Our story

In Cameroon, when the head of a household dies, it is common to see family relations (brothers, uncles, etc.) or members of the community claim rights over the property of the deceased. Without legal wills testifying to the contrary, homes, farm plots and related property are often usurped by others. This property should pass to the rightful heirs, namely the widow and her children, to safeguard their future.

Instead, the widow is often forced by necessity to return to live with her family, either with her children or leaving them in the informal custody of their grandparents. Once the widow herself is deceased, the child's future becomes uncertain. Many children end up in orphanages because inheritance and plans for child placement were not formally secured by the elderly guardians, who had no access to needed legal and social services.

The Village Diary is a new approach to securing the rights of inheritance for children and widows. By providing access to digital records of inheritance, social services and legal assistance to the most vulnerable members of society, we aim to tackle poverty at its roots. We don't claim to have the solution to poverty, but we believe we can help prevent women and children from falling into this particular cycle of poverty, here in Cameroon and elsewhere in Sub-Saharan Africa.