Cameroon Echoes {Echos Camerounais}

Rent a Rasta

When white women flock to Jamaica for a little fun in the sun, the R&R they’re often looking for is not “Rest and Relaxation” but to “Rent a Rasta” according to director J. Michael Seyfert. His eye-opening expose’ of the same name sheds light on a barely acknowledged form of sex tourism, namely, white women who visit the Caribbean Islands to get their groove back with the help of black locals. This documentary claims that, each year, as many as 80,000 females from a variety of relatively-wealthy Western nations descend on Jamaica alone.

How to stop HIV spreading in Zambia's prisons

Moral concerns are stopping condom distribution in Zambia's prisons

BBright spent two years in Zambia's Lusaka Central Prison for selling cannabis but fears he now faces a life sentence.

"I did it because of hunger," says Bright softly.

"There's not much food in prison. Sex has become the way of payment."

The wall prevents an inmate from going outside, but the disease has no boundary Dr Chisela Chileshe Zambia Prisons Service medical director

"Conditions were bad," he remembers. "We had nshima [maize meal] and beans two times a day. I never felt full."

One day, the cell "captain" gave Bright extra food, then asked him for sex.

"I had never had sex with a man, but I did it. The first time it was painful, but I joined a group of maybe 20 men who did that.

"Mainly they were people who were condemned, or who had been jailed for 25 years. They hadn't seen women for a long time."

THE MAGNIFICENT AND TRAGIC HISTORY OF THE SHUMOM PEOPLE AND THEIR WRITING SYSTEM

 "No known alphabet was ever invented by a European."1

The Shumom people are the people of Cameroon in West Africa. Their country is located between Nigeria in the West, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Congo Brazzaville in the South and Chad and Central African Republic in the North. Within Cameroon, the land of the Shumom people is located in the northern part. It is a land of massif plateau and mountains, valleys and vast forested land, a part of the great equatorial forest of West and Central Africa. Foumban is the administrative capital of the district.

In the beginning of the 20th century or perhaps earlier, the people of Cameroon were able to accomplish one of the most remarkable African achievements of the century: the invention of a self-sustaining and selfgoverning writing system and a printing device to document the histories of the people. Sultan Ibrahim Njoya, whose father was killed resisting the German invaders, led the invention. The invention that started in the late nineteenth century (I 895 or 1896) was completed by the beginning of the 20' century in 1903. By the time of the Germans arrival, the writing system was in use in conjunction with the Bamum language, which is a tonal language, which means the meanings of a word will vary depending upon the tone withwhich the sound of the word is uttered. The system went through seven stages of development. The first stage had over five hundred pictographs and the last stage has had only 35 syllographs, graphs designed to represent all the phonetic and tone sounds in the Bamum language of the Shumom people.

Why the handshake is a disappearing act in Africa

 

Some bow heads or lie prostrate; others kiss as they banter, but still, the inquisitive handshake has grown to symbolise friendly greetings in Africa.

Deep in Kianjokoma, a small village in the eastern side of Kenya, women shake hands, even hug as they wait for their Sunday service. There is even a moment on their families, how the past week has been. This is a sharp contrast to a scene in central Nairobi where women arrive in their cars, walk straight to the church and have little time to catch up after the service. There is work waiting back in the house, or a family outing to attend.

Sex Workers to Boycott Labour Day

The decision aims to counter the Wouri Senior Divisional Officer decision to ban prostitution in the city.

A band of sex workers commonly called « liberal sisters » last Monday convened an extraordinary general assembly at the Njogmabi neighbourhood in Douala to retaliate the recent administrative decision which interdicts prostitution at the Bonanjo residential area. In their final communiqué, the “liberal sisters”, made up of school dropouts, widows and outlaws, stated emphatically that their activity has not only helped reduce the rate of unemployment, poverty and crime among women, but has also contributed immensely in tourism development, given that they play an indispensable role to host and guide many visitors.

Why African art is having a renaissance

 African art has long been about more than just tribal masks and traditional carvings, and now contemporary African artists are being recognized globally.

The Johannesburg Art Fair recently showcased the works of 400 African contemporary artists, attracting more than 10,000 visitors. Organizer Ross Douglas told CNN there had been an explosion of interest in African art in recent years.

"Africa has always had a strong tribal art and a strong craft component, and that will always stay, he said.

"But that doesn't mean there can't be a contemporary market existing alongside that, and if you look in South Africa at the contemporary market in the last four or five years, it's absolutely exploded.

Reporter offered child slaves

 

 Working undercover to reveal the extent of forced child labour in Côte d'Ivoire's cocoa industry, a Danish journalist openly was offered to buy as many children as he wanted for €200 each in Mali.

Miki Mistrati, a reporter at the Danish daily 'Extra Bladet', went undercover in Côte d'Ivoire and Mali, claiming to own a cocoa plantation, to investigate whether any progress had been made in reducing child labour and forced labour in the cocoa industry. 

Patrick Awuh on Educating Leaders

History through a hundred looted objects

The most remarkable thing about the British Museum's forthcoming collaboration with the BBC — A History of the World in 100 Objects — is the almost total lack of critical response to the project from any quarter save for a few lonely voices of indignation echoing from the African subcontinent. 

Instead we've witnessed a nauseating media hagiography of British Museum director Neil MacGregor in which he single-handedly educates the world from the comfort of his beautiful Bloomsbury office. We hear of "Saint Neil", a "suave and smooth-talking Scot", with a "lilting highland brogue", a "skilled diplomat" with "infectious schoolboy enthusiasm", a "natural storyteller" and "the most fortunate man alive."

IMBALU: Circumcision Party In Uganda (Warning: Contains Explicit Content)