Up Station Mountain Club

Brain Drain: The Personal Journey of Dr. Valentine Ngwa

Interviewed by Dibussi Tande (Originally published on Scribbles from the Den in 2006)

“How does one continue to sacrifice when some big shots are growing fat on the spoils; the Government, the Mission - all corrupt!Sacrifice will only bear fruits when it is participatory; you sacrifice, I sacrifice." Dr. Valentine Ngwa

Shortly after he obtained his medical degree from the University of Benin in Nigeria, Dr. Valentine Ngwa returned home to practice medicine. Then some six years later, he packed his bags for Britain where he now resides. In this interview Dr. Ngwa candidly explains why he originally went back to work in Cameroon, why he ultimately sought greener pastures abroad, and what it would take to bring him back to Cameroon:

Alice Kom: Fighting for Gay Rights in Cameroon

Christi van der Westhuizen interviews ALICE NKOM, Cameroonian lawyer (Originally published by IPS)

In 2003, Alice Nkom made a decision that has put her on a collision course with the police, prosecutors and judges of Cameroon. Nkom, who has been a barrister at the Cameroonian Bar for 40 years, was chatting with some young men whom she considers her own children.

She realised they were gay. Not only that, having gone after school to France to study and only ever living there as out gay men, they were oblivious to the extent of the persecution they faced for expressing their sexuality in Cameroon. Extortion and unfair prosecution of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people are common occurrences in the Francophone west African state.