Cameroon widows: rebuilding their lives - in pictures

Widows and advocates at Baba1, a district in the north-west of Cameroon, meet with the charity Muslim Students’ Association of Bamenda (MUSAB) and the king Fuekemshi II at the Baba1 palace Photograph: Jenny Matthews/VSO

Cameroon widow Hajaratou Chanteh (right), who has fought for 16 years for her right to inherit land, with another widow Fatimatou Ndashi Photograph: Jenny Matthews/VSO

Lydia Swiri Ndikum (left) a widow and advocate for widows' rights in the village of Chomba, north-west Cameroon, talks with Susana Ateh Photograph: Jenny Matthews/VSO

Advocate Lydia Swiri Ndikum by her husband's grave. After his death, her head was shaved and she slept on the floor for three months. "I don't want any other woman to be treated that way," she says Photograph: Jenny Matthews/VSO

Asana, a widow in Baba1, north-west Cameroon. She attended the widows and advocates meeting at the palace with MUSAB Photograph: Jenny Matthews/VSO

'This is a culture that needs to be wiped out – in this village it's changing fast' … Fuekemshi II, the king of Baba1 and a supporter of rights for widows Photograph: Jenny Matthews/VSO

Chayi Ncheckwe, widows' rights advocate and president of the Women's Traditional Council, at home in Baba1 with her son and neighbours' children Photograph: Jenny Matthews/VSO

Widowhood traditions differ according to the religion and ethnic makeup of the villages in Cameroon's north-west region. This is a mosque in Baba1, which is a majority Muslim area Photograph: Jenny Matthews/VSO

Rashidatou, a Baba1 widow who has remarried a man of her own choice – which was not common before the fon (king) signed the agreement – and is now pregnant with her sixth child, the first by her new husband Photograph: Jenny Matthews/VSO

Hannah Ngum is a widow in Chomba. She returned after her husband died in Douala, Cameroon's second city. She is struggling to cope by herself Photograph: Jenny Matthews/Jenny Matthews/VSO

Widows' advocate Teresa Siri Ndukum visits Chomba widow Mary Shiri, who is a farmer – as are most of the women in this village. Ndukum is the treasurer of the advocate group Photograph: Jenny Matthews/VSO