From the steep hills of Nso in Bui, North West region of Cameroon, Wirba Mary Grace is using her victory at the 2026 Mount Cameroon Race of Hope to fight for children left behind by poverty, limited schooling and disability.
At the heart of Grace’s humanitarian dream is ‘education’. She believes that every child deserves a chance, whether or not they excel in traditional academics and insists that talent must be identified and nurtured.
“Even if they are not very strong in academics, at least they should use their talents, and with the talents, someone has to develop it.” Grace explains. She added that she is determined to go back home and stand behind the next generation from her community.
Grace’s humanitarian vision is deeply rooted in her own perilous childhood journey. She recalls starting primary school without passing through nursery while trekking about 3 to 4 kilometers on hilly terrain every day between the ages of four and eleven just to attend classes. These difficulties made her sensitive to the plights of children. “Back home there are still lacking in education”, she says.
Her humanitarian commitments extend beyond her village to children with autism and people living with disabilities. This inspires her choice to run the 2026 Mount Cameroon Race of Hope under team Toghu Marathoner, a team whose vision includes supporting children with autism and those with disabilities.
“One of his visions is to sponsor them, maybe not now but with time.” She explains referring to the team’s founder. I feel that he has a good vision, and I am also in support of that so it was one thing that made me to run under Team Toghu.” Grace comments.
Grace’s journey to the top of Mount Cameroon started with the junior category where she ran and finished 2nd and 3rd several times before finally winning the junior race in 2015. 2025 was her first time to run the Senior category and she finished the race 4th before her victory in 2026 under 5 hours 15 minutes.
When she won the women’s category of the Race of Hope, she saw the victory as a possible way to finance her humanitarian ambitions. “If I have to engage back again, this might be able to finance what I want to do, because what I get does actually nothing.”
Aside being an Athlete, Grace is also a referee, teacher and a mother. Blending these requires absolute discipline. “At times, I eat just once in a day, and it’s really like a routine,” she admits, describing how her packed schedule often leaves little or no time for a proper meal.
This discipline goes with her lifestyle “I don’t drink. Sport is my passion, before getting into refereeing, I didn’t want to get out of sports completely, and also teaching. That is my original career.” She says, highlighting how each role feeds into her broader mission to guide and protect young people.
Her dream is that her achievements on the mountain open doors and attract resources so she can build educational support and talent development programmes for children in Nso and beyond.
