By Hans Ngala
As the harsh Douala sun rises, it doesn’t bring hope or light for Marie Regine, but a dark and sad reminder that her son’s figure will never again darken the doorway to her modest home. It’s been two years since her son, Onana Moise Roger, left for Russia where he is feared dead.
“I told him not to go, but he wouldn’t listen, and he was my only child,” Regine says as tears well up in her eyes. She wipes them with a finger. “I had a bad feeling about the whole thing from the start,” she sobs.
Regine, who is in her 60s, is a retired cook who worked for decades at the local Catholic mission in her Douala neighborhood, cooking and serving meals for the priests. Working long, tedious hours, she saved for years and it was from her back-breaking toil that she made a living. She explains to CNA that she took out her life savings of 500,000 CFA ($1,000) and gave to her son, Onana Moise Roger, so he could travel to South Africa.
“He was working with a travel agent and, along the line, the agent convinced him that there were better jobs in Russia and that he should instead take the Russia option,” the sad Regine tells this reporter as she holds back the tears. “He kept telling me, ‘I am just going to work and will not be part of the war there,’” she explains.
A Journey That Ended in Silence
The 39-year-old Onana went to the Russian embassy in Yaounde together with his wife, his mother Regine, explains to CNA. “She too went around and borrowed more money to add to the 500,000 CFA I had already given him. He added all the money to what he already had, and I am sure everything came up to about 3 or 4 million CFA, and he took off for Russia,” she says.
Once in Russia, communication was going on well between mother and son. Regine explains that her final communication with her son, who would have turned 40 this year, was on December 2, 2024. “Since then, I have not heard anything further from him. His wife went to the Russian embassy and was sent from office to office, and the Russian officials said he may likely be alive, being held by the Ukrainians in a prison,” but she adds that, “His friends who were with him told us that a drone strike hit and that he initially survived but may have later lost his life. We are just confused,” she laments.
A family Left in Despair
Onana’s wife declined our request for an interview, saying the whole experience was too traumatic for her and that she would rather not talk about it. Her mother-in-law, Regine, however, told us that the wife was barely two months pregnant when Onana boarded his flight for Russia, with hopes to secure a good job once he got to Russia and would support his wife. The couple already had two other kids. Onana, who is believed by his family to have been killed by Ukrainian soldiers, never saw his newborn baby, whom his wife was pregnant with at two months old at the time of his trip to Russia.
“She is greatly traumatized and in huge debt,” Regine’s mother-in-law explains. “The people she borrowed money from are already asking for their money back, and she is now a single mother with no job, so how is she supposed to pay them back?” Regine asks rhetorically.
She explains that before his trip to Russia, her son had a well-paying job with an agro-chemical chemical company. “He had a good job and a good salary here already. It’s this travel agent, and maybe some of his peers, who talked him into this Russia thing,” a visibly distressed Regine tells us.
The Agent Who Vanished
Regine says she doesn’t know the agent’s name other than “Harrison”. She further explains that once news reached the family that Onana may have been killed fighting for Russia, Harrison switched off his phones and never bothered to call her nor visit. “He is also wanted by several other families for having deceived their sons into going to Russia. He even fled from his office and his whereabouts are not known anymore” she weeps.
All that Regine is left with is huge financial loss and a gaping hole in her heart. “He was my only child,” she tells CNA. “I will never stop thinking of him until the day that I also die.”
- Name has been altered for security reasons, given the sensitive nature of this report.
