Kinship and Community Responses in the wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Commonly referred to as ‘the most important health challenge of our times’, the Corona Virus has had devastating consequences and brought untold sufferings to communities and families around the world. A true example of a global problem, the effects of the corona virus has penetrated every community; big and small, rich or poor, necessitating wide ranging measures and interventions aimed at curbing the spread of the disease. While the World health organization (WHO) has coordinated unified efforts at the global stage, countries have put in place national strategies to deal with the rapid spread of the COVID-19. Prevailing socio-political conditions in Cameroon; the ongoing Anglophone crisis and the instability in the Northwest and Southwest regions of the country greatly dampened the rather timid response of the government of Cameroon to the outbreak of the pandemic. Businesses, non-governmental organizations, villages and individuals have been called into action to provide assistance to complement government efforts in the fight against the pandemic. One such responses has come from Nkwen ‘sons and daughters’ residing both in Cameroon and abroad. The paper assesses the conception, framing, and effectiveness of this community intervention and highlights the role of remittances and strong kinship ties in the fight against covid-19 in the Nkwen village of Bamenda, and Cameroon in general.