Up Station Mountain Club

Kenyan Contortionist, Lazarus Gitu

POETRY OF BILL NDI

(Music) Wusai by Nde 'Wax' Ndifonka

"Wusai" is a frank look at the lives of Africans who travel overseas in search of better opportunities, a trend which often has a positive impact...  

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The African Propensity for Permanent Leadership Unraveled

Emmanuel Konde
 
The concept “political power” is nothing but an abstraction that can mean different things to different people according to their fancy. As a reality of life, however, it expresses the existential condition of power occupancy.  Power occupancy, the condition of actually having political power, has some cultural attributes but is not determined by culture.  It is the environment in which the “occupants of power” find themselves that determines the uses to which they employ power and whether they keep it in perpetuity or relinquish it at appropriate intervals. 

Sweet Sugar Cane

Picture of the Day - African Nations Cup: Cameroon Out!

Samuel Eto'o (C) and Pierre Webo Kouamo (R) of Cameroon react after their team lost their African Nations Cup quarter-final soccer match against Egypt at the Ombaka National Stadium in Benguela January 25, 2010.

Ngando Pickett, the Indomitable Lions mascot poses amongst fellow fans during their African Nations Cup quarter-final soccer match against Egypt.

Prepaid Calling Cards Best Prepaid Phone Cards

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Daddis Camara : Hero Turned Villain

By FOGANG Francis*

The situation in Guinea Conakry is increasingly drawing national and international concern. This is not surprising, given the recent vicissitudes that have characterized the country’s political landscape. A year ago, when the charismatic captain announced over the national media that the country had come under the control of the CNDD, he was hailed as a saviour that had come to pull the population out of their sufferings. The hero was later revealed as a villain when he showed his true colours. Was it just a lack of foresight, or was it a mistake caused by external influence?

Camara’s arrival, with his ‘determined efforts’ to mark a break with the past (leading government officials to carryout field trips to supervise water supply projects and so on) were all welcome, especially that he made it clear that the army had stepped in only to cleanse the house, prepare the way for free and democratic elections. In the numerous interviews he granted to explain his team’s motivations, he vehemently insisted that no member of the CNDD (the military in general, turned the executive power of the country), including himself, was interested in politics. He made it abundantly clear that politics was for politicians and that soldiers were to stay in the barracks. If they had taken control, it was only to prepare the stage for genuine elections.

HOMAGE TO NDEH NTUMAZAH, 1926-2010: The Last of the Five Original Nationalists Departs this World

Emmanuel Konde
 
The Union des Populations du Cameroun (UPC) was the original nationalist political party of Cameroon.  Five men constituted the public face of the party as its leaders: Ruben Um Nyobe (1913-1958), Ouandie Ernest (1924-1971), Abel Kingue (1924-1964), Felix Roland Moumiė (1925-1060), and Ndeh Ntumazah (1926-2010).  On January 21, 2010 Ndeh Ntumazah, the last of the original five, departed this world at the age of 83.  Ntumazah was the youngest of the five when he joined the U.P.C. in 1948 at age 22, and was also the last to die.  As the main link between nationalism in French Cameroun and British Southern Cameroons, he played a pivotal role propagating the political program of the UPC in English-speaking Cameroon and was probably the man responsible for unification of the two Cameroons. Had the vicissitudes of history not intervened to unravel the nationalist program of the UPC, Cameroon would probably be a different country today. 

This Week In The Post....

Our New Website www.thepostwebedition.com


 

The Haitian Apocalypse - A Survivor's Tale - (Part 1)

By: Julius N. Fondong*, with intro by Innocent Chia.

When news of Haiti’s earth-shattering quake broke I got worried sick whether my friends and acquaintances had survived.  At the end of a frustrating day of several dead-ended inquiries, I stopped by the home of my close friend and neighbor, Jerome Ewang, to share in the overwhelming burden of not knowing whether or not his brother was alive. Having met his brother a couple of times here in Illinois while on his vacation from Haiti, the tragedy for me was getting unmasked into faces that were familiar and personal. Of all the people that I know in Haiti, Charles Mengale was the one I had last seen, and scenes of his pensive demeanor and quiet presence seized over me. As the minutes crawled into an hour and conversations with Jerome and his wife - Miriam - went on, a visibly restless Jerome was now negotiating with God that “whatever happens, let him turn up alive.”  It was our very own Julius that confirmed to me via Facebook that “when I saw Mengale he was alive but has suffered some serious injuries”. He is currently undergoing treatment in the neighboring Dominican Republic and our thoughts and prayers are with him, his family and the thousands of Haitians for whom the world may never be the same. The Chiareport now presents Part 1 of a survivor’s tale by Julius N. Fondong.

Continue reading "The Haitian Apocalypse - A Survivor's Tale-(Part 1)" » @ www.chiareport.com

When news of Haiti’s earth-shattering quake broke I got worried sick whether my friends and acquaintances had survived.  At the end of a frustrating day of several dead-ended inquiries, I stopped by the home of my close friend and neighbor, Jerome Ewang, to share in the overwhelming burden of not knowing whether or not his brother was alive. Having met his brother a couple of times here in Illinois while on his vacation from Haiti, the tragedy for me was getting unmasked into faces that were familiar and personal. Of all the people that I know in Haiti, Charles Mengale was the one I had last seen, and scenes of his pensive demeanor and quiet presence seized over me. As the minutes crawled into an hour and conversations with Jerome and his wife - Miriam - went on, a visibly restless Jerome was now negotiating with God that “whatever happens, let him turn up alive.”  It was our very own Julius that confirmed to me via Facebook that “when I saw Mengale he was alive but has suffered some serious injuries”. He is currently undergoing treatment in the neighboring Dominican Republic and our thoughts and prayers are with him, his family and the thousands of Haitians for whom the world may never be the same. The Chiareport now presents Part 1 of a survivor’s tale by Julius N. Fondong.

Book Review: British Southern Cameroons Journey Towards Complete Decolonization

Martin Ayong Ayim. (2010) Former British Southern Cameroons Journey Towards Complete Decolonization, Independence, and Sovereignty: A Comprehensive Compilation of Efforts. Vols 1 & 2. Available from Authorhouse.

Ndeh Ntumazah: The Passing of a Great Man!

 By Tazoacha Asonganyi

The death has been announced of Ndeh Ntumazah, President of the Union of the Populations of Cameroon (UPC), in St. Thomas’s Hospital in London on January 21, 2010 at the age of 83.

Pa Ntumazah was a political activist for nearly 60 years. He joined the UPC around 1950 and remained a militant of the party until his demise. When the UPC was banned in French Cameroon in 1955, he was advised by his comrades to create another party in the Southern Cameroons, which would be the UPC in disguise. The party was called "One Kamerun Movement - OK", with Ndeh Ntumazah as its President. Following its banning, the UPC started a war of liberation in French Cameoon, so Ntumazah from the safety of Southern Cameroons, liaised with his comrades in French Cameroon to carry out their underground operations.

Haiti: Shot in the Streets Over Rice

Palapala Magazine Tells African Stories in the Digital Age

International calling card search (Recommended!) From: To:

By Kangsen Feka Wakai (Originally published on the blog of the National Association of Black Journalists)

 Two years ago, when I asked Cameroonian novelist Francis Nyamnjoh about the role of the African writer in an interview published in The Frontier Telegraph Newspaper in Cameroon, he referred to  Chinua Achebe’s assertion in his collection of Essays, Home and Exile, where Achebe states that the role of the African writer is to capture the story of the African community, at home and in the Diaspora, with the respect, dignity and sensitivity that it requires given that Africa, as a continent, has suffered and continues to suffer from stereotypes.

It was the same sentiment echoed by Cameroonian novelist Patrice Nganang, author of Dog Days—an avant garde novel written from the perspective of an urban dog, in an interview with literary translator Peter W. Vakunta published on Palapala magazine when he stated that:

What are you doing to help those in Haiti?

When we spend our treasurable time conversing or arguing why a massive earthquake of 7.0 mag struck Haiti, on Jan. 12, 2010, reducing much of its capital to rubble rather than doing something to help those in need in this country, then we know we are doing something injudicious. It was the worst earthquake in the region in more than 200 years, with several thousands feared dead. Yes, but what are you doing to help those in Haiti?

By Yemti Harry Ndienla  (Originally Published on Prince report)

Just Published: Rock of God - A New Play by JK Bannavti

JK Bannavti|Rock of God | 112 pages | 203 x 127 mm | 2010 | Langaa RPCIG, Cameroon | Paperback Available from African Books Collective (£15.95) and Amazon.com ($19.95)

Overview
Rock of God centres on a significant war that Nso fought with Bamoun in the 1880s, and which war resulted in a devastating defeat for the Bamouns. During this war, a major Nso combat rule was broken: the Sultan (king) of Bamoun was decapitated. Both local story tellers and historians have indicated that the Sultan was only supposed to be captured alive. The play explores some very compelling reasons for this violation. It mocks any attempt at categorization because the events involved are as historically relevant as they are anthropologically profound; as literarily dense as they are linguistically compelling. It surely stands on its own because it clearly combines concepts of docu-drama, morality play, classical theatre, historical drama, and much more. But beyond all else, it is great artistry that demonstrates the genius of experimentation.

Appointments at the University of Buea

Academic affairs office
Head of Teaching Staff Service: Dr. Afui Mathias Mih, Lecturer

Faculty of arts

Vice-Dean in charge of Programmes and Académic Affairs: Dr. Jua Roselyne Mai, Lecturer.

Vice-Dean in charge of Studies and Students' Affairs: Dr. Nyamdi George Dogbina, Lecturer.

Head of Department of English: Dr. Frida Menkan Mbunda-Nekang, Lecturer.

Head of Department of French: Dr. Fandio Pierre, Associate Professer.

Advanced School of Translators and Interpreters

Living in the 21st Century (5): Civility and Polity

 

Louis Egbe Mbua (Originally published in Living Lights)

Better a disposition polite
Than an exposition rude
‘Cause to be rude
Is to be crude
But to be polite
Is to please

Better a low voice spoken
Than a high note shouted
At the top of your voice
‘Cause to shout is to be crude
While to whisper
Is to please

Edwidge Danticat: Stories of Haiti

ABOUT Edwidge Danticat (From TED)

Born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Edwidge Danticat immigrated to the United States at 12, publishing her first short story in a youth magazine only two years later. Spending her teenage years in a Haitian neighborhood in Brooklyn, Danticat was able to capture the isolation and memories of her experience with authentic eloquence in her first novel, Breath, Eyes, Memory, which was selected for Oprah’s Book Club. Danticat has continued to share the stories of her past in the novels Krik? Krak!, The Farming of Bones, The Dew Breaker, and Brother, I'm Dying. She has taught creative writing at New York University and the University of Miami, and is a recipient of the prestigious MacArthur "Genius Grant."

"We all have our traditions, which have both positive and negative repercussions. It all depends on how we integrate them in our lives and whether they serve us or hold us back."

––Edwidge Danticat

African Nations Cup: Must Song Still Go On?

Originally published in the New Vision (Uganda) 

RIGOBERT Song has maintained the same physical appearance for pretty much his entire football career.

Light skin, an intense face surrounded by those trademark dreadlocks, little has changed about the man who has been at the heart of Cameroon’s defence since 1994.

Little has changed except the one thing that matters most, his football.

Assists in ‘own’ goals

In fairness, Song has been decently consistent in the 17 years he has played for Cameroon.

In Memoriam: Lisa Mbele-Mbong - Cameroonian UN Worker in Haiti

Faith Comes By Hearing.com

From the Washington Post

She had fallen in love with Haiti during the heady days when she was fresh out of Smith College and Jean-Bertrand Aristide was the fledgling president of a poor country seemingly filled with promise. By Tuesday afternoon, as she sat in a meeting in a basement room of the U.N. headquarters there, Lisa Mbele-Mbong had worked in Port-au-Prince as a human rights specialist for 3 1/2 years. When the trembling began, she was the first out of the meeting to find out why.

She walked onto a veranda. A large slab of concrete struck her head, killing her instantly, according to her supervisor, who was nearby. As he did every day after school, her 10-year-old son, Nady, was outside the complex with their driver, waiting for his mother to leave work.

This Week In The Post......

Our New Website www.thepostwebedition.com

 
 

 

Horror in Haiti

By Neba-Fuh (Originally published on Voice of the oppressed)

We weep with thee from far away.
Cursing nature's fury on a people deprived
Yelling  in trapped harbours
Mangled by the severity of Earth's wrath.

How dare we forget your hawkish seizure
As Mother-hen wailed to no avail
Dumped in that bare island, for freedom's sake
No route in sight to your Motherland.

By Neba-Fuh (Originally published on Voice of the oppressed)

We weep with thee from far away.
Cursing nature's fury on a people deprived
Yelling  in trapped harbours
Mangled by the severity of Earth's wrath.

How dare we forget your hawkish seizure
As Mother-hen wailed to no avail
Dumped in that bare island, for freedom's sake
No route in sight to your Motherland.

The Politics of Pidgin English in Cameroon

By Dibussi Tande

Culled from Dibussi Tande: Scribbles from the Den: Essays on Politics and Collective Memory in Cameroon. Langaa publishers. 232 pages. Available from African Books Collective, Oxford (£19.95), Michigan State University Press, Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble ($29.95).

Although Pidgin English is the most widely-spoken language in English-speaking Cameroon, and rivals French as the language of choice in some parts of French-speaking Cameroon (particularly in the Littoral and Western Provinces), it is still treated with scorn and disdain by the Elite who consider it a language for the illiterate masses.

Cameroon English: "Polluted" by Pidgin or French?

Memory Lane: January 15, 1971- UPC Leader, Ernest Ouandie, Executed

Originally posted on Scribbles from the Den

As soon as the first salvo is fired, he shouts: "Long live Cameroon" and then falls to the ground. A European officer detaches himself from the group of spectators, walks toward the dying man, puts his hand on his holster, leans forward and shoots... [cited in Jean Ziegler, Les Rebelles: Contre l'Ordre du Monde: Mouvements Armes de Liberation Nationale du Tiers Monde]

Ernest Ouandie, the last historic leader of the nationalist Union des Populations du Cameroun (UPC) under heavy guard.

Saturday, January 16, 1971: YAOUNDE. CAMEROON. A firing squad publicly executed three men in a public square in Bafoussam Friday on charges of plotting rebellion against the government. The men had been sentenced to death with Roman Catholic bishop Albert Nkongmo. But the bishop's sentence was commuted to life in prison by President Ahmadou Ahidjo.

God!!! Why Haiti Again?

By Pastor Eric Mangek Ngum* (Intro and Editing by Innocent Chia)
The human toll in the natural calamity that has blanketed Haiti may be reaching the six figures (100,000) by the time a complete count is done. Unfortunately, that “complete” count may never be complete even as eye reporters are conveying tales not only about mass graves, but also the doubling, tripling and squeezing of corpses into old crypts. Its ugliness is so compounding one easily forgets recent man-made and natural disasters that have sworn the kiss of death on the impoverished Island of Black descent that gained independence in 1804.

 
  
In the several paragraphs that follow, Pastor Eric Ngum Mangek takes the approach of the healthcare professional that must apply iodine to a fresh wound to cut off the bleeding and stop possible infection while the patient is cursing under their breadth. I, Innocent Chia, personally thank God for “Passing Over” the offices of several Cameroonians working in Haiti. Some names that come to mind are Collins, Mengale and our regular contributor on the Chiareport – Julius Fondong. Another friend, Laura was devastated on her Facebook page as she watched helplessly on TV from Cameroon. But could God not Passover the entire Haiti and spare its already afflicted people?

Continue reading "God!!! Why Haiti Again?" » at www.chiareport.com

By Pastor Eric Mangek Ngum* (Intro and Editing by Innocent Chia)
The human toll in the natural calamity that has blanketed Haiti may be reaching the six figures (100,000) by the time a complete count is done. Unfortunately, that “complete” count may never be complete even as eye reporters are conveying tales not only about mass graves, but also the doubling, tripling and squeezing of corpses into old crypts. Its ugliness is so compounding one easily forgets recent man-made and natural disasters that have sworn the kiss of death on the impoverished Island of Black descent that gained independence in 1804.

 
  
In the several paragraphs that follow, Pastor Eric Ngum Mangek takes the approach of the healthcare professional that must apply iodine to a fresh wound to cut off the bleeding and stop possible infection while the patient is cursing under their breadth. I, Innocent Chia, personally thank God for “Passing Over” the offices of several Cameroonians working in Haiti. Some names that come to mind are Collins, Mengale and our regular contributor on the Chiareport – Julius Fondong. Another friend, Laura was devastated on her Facebook page as she watched helplessly on TV from Cameroon. But could God not Passover the entire Haiti and spare its already afflicted people?