tolerance. She pursued a career in journalism and for seven years, Franca used media platforms to raise awareness about forgiveness and mental health with a mission to “reshape the way mental conditions are perceived and represented in the society.”
Franca started Afrogiveness at the onset of the Anglophone conflict in the English-speaking Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon in 2018. Some of her relatives were killed while many others in the region joined the separatists “driven by war trauma and a sense of vengeance,” explained Franca.
“Having personally undergone a journey of healing from intolerance through forgiveness, and finding release through poetry and art, I recognized an opportunity to help survivors of conflict and intolerance heal in the same way,” said Franca, who found purpose aligned to the meaning of her names. Her middle name ‘Ma-ih’ means ‘forgive’ while Sulem means ‘wash and keep’ or ‘preserve’. Yong means ‘New’. Together, her name translates to “Franca, forgive and preserve the new.”
“I remind myself that the Lord must have inspired my parents to give me that name for a reason. As a teenager, I remember praying, “Lord, if my name means forgive, then I believe it is within me. Help me find forgiveness so I can show it to the world,” said Franca.
She later pursued a degree in Art Therapy and a Masters degree in Psychology to deepen her understanding of trauma victims and how Afrogiveness could positively contribute to the healing process of victims. The focus on forgiveness as a core part of the healing process, explained Franca, was to break the cycle of pain and prevent the transfer of aggression to others, and is premised on the idea that ‘hurt people, hurt others.”
“I firmly believe that forgiveness is the key to healing and eventually peace - not just for individuals, but for families, communities and even the world. Forgiveness comes in many forms. It could begin with a simple resolution to never inflict unjust harm on another. It could also mean transforming our pain into purposeful service, our suffering into success, or our wound into wisdom,” said Franca, who is also the founder of Positive Youths Africa, another non-governmental organisation that helps young people across nine countries in central and west Africa heal from traumatic experiences.
Her efforts to transform the lives of trauma victims together with her advocacy work in mental health have been recognized beyond Cameroon. In 2022, UNESCO named Franca as the Madanjeet Singh $100,000 prize winner at a ceremony that was held in Paris. The biennial award recognizes individuals and institutions for their exceptional contribution to the promotion of tolerance and non-violence through the arts, education, culture, science and communication.
In 2024, Franca was awarded the Pardes Humanitarian Prize by the Brain and Behaviour Research Foundation (BBRF) for her unique approach to transform mental health perceptions in Africa.
“Forgiveness is not just a virtue; it is at the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ’s teachings. It is the one thing He instructs us to do seventy times seven, emphasizing its significance for human existence,” said Franca.
“We can fund human rights programs and peace-building initiatives all we want , but as long as people do not embrace the gift of forgiveness and fail to heal the invisible wounds that breed conflict and fuel human rights violations, the world will never know peace.”
