Creative Arts - The tale of an empowered Girl

On the International Day of the Girl Child, we bring to the spotlight an outstanding girl, Njobati Sylvie, in a class of her own. She is a testimony of the limitless opportunities for creativity a girl has when she finds herself in the right and supportive/enabling environment.

Sylvie is a communication Enthusiast interested in harnessing the endless possibilities of Creative Arts in enhancing Sustainable Development. She is an Open Dream Scholar with a strong passion for inclusive Education and Mentoring young people with interest in Arts, Culture and the Media. Her creativity and passion to serve humanity have opened several international and local opportunities to her and her community. Locally she led advocacy on Gender Based Violence, Peace, Digital Inclusion and Human rights. Sylvie hails from Nso, a place with a unique and rich cultural background that has inspired her works on Colonial Dialogue and Reconciliation through Art. She is a Goethe Institute Facilitator and Artist on the subject focusing on the return of elements taken away from Africa during the Colonial times.

Internationally, she was the Youth Delegate from Cameroon to:

- the European Commission's Culture for the future 2019 Colloqium in Brussels;

- the 209 World Youth forum in Egypt;

- African Union's 2018 Ideation Dialogue in Botswana, and more.

Her works in Creative Arts earned her a ministerial appointment as the pioneer and youngest National Coordinator for the street Arts Federation in Cameroon. In January 2020, she was selected among the top 14 African Cultural Entrepreneurs where she represented Sysy House of Fame in Morocco MACAAL BOOTCAMP.

She is the founder of Sysy House of Fame (SHF) and has led the innovative organization to being a household name in creative Arts for Development. SHF introduced Shadow Théâtre performance in the North West and South West regions of Cameroon, which are affected by the 4 year long conflict. Last year in a theatre play titled “Bound By The Times”, a play blended with music and spoken words that shares the different experiences of women in an armed conflict zone, SHF advocated for the return of peace in the regions. In her words, Sylvie reiterated the purpose of the performance, “We are not here to judge; we don’t even have the nerve to be angry again; we have just one nerve left and we are using it to say we want peace”.