Evelyn Chuabe was born in 1969, as the first of seven children, to parents, Gabriel Gunyam, a blind coffee farmer and Angelina Yieh, a local seamstress in Mbesa, a remote village in Cameroon’s Northwest region. She had her basic education in Djottin, a neighboring village to Mbesa, and later attended St. Pius X Teacher’s Training College, Tatum, where she trained and graduated as a Grade II teacher. She later married Thaddeus Chia, a prince from Achain, another neighboring village with whom she had 2 children. The couple lived and worked in Yaounde, Cameroon. Evelyn passed away in 2007, at the age of 38 years old, a few years after her beloved husband.

After her studies, Evelyn bore the responsibility of educating her siblings and taking care of her aging parents. She was not just a ravishing beauty, but a loving mother and a reliable sister. She laid the foundation for the education of many who today are leaders and key figures in the Mbesa community. Her children are glad to honor her name and legacy through the establishment of the Evelyn Chuabe Scholarship and Mentorship Initiative, a scheme created to encourage and support not just the education of Mbesa girls, but all African girls, and equally, promote in African communities a culture of higher education in order to foster empowerment and community development.