RSHF

His VISION, DRIVE, MOTIVATION AND INSPIRATION

• Being of help and of service to the needy and raising their livelihood
• Upholding leadership that transforms the family and the community
• Using cooking and cake artistry talent and skills to change lives and make livelihood which was taken negatively and it distressed him over the years
• He focused on building capacity through enlightened writing and psycho-education endeavours
• Volunteering in health related activities/institutions

Achievements

As a student in form 3 GBHS Bamenda, he was elected the junior member of Parliament where he performed his parliamentary duties with peers in excellence up till date.
He was a renowned chef in pastries, cooking and endowed with skills and talents in décor and aesthetics
He was the Director of Living Vine Medical Rehabilitation and Training Center – Foncha Street, Bamenda
He won the Mr. CATUC 2023 all-round project.
He was a psycho-educationist in mental health wellness promotion and prevention
He was the mastermind and creator of the sort-after YouTube program “Grow with Ron”
He volunteered in The Martins Hospital, Oncology Center in Douala and carried out a series a medical health campaigns within and without the region
He prepared students for Bio-medical Science Public Examinations
He took leadership role in the family in visiting family members (Won Keri) and attending to the needs of family members
He was a disciplinarian within the family ensuring respect, orderliness and cleanliness
He was a fervent Christian and chorister in the Redeemer Baptist Church, mile 3, Nkwen.

The down turn due to exhaustion

Within the first weeks of February 2025 he experienced exhaustion and opened up to his dad that he has felt so bad on how he has always been addressed by peers, with slangs such as “boy-girl” mocked, stigmatized and disrespected since childhood. I discovered that my son was a courageous young man bearing the belittling tendencies of others towards him for many years and secretly struggling and seeking help which he revealed to me was one of the reasons behind his project for Mr. CATUC in mental health. He was equally pressing to go out of the country because he was silently dying inside, thus, without being conscious of his motive I tried to appeal to him that he should complete his medical studies in Cameroon before moving abroad. I also reinforced to his conscience that is a man with natural endowments of a boy/man and asked him not to pay attention to such appellation. This to him was obvious knowledge because he never argued whether or not he was a man, he knew it and was convinced within him that he was a man. This is why he insisted saying “dad, you do not know how much pain I have lived with and you were never there to protect me”. I felt his pain, apologized and explained to him my reasons for going oversee for further studies which to achieve a better life for the family and proof is the center I created upon return and in which he was now the director. Unfortunately, my repeated attempts to turn around his broken mindset was late given his distress, feelings of being let down and the ridiculous name calling due to his pastry skills which had been throughout his childhood, secondary school and university years. His brain was not yet ready to handle all of what had been thrown at him through utterances and the labeling despite that he did everything to handle things better yet nothing seemed to have worked to prevent others from labeling him.
The onset of his exhaustion began in January 2025 with presenting some signals such as fatigue, chest pains, discomfort, and feelings of tightness, pressure, shortness of breath, palpitations, yellow eyes and discomfort which indicated the stress he was going through. At one point, he rushed in for admission in the General Hospital in January 2025 where he was sedated due to his agitation and restless behavior. He later on received thorough physical evaluation and all kinds of physical test and was infected with h-pylori due to gastric pain, Addison disease as pathologies identified for which he was placed on treatment.
Gradually, he presented a social disease which was a distress -depression syndrome related to psychological events that had affected his relationship, his behaviors reducing his abilities to take responsibility, frequently felt obliged to please others in order to feel accepted as a man yet struggling with persistent memories concerning such issues when others call him ‘boy-girl’ or describe him as behaving like a girl. Such statements pieced his heart as he reported and caused him the feelings of having gender defects comparing with others. He struggled with others lack of understanding, empathy and compassion and these are all proven through his facebook, instagram and youtube programs ‘grow with Ron.’ And with these programs I thought my son was being proactive but little did I know he was building a defense cum education towards others treatment of him

Excerpt of Ronald’s CATUC project
‘EQUIPPING STUDENTS OF THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF CAMEROON WITH SKILLS NECESSARY TO PROTECT THEIR MENTAL HEALTH AND OPTIMISE THEIR PRODUCTIVITY’

“The mental wellness of students is areas that has not been receiving proper attention and in this social media age, coupled with the steady increase in the dissemination of hate memes, online ridicule, hate speech and misinformation marred with unregulated and irresponsible social media use among youths. Research has shown that 1 in 4 people will suffer a mental health condition at some point in their lives world-wide and that depression is the leading cause of ill health and disability worldwide, additionally suicide is the fourth leading cause of death among young people. “
Ronald is a child any parent would be proud of. It has been a delight to have him as our son in this life and as his parents we could not ask better than him. He was our shining star, the gold of the family and the prize we would live to cherish.
Son, at 21 you made a mark though 21 is so short a time, you have become a reference and we can tell already what your lifetime on earth was going to be – shine on in glory and shine over us from above.
Ron has transition to a safe-haven and now he has left an assignment for each and everyone to understand the importance of creating a safe-haven space for one another through the elimination of utterances, mockery, bias, ridicule, disrespect, discrimination, judgmental tendencies and all sorts of labeling that may reduce the personality and the humanity of an individual. In his advisory team for his safe-haven projects he earmarked Dr. Awasum, Director St. Blaise, and his Mentor at CATUC, Dr. Denis Nsame, Director Regional Hospital and Dr Lambert of Redeemer Baptist Church all of whom were his mentors. I also here add the principle of St. Paul Father Killian Ndonui Nshamikara who is mentor to Divine and Favour. This Ronald safe-haven project is going to be launch at Living Vine campus.
Thank you for the good memories. Rest in peace Ron
Forever and ever in our hearts
Your mom Mariama, dad Hedwick, siblings Divine and Favour