For those conversant with social media, new trends come and go everyday. Hot on the black now is a trend titled ‘How it started vs How it’s going’ and it started with Desmond Jumbam – a Cameroonian looking to share his achievements and offer some inspiration to many. And many have seen.
With his original tweet having gained 2 million likes, one must wonder who is the person behind such an ever-motivational tweet?
This is the story behind the creator of the ‘How it started vs how it’s going’ tweet.
Desmond Jumbam’s tweet begins with a photo of a simple shack of a house next to a Harvard University badge, posted on Twitter.
A simple message of pride, Desmond Jumbam says his tweet became a source of inspiration for many who have followed suit in sharing their own messages of pride.
“I think people were inspired by it because it’s a story of hope. It’s a story of inspiration especially in this current global political situation,” Jumbam said.
Since joining the ‘how it started vs how it’s going’ trend, hundreds have reached out to him asking him to give the full account of his story.
“There have been a lot of people asking for the whole story.”
This is it. “I always wanted to get a high quality education, get the skills to be able to return and serve Cameroon and Africa in general.”
After attending three universities in the US and now a health policy consultant, Desmond Jumbam works with a not-for-profit organization in Ghana called Operation Smile which provides free cleft lip and palate surgeries to children.
But while he was away from home, Desmond’s father was killed in the Anglophone Cameroon crisis. He returned home to be with his family.
“He was killed in March but I couldn’t come to Cameroon then. Now, I’ve come to be with my family. It’s really a terrible situation that’s happening in the North West and the South West where things just keep getting horribly bad.”
Back in Cameroon now, Desmond is with his mother and they have both been helping widows who’ve lost husbands to the three-year long crisis.
“we realised that there were widows whose husbands had been terribly killed as well. So a few months ago we set up a go fundme campaign to raise funds to support these widows. The goal was to raise about 20,000 dollars.”
Successfully, they reached their goal in just under four days.
“With those funds we were able to support 18 women from the North West and South West of Cameroon. First, it was grief counselling because a lot of the things they told us were horrible, so we helped them with that,” he said proudly.
“We were also able to provide them with business counselling, and gave them some advice for how to get back on their feet, and providing them with some capital to go back and set up businesses.”
So far, according to Desmond Jumbam, two women have set the ball rolling in success stories while others have made significant strides.
“one of the women has set up a palm oil business, another one is rearing pigs.”
With caring and compassionate hearts, Desmond and his mother continue to do good in their community and Desmond wants others to join in on this trend and do the same.
“We are trying to help our communities and I think there’s a lot others can do as well.”
