From classrooms and boreholes to protection for the vulnerable, the vision of the SHUMAS founder continues to shape lives across Cameroon.
One year after the passing of Mformi Ndzerem Stephen Njodzeka, his absence is still deeply felt. Yet across Cameroon, his presence remains unmistakable. In schools, villages, health centres and community halls, the work he began continues to touch lives in quiet but powerful ways.
When he was laid to rest in Bamenda on April 12, 2025, mourners honoured a mission. Described as a “powerhouse” and “a man amongst men,” the founder and Director General of Strategic Humanitarian Services, SHUMAS, left behind a system of service built to outlive him.
During his funeral at St Joseph Metropolitan Cathedral, partners, church leaders and state officials spoke of a life given to others. The Government of Cameroon posthumously decorated him as Officer of the Order of Valour, in recognition of decades of humanitarian and development work that reached over ten million people across all ten regions of the country and beyond.
Archbishop Andrew Nkea called him “a man of strong faith and selfless leadership,” recalling the schools, health centres, water projects and electricity schemes he helped bring to forgotten communities. Born in Kumbo in 1970, Stepehn Ndzerem’s journey from working on rice farms to fund his education, to founding SHUMAS in 1997, became a story of grit shaped by compassion. A law graduate of the University of Yaoundé, he turned entrepreneurship into service, building SHUMAS into an organisation with consultative status at the United Nations.
But it is in what followed his death that his foresight became clearest.
Before his passing, Stephen Ndzerem had insisted on strong succession planning. His widow, Billian Nyuykighan, who had long worked as Programmes Coordinator, stepped in to lead with the same calm resolve. International partners, including Building Schools for Africa in the United Kingdom, publicly pledged to continue the work, confident that the vision would not die with its founder.
Over the past year, SHUMAS has proved that promise true.
In December 2025, in Nkum, the organisation partnered with UNFPA to mark the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, mobilising leaders, women, men and youth through music, drama, discussion and community action.
In the North West Region, SHUMAS, working with UNICEF, trained Community Focal Persons on the Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, building local networks for safe reporting and survivor-centred response. These community leaders now serve as the first line of protection for the vulnerable.
Through the PULLCA Project, round table discussions brought government officials, SHUMAS staff and women beneficiaries together to confront gender-based violence with honesty and shared solutions. Voices once ignored now sit at the centre of decision-making.
Children have not been forgotten. In Galim, Bamboutous Division, 67 internally displaced children, forced out of school by the Anglophone crisis, were returned to formal education after three months of catch-up learning. They received school fees, uniforms and learning materials, while new classrooms are being built to secure their future.
On World Toilet Day and World Handwashing Day, SHUMAS took hygiene education to primary schools in Bayelle and Ntakikah, installing handwashing stations and supplying soap to reduce preventable disease. In Bamenda’s Old Town, women and girls marked World Menstrual Hygiene Day with open conversations, dignity kits and the breaking of long-held taboos.
The organisation has also strengthened itself from within. Its Gender and Protection Officer joined UNFPA-led training on governance and leadership, ensuring that the structure Ndzerem Stephen built continues to grow stronger, not weaker.
These are not isolated projects. They are threads of one vision and dignity for every person, no matter how poor or remote.
When his mother, Mama Helena Ngo, wrote at his funeral, “My dearest son, I am overwhelmed with grief,” she spoke for a nation that had lost a rare servant. But Ndzerem himself had prepared for this moment, not with speeches, but with systems.
One year on, his grave is quiet. His work is not.
From Kousseri to Akwaya, from Kumbo to Galim, the hands he once guided now build, teach, protect and heal. Mformi Ndzerem Stephen Njodzeka is gone, but his mission still walks the land.
By Bakah Derick for Hilltopvoices Online
Tel: +237 694 71 85 77
