Daily Archives: September 7, 2009
Cameroon Book : Betrayal of Too Trusting a People
History of the Southern Cameroons
Betrayal of Too Trusting a People: The UN, the UK and the Trust Territory of the Southern Cameroons, Carlson Anyangwe, 2009, ISBN 9789956558810, 260 pages, 216 x 140 mm, Langaa RPCIG, Cameroon, Paperback
There is a growing body of literature on what was originally envisioned as a free political association of the French and British Cameroons and its dramatic effects on the ‘British Cameroons’ community. Anyangwe’s new book is an attempt to write the history of the Southern Cameroons from a legal perspective. This authoritative work describes in great detail the story of La Republique du Cameroun’s alleged annexation and colonization of the Southern Cameroons following the achievement of its independence, while highlighting the seeming complicity of the United Nations and the British Trusteeship Authority. In the process, Anyangwe unravels a number of myths created by the main actors to justify this injustice and, in the end, makes useful suggestions to reverse the situation and to restore statehood to the Southern Cameroons. The book is rich in archival research and informed by a global perspective. It convincingly shows the uniqueness of the Southern Cameroons case.
How to get a copy
From the African Books Collective:
http://www.africanbookscollective.com/books/betrayal-of-too-trusting-a-people
The African Mosquito – Tiny … but deadly?
Deadly disease
If, like me, you’ve had malaria, then you’ll know that it is not just a minor illness. Malaria kills.
Sue Mbaya from World Vision says:
More than nine out of ten malaria-related deaths happen in sub-Saharan Africa. Malaria takes nearly one million lives a year, 85 percent of which are children. Mosquitoes and their deadly bites deliver a steady blow to millions of already struggling families, sapping their productivity and income, and snuffing out the next generation.
Even as many African countries continue to make hard-earned economic progress, the financial toll of malaria remains a roadblock to these economies reaching their full potential. And with the global economic crisis already threatening to cut into Africa’s gains, the effects of malaria should serve as a wake-up call to the international community.
All told, malaria costs Africa an estimated $12 billion in lost economic productivity each year, while consuming some 40 percent of government health expenditures in countries where it is endemic, according to UN and World Health Organization assessments. Africa Focus
It is common knowledge that malaria is spread by mosquitoes but the ‘life cycle’ of the parasite is complex. Here is a video that explains it.
Not all mosquitoes are created equal
Did you know that there are over 140 species of mosquito in Africa? But only 7 of these are known to carry malaria!
A recent article on IRIN NEWS tells of the discovery of a new species of mosquito that has been discovered by South African researchers. They don’t know yet if it carries malaria or not.
“Using the unique mosquito breeding facilities at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases [in Johannesburg], we were able to carry out a range of experiments to show that the mosquitoes from Malawi were not the same as Anopheles funestus, and that we were dealing with a species new to science,” Coetzee said in a statement on 1 September announcing the breakthrough.
“The results have implications for malaria-vector control, particularly any attempt to use genetically modified mosquitoes. They also demonstrate how little we know about the malaria mosquito vectors in Africa despite over 100 years of research into this important disease.”
The important thing is that research needs to be done to learn more about these tiny insects that create so much pain and suffering.
Finally, here’s my favourite mosquito quote:
Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference has never tried to fall asleep with a mosquito in the room.
Christie Todd Whitman
Minorities and Indigenous Peoples 2009
UNICEF State of the World’s Minorities and Indigenous Peoples 2009
The report reviews the challenges that minorities and indigenous peoples face in education and strategies to overcome them. The recommendations, which are reproduced in this volume, are first and foremost built on the existing international legal framework of the right to education, minority rights and the rights to non-discrimination and to equality.
How to get a copy
Download the report (pdf) here
African Languages and Literatures into the 21st Century.
Against the Odds, African Languages and Literatures into the 21st Century.  Charles Cantelupo. 2007, ISBN 9781904855866, 55 pages, 229 x 152 mm, Hdri Publishers, Eritrea (Hardback), £34.45
About the DVD
This DVD contains original footage and material from an international conference held in 2000 in Asmara, Eritrea on African languages and linguistics. The conference brought together over 250 writers, scholars, academics, cultural activists, artists and publishers from all regions of Africa, Europe and North America. It takes up the legacy of the famous African writers conference held at Makerere University in 1962, and culminates with the formulation and ratification of the ‘Asmara Declaration on African Languages and Literatures’, a declaration of linguistic independence for the continent.
This film brings together a star line up and of literary writers and scholars intervening in the language debate from all parts of the African continent and the diaspora, including Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Nawal al Saadawi (co-chair), Kofi Anyidoho, Abena Busia and Kassahun Checole. Much of the conference was conducted in African languages, including Hausa Fulani, Kiswahili, Zulu and Tigrinya. All African language texts are sub-titled in English. The film includes footage of a Tigrinya translation of the play by Ngugi wa Thiong’o, I Will Marry When I Want.
The contributors contend that African languages, oral and written, are the continent’s most valuable cultural asset and resource, challenging the notion of ‘there being no languages in Africa’. On the contrary, they advocate for African languages ‘what intellectuals the world over have done for their languages’; for an understanding of languages as a key link in development and democratisation processes, imperative to literary expression, cultural confidence and popular use. The material presented remains unpublished elsewhere; the production of this CD hoping to make it accessible to a wider audience.
How to get a copy
Buy from African Books Collective
http://www.africanbookscollective.com/books/against-all-odds