Women’s Day Icon:
Comfort Mussa: The Young, Upscale, Emerging Man of the Future
Comfort Mussa winner of the Point of Light Award
It was Louis LeBlanc who said: ‘I do not know whether the woman constitutes the future of man, but she is the man of the future’. Louis LEBLANC might not have just been talking about women in European society but also African and Cameroonian women like Comfort MUSSA, a rising Cameroonian media personality. Comfort Mussa is not just the future of man but more importantly, the man of the future.
As Cameroonian women join their counterparts the world over to celebrate the 2021 International Day of the Woman, thecolbertfacto singles out this young, upscale and emerging Cameroonian girl who is not only doing the ordinary things but doing them in an extraordinary manner.
Comfort Musa cuts the new image of the working class Cameroonian woman who is not only so conscious of her past but equipped to overcome the challenges and difficulties of the future. Unlike most women who are usually bogged down by environmental conditions and challenges from male chauvinists, Comfort Mussa can hold her own even in the face of the most leftist of men. Unlike most women, she does not internalize the value judgments that men make about women. Like Mrs Magaret Thatcher, the former British Prime Minister, she understands quite well that ‘although it is the cock that crows, it is the hen that lays the eggs’. For generations it has seemed men have hatched a plot to keep women out of leadership positions in certain fields of activity or certain professions. Fat chance for Comfort. When time came she easily picked up the position of President of the all-too powerful North West English language journalists association, CAMASEJ. Although it has not been a bed of roses given the aggressive models of masculinity that surround her presidency, her much advertised weaknesses are still more than compensated for by her strengths. As a young and upcoming leader of a vibrant media association, there is nothing found to be wrong with her leadership that cannot be corrected with what is right with her leadership.
Comfort Mussa: The Indefatigable Coach for Young Women
In a society like ours where role models come on short supply, society is rather shocked to see somebody who is morally upright than somebody who is lacking in morals. Morality and civic responsibility in a morally bankrupt society like ours is taken for weakness and a sign of frustration. Aggressive masculinity has pushed society ills to a pedestal. Yet, women know that it is their central responsibility to bring this core foundational value back. Women like Comfort Mussa are leading in this domain. Her lifestyle instills hope in many young girls who would have easily given up in such a masculine society like ours. Her beliefs may sometimes irritate many but her faith in what is right is so unwavering that she deserves to be celebrated on this women’s day. As a volunteer coach and source of inspiration for the teaming young girls across Cameroon, she has become a reference today. Love or hate her, she goes placidly amidst the noise and haste, remembering what peace there may be in silence.
Leader in Female Entrepreneurship
She shocked the online community with one of her entrepreneurial ventures, Sisterspeak237, an online website dedicated entirely to issues related to women and empowerment. See www.sisterspeak237.com. The site which already attracts thousands of viewers and counting….promises to be the first port-of-call for policymakers and actors in the domain of women advancement. Her stories are brought alive in simple, palatable and gender-friendly language. This new entrepreneurial move comes to add to a rich career in development and health news.
In real life she does some of the most challenging things that even men fear to do. This kind of courage and determination challenges the view long held by the former US President, Thomas Jefferson who said of the US woman: ‘she is too intelligent to accept to have her face covered with wrinkles by getting involved in politics. She is satisfied with the responsibility of soothing her husband upon his return from political contests’.
Although Comfort Mussa has no regard for party politics, she after all, gives her all to development politics to the extent that wherever two or three are gathered in the name of development, she is in their midst.
The award-winning media personality
This is perhaps one of the areas that have won for her more enemies than friends. It is also in this domain more than in any that she is seen to be the man of the future. Her performance outdistanced many more men than one would have expected, thus making the Cameroon women proud.
Her report on the harvesting, transformation and storage of corn in far off Misaje-Donga Mantung Division, North West of Cameroon demonstrated in triumphant detail the extent to which young Cameroonian media professionals can go, even under such challenging circumstances. Although many masculine quarters took offence to such feminine exploits, Comfort’s followers are worried like Mrs EPEE that ‘women have not taken offence at the fact that men are the best cooks and no woman intends to withdraw her pots from them and stop them from cooking”.
As we celebrate this year’s International Day of the Woman, thecolbertacto online, dignitytelevision and A Common Future say kudos to Comfort Mussa and urge more women to copy her example. She is a source of inspiration to an umpteen Cameroonian.
Let me leave you with these words from Comfort Mussa herself: ‘I believe that communication is at the heart of social change and development. I am blessed to have witnessed some of the most amazing changes and development recorded in the journey of empowering women in Africa. We’ve come a long way!! I am blessed to be born in the generation that witnessed the first female president in Africa; today more women and girls are enrolled in school than yesterday, and women are moving beyond kitchen and bedroom walls to boardrooms, flying airplanes and just reaching for the stars .Now, more than ever as ladies we may be tempted to think that we have arrived, in fact the world tries to convince us so. It seems we’ve got all we need and we should keep quiet and stop going on about our rights.’
By Colbert Gwain
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