Steemit Engagement Challenge (SEC)| S12W3- "Security Matters"

Steem greetings from the motherland-Cameroon and welcome to my blog as I share my entry to the week 3 engagement challenge. It has been an amazing season 12, with great topics of discussion.

This week’s topic focuses on “security matters”. This is an interesting topic given the fact that we live in a world where there are lots of insecurity issues that affect our daily lives. To further share my thoughts about the topic, I will follow the guiding questions below. I hope you all find pleasure in reading through. Let's ride on to the questions.

In your own words what do you understand by the word security

Security is a means of being free from certain dangers in life. It varies from food security, environmental security, personal security, etc.

In terms of food security is when everyone in society has access to healthy food that meets their daily needs for a healthy lifestyle. When everyone does not have access to a good diet, it poses a security threat to their health.

When we talk about environmental security, it dwells on issues that cause insecurity to the environment such as conflicts, degradation, soil erosion, etc. It causes human beings to lack access to some basic needs such as water, and insufficient food supply to sustain the population.

Personal security is all about your well-being. We all need to protect ourselves from any sort of danger. That is you mind those you share your personal information, and be on your guard.

In your country, in what ways has the government been able to keep the citizens safe?

We all know the government has the full responsibility to protect its citizens from any sort of danger. I always believe that the government is made up of you and me and therefore we both owe ourselves the responsibility to protect ourselves from any danger.

Notwithstanding, our leaders elected to serve as the government always try their best to protect the citizens from any harm. For instance, the police are trained to maintain and keep a peaceful environment for all. This makes me ask myself a question. Are the police doing their job? 🤔🤔. Judging from the way police officers operate presently in my town of residence, one will rather focus on personal security rather than rely on the police.

The government has been fighting environmental security by investing in projects that will protect the environment from climate change, and soil erosion, providing potable water to the population via the CAMWATER company. However, citizens still see it as not enough to protect them.

As a conflict expert, human beings are always in a state of conflict. Therefore, no matter the efforts by the government to protect them, they still see it as not enough measures put in place to protect them from danger.

Personally, what do you do for yourself or your family to be safe in your town or country?

The first thing I do for my personal safety is not to have repeated routines. This kind of makes it impossible for your enemies to predict your next move and use it to target you. When you use repeated routines, you are easily targeted.

Secondly, I mind the way I communicate with others. Before communicating with someone, I try as much as possible to listen more and talk less. This way, you will not climb on people’s nerves which will cause them to agitate.

Thirdly, I always mind my business and do not intrude on others' business. Intruding on others business might cause them to get annoyed and want to retaliate.

Lastly, I do not share personal information anyhow. Sharing your personal information with everyone you come across poses a threat as you do not know their inner minds.

Have you experienced or heard of any case of insecurity (robbery or kidnap)? What happened?

Presently, Cameroon is undergoing serious security threats. I can say the whole country is engulfed with insecurities. We have the Boko Haram insurgency attacking in the North region of Cameroon. The area is also facing serious food insecurity.

The South is facing security threats from the Celekal rebels from the Central African Republic. The Northwest and South West regions are plagued with separatist activities.

I live in a region plagued by separatist activities such as kidnappings for ransom, indiscriminate killings, robbery, etc.

I have heard of several cases of kidnaps and robberies in my town. One of the cases of kidnap was my uncle’s child. The child was kidnapped from their house by alleged separatist fighters and asked for ransom.

Just recently, that is during the two weeks of lockdown imposed on us by separatist fighters, one guy was caught around the neighbourhood stealing gas bottles, phones and food from homes.

What do you think is the best way to keep a home secure?

The first thing is communication. When everyone communicates freely at home, everyone shares their grievances and a possible solution is given. When there is no communication, a lot of misunderstanding will erupt leading to unnecessary fights.

Install CCTV cameras in your home and premises. This way, anything that happens around your home is monitored on the screen. You can connect it to a relay on your mobile phone so that you watch over your home by yourself.

Constructing an electric fence is also another best way to secure your home. Any trespassing over your fence will not be possible as the fence is electrified.

Another means is by keeping a trained wild dog. Dogs are great to secure our homes when trained to do the security job. Once they notice any strange movement or behaviour around their master's home, they call your attention.

Conclusion.

In sum, security challenges are plaguing the whole world. Governments are doing their possible best to protect citizens but their efforts are not good enough. Therefore, the best way to stay secure is to engage in personal security. Be your own guard and do not rely on anyone to fully protect you. I will invite @majerius, @fombae, @eliany, @wilmer1988, @paholags, and @crismenia to share their entries to the contest if they haven't done that yet.