I was born on Tuesday, April 14, 1981 at Mbam Health Centre, to the family of Lanyuy Roland Wirmvem and Kibong Perensia who live in Ngendzen village, Bui Division in North West Region of Cameroon (Africa). I attended Government Primary School Ngendzen for 7 years, from 1988. In 1995, I was admitted as a student into the then Government Secondary School (G.S.S.) Tatum, now a Bilingual High School. Every morning I trekked for a distance of about 5 km, from Ngendzen village to Tatum, in order to attend classes as there was not enough money for me to rent a room. Despite the tedious trekking, my passion for education gave me courage to keep going. During my second year (Form 2) in G.S.S. Tatum, the school was enormously blessed with a pioneer American Peace Corps Volunteer, Mrs. Pavla Zakova-Laney. She was a Biology teacher. I must say that this was my first time to be taught by a white. Though I enjoyed her teaching, at first, it was difficult to understand since I was never before taught by someone with a different accent.
That notwithstanding, I did exceptionally well in her subject and others too. This created a good relationship between Mrs. Zakova-Laney and me. Each time she was teaching, she would look at me from time to time, which was strange to me, and I told my mother this ‘our white teacher is always looking at me when teaching’. My mom laughed and said “maybe it is your luck”. She later on found out that I lived far away from school and wrote a letter asking me to come and stay with her alongside one other student (Kila Comfort) still from my village. This was strange for me to live with a white person. I could not imagine that. I informed my mum and dad about it, telling them that I was not ready to do that. My loving mum persuaded me that it was my blessing from God. Finally, in late 1996, I packed, from my village, to live with Mrs. Zakova-Laney about 0.4 km m from school.
I was now free from long treks to school though I was very worried about my friends and others who still had to trek. Even today, some still walk further than I did and also from other villages. From that time, my life changed. For the first time, I read at nights with an electric light. While living in the village, I read with a bush/kerosene lamp. When my parents could not afford 0.5$ to buy kerosene, I would either use a candle especially during exams or just read during the day. With Mrs. Zakova-Laney, I had enough school materials (pens, pencils, ruler, etc.) textbooks, food, time and all that a student needed.
Mrs. Zakova-Laney with her sympathetic heart realized that I was not the only desperate student and so bought school materials like shoes, books, pens, pencil, rulers; paid fees, sew uniforms, paid house rents, electric bills, bought fuel for bush lamps used by some students. More than 95% of the students were in need, and she could not satisfy all. Even some teachers were also needy, and she also offered them assistance. ‘What a huge task’. While living with her my performance improved, and I received allowances/scholarships from Form 3 (1997) to Form 4 (1998)for academic excellence from the Cameroon government. I was happy with my results. I should say that I was worried when Mrs Zakova-Laney was to leave. I could not imagine how I could live without her support. Before leaving Cameroon in 1999, we knew that she loved us very much and that she would not forget us. She then, in year 2000, created an NGO called EDUCARE-AFRICA (http://educareafrica.blogspot.com/). Through this organization, I benefited a lot as before, but this time she was able to help more students, thanks to the loving care and generous support from many kind donors.
With this continuous surge of help, I was able to register the Ordinary Level Certificate of Education exam in 2000 (Form 5) and I passed in 6 subjects (Biology, Chemistry, Geography, Mathematics, Economics and English language). Since there was no high school then, I moved to Government Bilingual High School Kumbo. Mrs. Zakova-Laney continued through Educare-Africa to assist me and many other students with our school needs. My accommodation was partly taken care of as well as other essential needs. With the collective efforts of Mrs. Zakova-Laney through Educare-Africa and my parents, I registered the Advanced Level Certificate of Education exam in 2002and passed in two subjects (Geology and Chemistry).
My parents were unable to sponsor me in the University. The number of needy students kept increasing, and Educare-Africa could not fully take care of all my needs. I had to suspend my education. With the two certificates achieved thanks to Educare-Africa, and with the spirit of concern for others, inspired from Mrs. Zakova-Laney, in 2003, I coordinated student activities in my village and later founded NESA (Ngendzen Elite Student Union Association) which was later named NGEDA (Ngendzen Development Association). The main objective was to coordinate village developments activities. And thanks to this, my village is fruitfully drinking potable water.
In 2004, my parents assisted me to register at the University of Buea, Cameroon where I read Geology. During holidays, I would work at one industry in Douala to raise money for school. Educare-Africa again came to my salvage and paid part of my accommodation fee in 2005. With this support, I did so well in studies as usual and in 2006, I again received financial assistance for academic excellence from the Cameroon government. With more support, I successfully graduated in 2007 with a second class honours degree in Geology with a minor in Environmental science, scoring a GPA of 3.25 on a scale of 4 (16.3/20).
After one year at home, coupled unemployment, I decided to register for a master’s programme at the University of Buea after raising some money from my temporary local jobs in Douala. I read Applied Geology from 2008 to 2010 and graduated with a first class Master of Science degree in Applied Geology, scoring a GPA of 3.80on of 4 (19/20).
My supervisor during the master’s programme, Professor Samuel Ndonwi Ayonghe, advised me to apply for a PhD programme through the Japanese Government MONBUKAGAKUSHO Scholarship (MEXT). Out of 8 pre-selected students, I was selected among the two successful candidates after exams and interview. By the grace of God, I will graduate in 2014 with a PhD of Science with a specialty in Hydrogeochemistry and Application of Environmental Isotopes in Hydrology. Though I still have one more year to go, I have so far published several papers (http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=NqMp3ZcAAAAJ). I hope to complete my studies and return home to help my beloved country, Cameroon. I hope my story will be a source of inspiration for others. In life, never give up.
