Semnwuha.k.a Claude Batle, is 30 years old and has fully developed male and female sex organs.

These double sex organs, rather than give the man-woman double pleasures, instead attract discrimination, false accusations and risk of lynching. Menstrual cramps crown Semnwuh’s predicament.

“During menstruation, I have to pad myself. But it is challenging to wear a pad because the manhood hanging up there, prevents me from completely padding myself.

The menstrual cramps make things more bizarre,” Semnwuh told The Post in an exclusive interview.

Sometimes ago in Douala, Semnwuh, who hails from Santa, Mezam Division in the Northwest Region, narrowly escaped lynching when he-she was suspected of being a homosexual. Before that, he-she had been a victim of mob beatings on several occasions.

“I am a hermaphrodite, not a homosexual. Once people accused me of raping a nine-year-old boy, while others said they caught me forcing an old woman into sex,” Semnwuh said.

The same nature that endowed Semnwuh with both male and female sex organs seemed to have double-dealt him-her.

“I have never been privileged to be in a romantic relationship, not to talk of having sex with anyone since I was born, be it a girl or boy.

Certainly, I feel the urge like every other person does, because the organs are there.

When I feel attracted to someone, both sexual organs are stimulated simultaneously, making the thought of sex more disheartening for me,” Semnwuh said.

The most painful part of this dual sex thing, said Semnwuh, is that you cannot have sex with a man even if you feel like doing it.

“It is even more difficult to have sex with another hermaphrodite because both male organs are erect and thus collide with each other.” Semnwuh recalled a scrape with death in a market in Douala.

“An angry mob in Douala almost put an end to my life when it mistook me for a gay. The people found it unbelievable and unacceptable that a human being would possess two sex organs.

They, therefore, concluded that I was a witch or wizard who had to be eliminated,” Semnwuh, told The Post.

Hard to Find Jobs

If Semnwuh finds it difficult, if not impossible to enjoy sex, he finds it even harder to land jobs. One of his-her mother’s 12 sons, Semnwuh acts to earn a living.

“Everywhere I go to look for a job, people shun me. They treat me with contempt when I sell in bars.

They do not want to give their houses to me for rent. In fact, I am looked upon as a persona non grata, undeserving of human attention.

“It is God who created me like this, not I myself. If I had an opportunity to choose, I would not be so greedy as to request for two sex organs. I sometimes go for days without eating, because of lack of money.

I equally sleep under trees, because people refuse to rent their houses to me for fear of being bewitched. Presently I am lodging in an inn,” said Semnwuh.
Government too, has been reluctant to recognise Semnwuh and his-her kind.

Semnwuh heads an organisation called Association of Hermaphrodite Persons in Cameroon presently made up of 14 members but their efforts have so far failed to legalise the association.

“We have compiled several documents and forwarded them to the different institutions that we deem competent to tackle our situation, but they always reject our files or claim that they are missing,” Semnwuh complained.

According to Semnwuh, two children of six and ten years respectively, have been operated upon and their sex organs corrected.

Dream of Marriage

Semnwuh said he dreams of one day having a surgery to remove one of the sex organs.

“My greatest joy will be to marry and hear the cry of a baby I can call my own. If God will be merciful to me and send people who can finance my trip to
Spain, I will forever be grateful,” said Semnwuh.

“Our association is looking up to the government and well-wishers to consider our plight and to raise some funds that could be used to sponsor our operation, without which, our dreams and aspirations may never come true,” Semnwuh pleaded.

Semnwuh appeals to the social welfare bodies in the country to carryout sensitisation campaigns to make people understand that they are normal human beings.

This, Semnwuh explained, will reduce the unjust mob beatings they are subjected to, and also make employers open their doors to them.

Self-Sex& Suicide

Although some medics claim that a hermaphrodite can make love to oneself and get pregnant by sending sperm to the female organ, Semnwuh said, “When the manhood is sexually aroused, it becomes hard and stiff, and therefore unbendable.

The scientists explain what they think, without actually consulting us so we can relate the realities of what science is ignorant of.”

Semnwuh said several times he-she has contemplated committing suicide and even attempted to jump into the River Wouri, but for the intervention of passers- by.

The hermaphrodite, who desires to become a prophet of God, said he-she remains optimistic that one day enough money will be raised for the corrective surgery to be done.