TRENDS

It used to require little effort to obtain charcoal throughout the North Region of Cameroon . Charcoal is employed in the preparation of food, for domestic and commercial purposes in the majority of homes, as these households are not financially viable enough to acquire more expensive forms of fuel such as domestic gas. to many, its advantages also include its producing little or no pollution, it is cleaner, and more economical.  However, for a region that sits squarely on the Sudano- Sahelian belt , this practice is detrimental to the environment. trees here are few and far-between, and the landscape is increasingly being exposed and is degrading due to the indiscriminate felling of trees. Aridity is accelerated, and so is drought. Water shortages are becoming increasingly frequent, and the scorching, suffocating heat from direct sunlight hitting the earth is  unbearable. It is against this backdrop that authorities of the region have resumed the campaign t...

Garoua City- dwellers in the North Region of Cameroon are finding the notion of having to guide commercial motorcycle riders they hire quite unsettling, as it becoming more and more recurrent. This was not the case some months back, customers complain. To them, the growing phenomenon only points to one nerve- wracking revelation: the number of strangers in town is burgeoning.  Even more disturbing on the part of these new-in –town  bike riders is the fact that they insist they know the destinations required of them just to persuade the customer to get on, then along the way either ask to be guided, or get lost, trying to find their way blindly. Then they ask more than they originally charged, owing to their having consumed more fuel than is necessary, roaming aimlessly. Many of such riders I have had the opportunity to talk to, say they left the Far North region of the Country plagued by threats of Insecurity especially in some of its far-flung localities, for mor...

This is as real as schooling can get for children in most remote villages of Cameroon , especially in the three Northern Regions of the country. Schooling effectively depends on the weather here, as during the rainy season, such classes are drenched in water. Most of the kids, whose parents are subsistence farmers, often miss classes, on account of their having to assist their parents on farmlands, or in cattle rearing. The majority of the teaching staff on their part are employed by parents, who often pay in cash or in kind, such as the offering of farm produce to the school. On a meagre salary of ten thousand CFA francs per month, the teachers barely get by, relying on their zeal and dedication to fulfill their mission. They say the satisfaction of imparting to the youngsters much needed education is the most powerful galvanising factor, that keeps them going, and little schools such as these thriving. It is the wish of such schools' officials that the Cameroon...

                                                                                        Groundnut fries made from the paste Crunching noisily with undisguised delight, eight-year-old Fadi suddenly freezes, then turns and looks straight at me. "What?", she queried. " Haven't you ever seen someone chewing?" I hurriedly appologised, and then told her of my curiosity about her snack, which to me looked so appetizing and attractive. Her annoyed expresson quickly transformed into a glowing one, evidently relishing the prospect of having to unravel the fascinating process of creating a batch of fried groundnut paste to an ignorant human being. "First, your mindset must be prepared, for the process is an age ...

  These traditional instruments are typical of northern Cameroon, like the rest of the country. Used in different ceremonies, the flute and the drum also have a historic and traditional significance. The invention of these instruments, dating as far back as the fifteenth century, has given another dimension to african dances. these dances are often a way of teaching social patterns and values, and helps shape the values of any given community. In traditional Afircan culture, every aspect of life has specific music to accompany the telling of a story. That is why to youths like Mousa, learning the music of one's origin is synonimous to embracing and learning all of one's culture.  Traditional drumming was and still is a powerful means of communication between villages and telling stories that would eventually be transmitted to future generations. So, Mousa doesnt mince words when he says he is an ambassador of his culture, African culture, and all it entails. ...

These traditional storage gourds are more than just a marvel to the eyes of any lover of art. Made from dried melon and millet leaves, the former artfully arranged on a calabash mold, and the latter placed in turn for improved sturdiness, durability and efficacy, the traditional flask is ideal for storing dried vegetables. Mrs Ndjidda Mabame, who employed lots of ingenuity in putting together the device, says the government stands to benefit a lot if resources are ploughed into valorizing the product, given that they are not only convenient and healthy, they are environmentally friendly as they are perfect replacements for plastic wrappings. The skilled craftswoman, along with 359 others who answered present at the 2014 Regional mini- agropastoral show in Figuil , Mayolouti Division , exhibited to the best of their prowess their produce ranging from the choicest crops, to giant animal species, to amazing locally fabricated agricultural machinery. They used the o...

  It all sounds so super good. All you need do is get the raw materials, and the end product is handed over to you as perfect as could be, without much ado. Your laundry, meal, calculations, body vital signs, and extra effort in general, are addressed in less than no time, with just a click of a few buttons, virtual or otherwise. Important chunks of time are saved, brainwork spared, and life as a whole made a lot easier. But within what limits easing life and worries acceptable? Playing is no longer creative, as games of all sorts exist on machines, readymade. Schooling is rendered so easy with devices that the brain is forced to be more or less dormant, to the extent that normal, every day life seems unlivable. How acceptable is this trend, are we on the verge of "idiocracy" ,a point in time when reasoning has become so obsolete that the concept is lost, such that even intelligible sentences no longer exist? Don ’ t you agree that there is a general drop in hu...

With equal parts of eagerness and trepidation, six-month-old Jason Trayvon munches on the piece of biscuit his mother placed in his mouth. It is the very first piece of food he tastes, aside from the breast milk he has known so far and is accustomed to. In a deliberate motion, under the loving gaze of his parents, he slowly bites, sucks, and then swallows the biscuit, but then refuses another piece. For Unity, his mother, the wait for this moment has been long and strenuous, but worth it. “I have had fewer health problems with Jason,” she says. “I was spared the headaches of diarrhoea, dysentery, and other similar diseases, because I stuck to the principle of feeding my son with breast milk exclusively, for the first six months of his life”. All three of her children were exclusively breastfed during the first six months of their lives, and as a result, are relatively healthier and more robust than other children within their age range, who did not undergo ...

It is not in  any way a mystery, that the average person living in Cameroon feels very much more at ease, purchasing and consuming drugs, more often than not ill-prescribed by self-proclaimed, uncertified medical practitioners, whose work environment happens to be the streets or provisional structures. For the common trend is that Governments’ action against unauthorized imported drugs lay emphasis on so-called repression rather than on prevention. It is an all too familiar scenario: a huge quantity of pharmaceutical products, described as illegally imported, including banned substances, set on fire in public, under the glare of local authorities. While governments’ action may underscore their concern for the health of the population, one is nevertheless bound to ask why it is reactive, rather than proactive. The destroyed pharmaceutical products comprise counterfeit, uncertified and unlicensed drugs, which leaves one with no choice but to ask, how the drugs found t...