Cameroon Echoes {Echos Camerounais}

One Childhood

Rarely do we come across a video that is visually beautiful, intellectually stimulating and emotionally inspiring.  “One childhood” is a documentary about how schools and schoolteachers in Eritrea are part of the campaign to improve children’s health.  

African History: Cheikh Anta Diop

Cheikh Anta Diop (1923-1986) was an African historian who, in a series of studies, dramatically and controversially maintained that the scope of Africa's contribution to world civilization was considerably larger than heretofore acknowledged.

Cheikh Anta Diop was born at the end of 1923 in Diourbel, Senegal, a city reknowned for spawning great Islamic philosophers and historians. He received his higher education at the University of Paris (France), where he earned a doctorate of letters and was active in African student politics. Upon returning to Senegal, he joined what is today the Institut Fondamentale d'Afrique Noire, where he founded and ran the only carbon-14-dating laboratory in Africa. Diop experienced the great explosion of independence which began in early 1958 in Ghana. The hope that this movement created soon turned sour, as former European colonial powers, unseen, remained in control. Diop led and founded two political parties in Senegal: the Bloc des Masses Senegalaises in 1961 and a few years later the Front Nationale Senegalaise, both of which were outlawed by the government on the grounds that they threatened destruction of the existing order.

African History: Davidson Nicol

1924 – 1993

Davidson Nicol was born on September 14th 1924 in Freetown,Sierra Leone, Africa. His father was a

pharmacist who worked in Sierra Leone and Nigeria. His father’s science books fascinated Davidson Nicol. He became interested in science at school and after he left

school he became a science and maths teacher. He then became a technician in a science laboratory.

In 1943 Nicol came to England and went to Cambridge University to study Science. He got a first class honours degree. He wanted to become a doctor and a scientist. He applied to London Hospital Medical College to learn to become a cardiologist (a heart specialist). Due to racism, Nicol was not able to do that. Because of his name, the college thought he was white man who had an

excellent degree. Whey they realised he was African and black they refused to allow him into college. 

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.

9-Year-Old African Twins Become Youngest High School Students In History

Two nine year olds known as the Wonder Twins for their record-beating exam results are set to become the youngest pupils admitted to a British secondary school.

The twins were the youngest children to gain a maths A-level

According to Skynews, Paula and Peter Imafidon, from Waltham Forest, London, amazed parents and teachers when they passed an A-level maths exam at the age of seven.

The twins have been waiting to find out which secondary school they will attend, along with thousands of other youngsters - who are two years older - across the country.

Peter and Paula, who attend a state primary in London, were helped by their three older brothers and sisters, all of whom were also child prodigies.

Patrick Awuh on Educating Leaders

Zimbabwe education system in crisis

 Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe's president, was once hailed as the man who made his country's education system a success.

In spite of political and economic problems in the country, Zimbabwe has one of the highest literacy rates in Africa and once boasted some of the finest public schools on the continent.

The Boys from Cameroon

Kenya scandal splits political elite

As a bitter power struggle rumbles on among Kenya's elite after the suspension of two ministers amid corruption scandals, the BBC's Will Ross in Nairobi assesses the impact of the graft on the country's young. Donors are worried funds are being looted from Kenyan schools In a primary school in a Nairobi slum more than 80 students are squeezed into one classroom. As the teacher tests their science knowledge, the wide-eyed children raise their hands in unison. There is a real hunger to learn here. But these students and others across the country are the victims of just one of the high-level corruption scams eating away at the public coffers.

Le Collège Lhyssouck détruit

Cet établissement privé créé en 1954 au quartier Elig-Effa a été rasé par les engins de la Communauté urbaine. 

L’espace vide laissé par le Collège Lhyssouck, devenu Collège de La Rénovation depuis 1992, donne lieu à un mini marché. Planches, pierres, clous et vis de ce qui, il y a deux jours, était encore un établissement privé, sont vendus aux plus offrants. La Communauté urbaine de Yaoundé a commencé des « casses » au quartier Elig-Effa depuis quelques semaines. Le collège n’a pas été épargné. Des copies d’élèves et des papiers administratifs se confondent dans les débris. Les propriétaires, fils du fondateur Edouard Lhyssouck, n’ont pas terminé leur déménagement et ont été surpris par les bulldozers.