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Showing posts from 2014

BAKA: Music from the heart of the rain forest

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http://forestvoices.com/post/85738112453/march-14th-concert-at-the-british-high http://bakabeyond.bandcamp.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KtyJHq7oHM&feature=youtu.be

Chris. Fomunyoh "Je reste optimiste pour le Cameroun, car nous sommes un grand pays et un grand peuple avec plein de richesses matérielles et humaines" - 24-03-2014 - icicemac.com

Chris. Fomunyoh "Je reste optimiste pour le Cameroun, car nous sommes un grand pays et un grand peuple avec plein de richesses matérielles et humaines" - 24-03-2014 - icicemac.com

Cameroon: Cry the beloved internet

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In 2010 or some time earlier, the Cameroonian government made a whole show talking of the its newest baby, a project to put up a back bone optical fibre connection throught out the country. I remember that project because I was the news anchor reading the article. Many years down the lane  and I am wondering what has become of this project. My thoughts switched to this famous back bone optical fibre project after I spent an entire week trying to submit my last Online Networking and Employability Award assignment. I do not think I have ever been frustrated by the internet in Cameroon as I was in the past 4-5 days. It is not only about the deadline missed but also about the time, energy , efforts and adrenaline spent in the struggle to post a 5 minutes video and send a one page word document. It is in situations like this that I see why some countries are termed developing or under developed.  The lack of internet connections coupled with the numerous black outs mad

Online Employability and Networking Award: Presenting Anne-Chantal Besong: A video

This video is a presentation of the skills I have learnt through the University of Leicester's ONE  Award and how I plan to show case my personal brand and improve on my online presence through my blog and other social media sites.

MDGs: Africa running the race

Africa is on track to achieving MDGs 2 and three on Education and Gender Equality targets. Poverty has declined by about 24 % between 1990 and 2011 in Southern, Central and Western Africa.  But the high level of inequality in several countries makes the relation between growth and poverty reduction ineffective.   Follow CoM 2014 live (and recorded) web streaming of the indaba. 

Once upon a pygmy

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The pygmy. I am certain that for most people when they hear this word they start expecting to see very short human being; Lilliputians of sorts . But the pygmies are not just short persos but are a tribe , one which i discovered had a rich culture and in Cameroon there exists several pygmy tribes. But the most famous are the Baka pygmies. Famous for their deep knowledge of the forest and their care for it a fame however that is more of bittersweet for them as its has also earned them a bad public image, that of second class or even third class citizens in Cameroon.  I was touched by what these talented people have had to endure all in the name of forest governance and management. Caught between the desire by the international community to protect the forest and the governments desire to blindly please which has led to bad forest laws and policies; the Baka pygmies, I learnt, have had to lose their essence, their home , the cradle of their culture, the forest. It

Online networking and employability: My experience

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A few months back I used to hear people say “ I have a social media account in order to network with other people ”. To me this meant hooking up with old school mates and friends, well that is what I saw most people around me doing anyway. So when I thought about getting other social media accounts I felt like what for? I do not want to bug my head with so meaning pass words. To me networking online and selling one’s skills could not be done. With so much content and chatting who will see me and my skills? How will they know the kind of person I am without seeing me face to face? But later this thought changed as I saw more and more people whom I respected and considered as role models inviting me to join this or that social media and when I checked their profiles it looked so professional and I thought to myself so what do I have to lose? But the big bang!!! That finally convinced me that networking online and em ployability were real and serious and not just some

50th Reunification anniversary of Cameroon: An anniversary for laughs

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18th of February 2014, here i was driving to work happy to be on time then  BAM!!! , road blocks every where!!!. Then i asked myself what was happening, but before all the questions came up from my head I had an answer. President Biya was up to something.  Ah! I said, he should be going for the celebration of the 50th annivesary of the country which is taking place from the 16-20th of February in Buea. But then I started getting annoyed when after several turns I still could not get to work. Now what?!!!! Reunification activities are taking place else where , why should we suffer when we are kilometers away?? The more I got annoyed, the more funny it all became. Where in the world have we seen the 50th anniversary of a country celebrated three years after the scheduled anniversary? So actually it is the 50th Reunification anniversary celebrated on the 53rd anniversary date!!! Hahahahah, what a joke and I confirmed the adage "Impossible n'est pas Cameroonai

My first steps as a blogger

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When I had to help my former boss in ensuring that each time he travelled out of the mission he wrote a blog, in used to find it as easy task but when I was asked to write a blog in his stead once I did not find it easy. The words will not just come. I kept asking what I should say. Barely a year has passed since then and now if somebody should say I am a beginner in the area of blogging I am sure those who know will laugh and say no. But yes it is my first time. Dabbling around the blogger interface was not an easy task at first, but thank God! for the Leicester University Online Networking and Employability course I am presently taking, it has made things much easier. For example when I was setting up my blog I named it Announcing the Commonwealth Games in Cameroon but today while looking through the notes from the first unit I said to myself if I have to use my blog to show my personal brand to the public, it is supposed to bear my name as title. S

2014 Celebrating a united Commonwealth

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I clearly understand the need behind this theme, but while sitting at the preparatory meeting i had with other Commonwealth stake holders in my beloved country i wondered; can we really celebrate a united Commonwealth? Tough question it is because presently not all Commonwealth countries approve of Sri Lanka and the UK's decision to host the last CHOGOM-Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting there. But yes in another way we can celebrate those small areas where the Commonwealth has agreed on unanimously like sports for example. The tour of the Queen's Baton is another. And I came to a conclusion, many little areas of unity within the Commonwealth if celebrated and appreciated may spur more unity within the group  and when that happens, we may indeed speak of a Team Commonwealth.

Announcing the Commonwealth Games with the Queen's Baton in Cameroon

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The arrival of the silver baton bearing the HM the Queen's Message to all athletes in the Commonwealth landed in Cameroon on the 8th of January. I was at the airport in Douala to receive the three man team bearing it and the three BBC journalists accompanying it to document its journey through out the Commonwealth nations. It all seemed very protocolly if i can use that word but when we all relaxed and got to understand the meaning behind the baton, it all came down to one thing promoting good governance, respect for human rights and promoting democracy among all member states of the gentleman's club. The baton spent a wonderful three days in the two major cities of the country moving from hand to hand  borne by dancers, roller skaters, market women, and school children; each of them receiving the message on the importance of the Commonwealth and its values. But like all things a la Camerounaise the President of the republic was not there to rece