The couple have been seeking asylum in Britain ever since and set up home in Bury, fighting a high-profile campaign with the backing of RAPAR, a Manchester-based human rights organisation. Mrs Besong’s play, titled How I Became An Asylum Seeker, has been performed to critical acclaim in Manchester, Liverpool, Salford and London. The couple have fought and lost a series of appeals against Home Office decisions refusing them leave to remain. It resulted in celebrity authors joining forces last year in a bid to prevent their deportation. A letter was sent to the government signed by more than 30 leading writers, actors and journalists, including Brick Lane author Monica Ali, Stockport-born journalist and author Joan Bakewell and About a Boy and Fever Pitch author Nick Hornby. Former Children’s Laureate Michael Morpurgo, whose novel War Horse has been transformed into a Hollywood blockbuster by Steven Spielberg, and top stage and screen actress Juliet Stevenson, led the campaign. Today it was revealed by the couple’s legal team that they have finally won leave to remain. The couple’s legal team said the UK Border Agency has five days to appeal the decision. Lydia, 40, said: “I am very pleased with the decision and hopefully it will be a final decision. The outcome is just brilliant although the UK BA still has some time to appeal. “We want to thank all our supporters. Myself and my family were just looking for safety and now we feel safe. “It has been horrible over the last six years. We have been in detention and we have not been allowed to work. But now our lives are free and we are so, so grateful. It has been horrible but now we feel sure that we can look forward to our lives.” Gary McIndoe, their solicitor, said an asylum tribunal ruled that their political and cultural activities would place them at risk should they be returned to Cameroon. Mr McIndoe, of Latitude Law, Manchester, said: “The tribunal has recognised that Lydia and Bernard’s political and cultural activities will place them at risk if they are returned to Cameroon. This is a deeply important victory for everyone interested in ensuring the safety of our refugees.” The couple, long standing human rights activists who have been detained twice during their asylum fight, claimed asylum when they arrived in the UK at the end of 2006 and were housed in Rochdale, where they were members of the congregation at St Ann’s Church, Belfield. They now live in Bury and are members of the Bury AcaPeelers Choir. Lydia’s most recent play Down with the Dictator – recently performed in Manchester and Bury – is set in Cameroon and explores themes of power, political corruption and censorship.

Paul Britton | May 17, 2012 | Manchester Evening News|

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• Playwright Lydia Besong overjoyed with deportation victory after six year fight(menmedia.co.uk)

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• Cameroon couple win asylum seeker status after long fight(guardian.co.uk)

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• Playwright wins political asylum(bbc.co.uk)

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“But, I’ve never actually gotten the full value,” Meza said in Spanish. “The minutes I’m able to use don’t add up to the dollars I paid. And when you call customer service there is no one there to help you, never.”

While prepaid calling cards have, for most Americans, gone the way of the dot matrix printer, for millions of people with friends and family abroad like Meza, the cards remain frequently purchased items. About 13 percent of the American population, or 40.1 million people, were born outside the United States and likely have family and friends living outside the country, according to Census data. Prepaid phone cards are often used by Hispanic, Asian and African immigrants because when fees and rates are clearly disclosed, they can provide an inexpensive connection to their community abroad, without a credit card. They eliminate hard-to-predict phone bills and can be used by people who lack at home Internet connections where cheaper calls can be made, industry analysts say.

But all too often, prepaid calling cards are difficult to use wisely, according to a new report released Tuesday by Consumer Reports. People who use the cards can find themselves lost in a morass of often undisclosed small fees, deceptive marketing, questionable packaging and surcharges that eat away at their call time but add up to big dollars for the companies behind the cards.

The Federal Communications Commission, a federal agency that regulates communications companies, is expected to issue an industry-wide advisory notice — a formal buyer-beware statement about the prepaid calling card industry — on Tuesday. The agency has also created a consumer guide and English and Spanish-language fact sheets to help those who purchase and use the cards, and it encourages consumers to contact the agency with complaints about specific prepaid cards.

Consumer complaints spurred the agency to bring enforcement actions against five prepaid card issuers in late 2011. The agency is seeking a total of $25 million in fines after it found a pervasive pattern of undisclosed fees, charges that eat into the advertised call time for which consumers have paid and other problems, said William Freedman, Deputy Bureau Chief, FCC Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau.

“One company advertised something like 1,000 minutes of talk time at a very low rate,” Freedman said. “But the company failed to disclose the extra low rate only applied to the first phone call. So unless you had a single 2-hour conversation, you would be paying a much higher cost for every subsequent call. And that was just one company.”

Consumer Reports examined more than 130 cards and found an array of problems. One company offered a $5 card with 20 hours of talk time to those calling Mexico City while a competitor charged $2 for a five-minute call to the same location. Other cards included an activation fee or daily maintenance fees that began sapping value the moment the cards were purchased or used.

In other cases, prepaid card companies marketed calls at one rate but charged consumers another, said Keith Gordon, a New York State assistant attorney general in the New York State Attorney General‘s Bureau of Consumer Frauds and Protection. The New York Attorney General financed the cost of the Consumer Reports analysis with proceeds from an enforcement action it brought against a prepaid calling card company last year.

Other companies allowed consumers to make a first call at the advertised rate then subsequent calls at what was usually a much higher and often undisclosed rate, Gordon said. And, at least one card advertised 1,000 calling “units” but only disclosed in fine print that the units amount to 2.5 hours of talk time. The disclosure was printed on the marketing posters that remain behind after consumers purchase the cards and take them home.

And, perhaps in recognition of the fact that most of the cards are purchased by immigrants, in-store displays and throw-away packaging for the cards often disclose fees and surcharges in a variety of languages. But, Gordon said, disclosures printed on the cards themselves are often printed in English only.

“That to me seemed intentional,” said Gordon.

With many Americans using the Internet to make calls, some may wonder why prepaid calling cards are an issue of concern for consumer advocates and regulators, said Robert Tiernan, managing director of Consumer Reports, a nonprofit consumer research organization that also publishes product buying guides and a magazine.

“It turns out that this is a billion dollar business. It’s very, very big,” Tiernan said.

Actually, consumers spent about $3.3 billon in prepaid calling cards for domestic and international calls in 2009, according to a market analysis produced by ITC, a market research company, in 2010. And while the amount spent for domestic calls is dropping sharply, spending on international calls peaked at $2.2 billion in 2006. It is expected to fall to $2.1 billion in 2013, according the ITC report.

On average, prepaid calling-card consumers were able to use only about 60 percent of the talk time purchased for calls, according to the same ITC analysis. The rest was typically eaten up in fees and surcharges.

Maza, who thought that calling cards were a quick and low-cost route to frequent international calls, said she plans to sign up for some sort of at-home long distance plan.

Janell Ross | May 10, 2012 | Huffpo

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IPSN : Votre laboratoire a dû fermer ses portes durant deux mois du jour au lendemain en fin janvier 2012, que s’est-il passé ?

Gillette Leuwat : Cette décision de fermeture de mon laboratoire est tout simplement incompréhensible. Mon institut est ouvert depuis plus de 11 ans et nos clients ont toujours été satisfaits par la qualité de nos produits et de nos soins.

Pour nous, il s’agit clairement d’une attaque de la concurrence qui a manipulé les services de l’Etat en faisant croire que nos produits sont dangereux. Les sociétés cosmétiques qui commercialisent des produits chimiques et incitent la population à s’abîmer les cheveux et la peau, voient d’un mauvais œil l’émergence de la Cosmétique Alimentaire Naturelle.

Il faut bien comprendre que ce genre de difficultés ne vient pas par hasard. Elles proviennent d’une dénonciation douteuse ou d’un acte de malveillance. Les autorités administratives ont déclenché leur contrôle sur la base d’une lettre anonyme quelques jours après un salon de beauté à Paris pendant lequel j’ai donné des conférences pour présenter mon activité. Lettre anonyme que nous n’avons pu obtenir qu’un mois et demi après la fermeture, après de multiples relances et grâce au tribunal, car nous souhaitions d’abord comprendre ce qui se passait et alerter nos clients en cas de problème.

Le messager inconnu a déclaré ne pas aimer l’odeur d’un de nos produits… et a prétendu avoir eu des effets secondaires nocifs suite à l’utilisation de ce produit. Je tiens à préciser que la plaignante a souhaité conserver l’anonymat et qu’elle n’a livré aucun certificat médical pour appuyer son accusation. Et curieusement, les autorités administratives qui ont décidé de nous fermer au vu de cette simple lettre en décrétant que la plaignante avait eu des effets indésirables graves et qu’on mettait la population de Paris en extrême danger, refusent à présent de lever son anonymat et de l’obliger à faire des analyses médicales pour prouver ses allégations.

J’ajouterai que nous mettons tout en œuvre pour fabriquer des produits sains et pour éviter le moindre risque, si risque il peut y avoir. D’abord par la compétence, je travaille au quotidien avec un pharmacien et je suis diplômée en sciences de la nature. Mais aussi par une politique de sécurité rigoureuse. Nous avons suivi les protocoles nécessaires pour tester nos formules dont je rappelle qu’elles ne reposent que sur des ingrédients 100% naturels, dont 90% sont alimentaires : de la carotte, du citron, du miel, des huiles de fruits par exemple. S’il est avéré que ces produits ont un effet bénéfique en tant que cosmétiques, en revanche personne n’a réussi à démontrer que des produits comestibles pouvaient être dangereux pour la peau ou les cheveux. L’idée même fait sourire.

Mais toutes ces précautions n’ont pas suffit pour empêcher l’administration de nous mettre à la rue sans aucune explication.

Ce que je ne comprends pas au fond, c’est l’injustice et la sévérité avec lesquelles nous avons été traités. Nous avons été victimes de descentes musclées de la police avec les agents de l’administration. Normalement, il faut qu’il y ait mort d’homme pour fermer une boutique de cette manière! Et si vraiment il y avait un danger, il aurait fallu nous interdire de vendre tous nos produits. Mais rien de tout cela n’a été fait. On a juste été bloqués pendant deux mois durant lesquels les agents de l’administration sont venus régulièrement nous contrôler accompagnés de la police, comme s’ils souhaitaient nous prendre à défaut. Les policiers eux-mêmes ont avoué avoir été surpris que l’on mobilise un tel dispositif pour si peu, ferme une activité sans aucune explication valable et pendant une période aussi longue!

Nous noterons qu’entre temps, les 14  chefs d’accusation – rien que ça ! – du plus insignifiant au plus farfelu, motivant l’arrêté préfectoral de fermeture temporaire, ont visiblement été abandonnés.  Les tests réalisés sur nos produits ont confirmé qu’ils étaient 100% Naturels et sains.

A dire vrai, les agents contrôleurs cherchaient à acquérir nos formules de fabrication. Nous avons vraiment eu l’impression d’être persécutés pour le bon plaisir d’une administration au service de la concurrence.

IPSN : Pourquoi les produits naturels et alimentaires sont-ils si mal vus par l’administration ?

Gillette Leuwat : C’est un paradoxe mais c’est à cause de leur nouveauté. En effet, même si les ingrédients que j’utilise sont connus depuis toujours et font partie de notre alimentation, les formules que j’ai développées sont à la fois toutes nouvelles et inédites tant bien sur le marché français, qu’international. Tous les autres concurrents utilisent des molécules chimiques et des produits détergents qui tuent toutes les bactéries, ce qui est normal pour des produits de synthèse. Mais c’est très différent pour des produits naturels alimentaires. Ces derniers sont vivants et par définition ils gardent un taux élevé de bactéries bénéfiques et même essentielles au maintien de notre bon état de santé. Tuer ces bactéries rendrait les produits impropres à la consommation. C’est un peu comme si l’on s’amusait à mettre des produits nettoyants dans nos aliments. En fait, le vrai problème, comme souvent, est juridique.

Aujourd’hui, la législation est uniquement prévue pour des produits de synthèse et impose un faible taux de bactéries dans les produits cosmétiques. Il faudrait prévoir un nouveau cadre pour les produits naturels dont les propriétés sont nécessairement différentes.

Et attendant, ce que j’observe c’est que les résultats de nos produits sur nos clients sont plus qu’excellents et tous ceux qui commencent chez nous ne reviennent pas à la cosmétique classique. De quoi inquiéter les concurrents…

IPSN : Comment en êtes vous venue à développer ces produits ?

Gillette Leuwat : C’est très simple. J’ai grandi en France, et je suis originaire du Cameroun. Il y a 20 ans je suis revenue dans mon pays d’origine où j’ai remarqué que les femmes arboraient de belles crinières et avaient un teint magnifiquement unifié. Or en France la quasi-totalité de la Gent Noire n’a plus du tout cette qualité de cheveux ou de peau. La majorité des femmes noires souffrent d’une alopécie (chute de cheveux) souvent aiguë et sévère. En menant mon enquête, je me suis aperçue que l’utilisation régulière de cosmétiques de synthèse et le lissage systématique des cheveux constituent des attaques, qui répétées dans le temps, dénaturent complètement le cheveu et abîment considérablement le cuir chevelu. J’ai donc voulu proposer une alternative à ces femmes en modernisant les techniques ancestrales africaines de soins pour les cheveux. Or, ce qui était vrai pour les cheveux, l’était aussi pour la peau, si bien que j’ai agrandi ma gamme de produits. Et au fil des années, j’ai pu proposer des produits pour tous les types de peaux et de cheveux.

IPSN : En quoi est-il important de se battre pour faire reconnaître la spécificité de votre activité ?

Gillette Leuwat : Nous en sommes aux balbutiements de la Cosmétique Alimentaire Naturelle qui aujourd’hui encore fait partie des produits de luxe.

Mais il serait absurde de ne pas chercher à développer un secteur qui répond si parfaitement aux nouvelles attentes des clients dans ce domaine. Nos modes de consommation contemporains et citadins mettent à mal nos peaux et nos cheveux. Or, les produits de synthèse ne répondent pas à ces agressions, je dirai même, qu’au contraire, ils y contribuent.

L’avenir de la cosmétique se situe donc bien plus du côté des produits 100% naturels. Mais pour garantir l’essor de ce secteur d’activité, il faut proposer un nouveau cadre juridique. Cela passe par l’Europe. Nous devons saisir la Commission Européenne de cette question.

IPSN | 23 Avril 2012 | IPSN|

The prize, which includes an award of $10,000, will be presented to Ashuntantang at Commencement in May.

The three-member selection committee – comprising President Walter Harrison, Provost Sharon L. Vasquez, and student Elizabeth Deer ’12 – surprised Ashuntantang with the news on Monday. The group, carrying red and white balloons, walked into Ashuntantang’s new office in the Shaw Center at Hillyer College, where she was advising a student.

A clearly delighted Ashuntantang was congratulated by Hillyer College Dean David Goldenberg and by many of her colleagues in the Hillyer English Department.

Ashuntantang is the fourth winner in the history of the Belle K. Ribicoff Junior Faculty Prize, which was established in 2009. The three previous winners are Michael Robinson, associate professor of history in Hillyer College; Catharine (Cat) Balco, assistant professor of painting in the Hartford Art School; and Bryan Sinche, assistant professor of English in the College of Arts and Sciences.

The annual prize, together with an endowed chair for junior faculty, were established through a generous gift from Belle K. Ribicoff, a long-time supporter and life regent of the University. Each year, the prize recognizes an outstanding junior faculty member – one who is in a tenure track position, but not yet tenured. The Belle K. Ribicoff Professorship will be awarded every fourth year to one of the Belle K. Ribicoff Junior Faculty Prize winners of the prior three years. The selection process for the Belle K. Ribicoff Professorship will begin in the fall of 2012, with the expectation that the professorship will be named in the spring of 2013.

Teacher, Mentor, Scholar, Poet, and Performer

Ashuntantang, who is originally from the western African nation of Cameroon, joined the Hillyer College faculty in 2009. Since that time, she “has distinguished herself as a teacher and mentor, scholar, poet, and performer,” according to the letter of nomination from Professor Marcia Seabury, chair of the Department of English in Hillyer College.

A recognized scholar in the field of African literature, Ashuntantang is the author of several books, including a collection of her poetry titled A Basket of Flaming Ashes. Her vibrant, high-energy teaching style draws on her combined experience not only as a scholar and poet, but as an oral interpreter and actress.

“Joyce contributes a welcome versatility of teaching areas to our students,” Seabury wrote in her letter of nomination. “She brings her expertise in non-western literatures to our Literature Across Cultures Course, launched our new African American Literature course, has taught the Survey of Minority Writers in Arts and Sciences, and is currently leading the interdisciplinary humanities honors seminar, ‘Art on a Mission: When Art Goes Beyond Itself.’ ”

Ashuntantang’s impact on students also extends beyond the traditional classroom. For the past two years, Ashuntantang has organized and led a highly successful Black History Month celebration called “Words Like Trees,” which invites students to read and perform speeches, songs, and poems from prominent African Americans who have influenced black history. She also has led the first two years of Hillyer College’s English Summer Bridge program, helping incoming freshmen with the transition to college.

“She has been an important force for positive change: a teacher-scholar who has lived and worked in many cultures and who brings her cross-cultural experience, creativity, and drive to our students, our college, and our university,” wrote Michele Troy, associate professor of English and director of the Hillyer College Honors Program, in a letter supporting Ashuntantang’s nomination.
Unotes Daily| Tuesday, 10 April, 2012 | Unotes Daily

I contacted Pr. Ayim to request an interview and without hesitation, he took some time off of his busy schedule to grant us this interview. Pr. Ayim’s book is one of the books that should be readily available in all schools and universities, home, public libraries, and bookstores across Cameroon, and in Africa. Why should you buy this book? You may ask. The answer is simple and straightforward. At last, here is a book that will help government entities, public health decision makers, Dean of medicine in universities and colleges, school principals, educators, etc. to shape a comprehensive plan to define health policies, school curriculum, as well as for self education in the areas of “Communicable Diseases.” read on…

CWN: Pr Ayim, Happy New Year 2012! and congratulations on your new book. Please introduce yourself to our readers.

Happy New Year to you to. My philosophy in Community Service and academics is captured by this quote by Einstein “The aim of education must be the training of independently acting and thinking individuals who, however, see in the service to the community their highest life problem.”–Albert Einstein.

CWN: What are “Communicable Diseases”, and how does one prevents them?

Communicable diseases are diseases that are transmissible from Person to Person, or from animals to persons, directly or indirectly. They are caused by viruses, bacteria, fungi, metazoa/protozoa termed infectious agents. The focus of Chapter one is to define and clarify these terms in contemporary ways to set the pace for the language of epidemiology.

CWN: Why do we need a book that specializes in “Communicable Diseases?

Our youths are dying in numbers due to HIV/AIDS. Cholera is resurging in developing countries. The Old are burying the young, a reversal of trend when the young should be burying the Old.  Lack of Education being at the root is the real motivation for my writing my book on “Communicable Diseases for School and Community Health Promotion”. While in Nursing School Bamenda, we had a Community outreach session in 1979 and I remember how difficult it was in Bambui to convince locals that Worms are not part of the gastrointestinal tract. From then, I made up my mind to set out to where I am (USA) and to do what I have started (write books to start a Curriculum) to address the health education problem in developing countries in a culture-appropriate , age-appropriate, and readability-appropriate manner. Health education messages must be tailored in cognizance of Cultural values. I feel it is time to take health education to our Schools as part of the Curriculum. This book is tailored to readability level from Form FIVE. Someone out there should advocate for Governments to adopt this book and make it mandatory for schools and professional institutions,community health programs, & Universities in the Nation. There is NEED! We have to start somewhere to address this problem holistically through COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL HEALTH EDUCATION, not only lament about it. I can  provide leadership in this direction. It is coming from the HEART. Yes, our youths need vigorous and, well tailored sequential education. Knowledge is Power. I will say more to excite you during my upcoming Book Presentations and signings because I have thought this through carefully for my 20 years of teaching at Grambling State University, where I have successfully built a Health Promotion Academic Program from scratch and graduated Students in it with BS degrees. It is a communicable disease prevention journey I have started for developing countries. Stay tuned for my book presentations in your area and come prepared to take on a new challenge to Community Service through Academia. Get a copy of the book and you will be glad you did to know how to prevent 132 communicable diseases.

CWN: How many books have you written? And who should read this book?

I stayed focus for why I left Bamenda to America. As I progressed from BS Public Health Administration at Indiana to, MPH, then Ph.D in Health Education at Texas A & M University, College Station, Texas, I always sought for answers to this problem. Therefore, my first book was my Dissertation titled ” A Comparison of Cultural Perceptions between the Widikum and Chamba Ethnic groups of Cameroon”. I remember friends said it will be difficult to gather data, or get permission to do this. I stayed firm and told them I will prove them wrong. I went to Washington DC and spoke face to face with the then Ambassador Pondi, then wrote to the then Minister of Health Joseph Owona and, of course, I received a reply and permission for the study in 1992. I was in Bamenda under difficult circumstances but successfully gathered my data, thanks to overwhelming cooperation of the Fon of Bali and the Fon of Guzang and the Fon of Widikum. The main reason for braving this was that, If I left home because I saw a need, it made sense to go back conduct research and document facts for further practical work. As I finished the Ph.D in 1993, I went to the University of Buea and met the then VC, Dr. Njeuma, who slapped me on my face that Cameroon had no money to employ me, even when I chose to come on Summers. You can imagine educating yourself on no Government scholarship and be given such an answer. Believe me, I told her a few angry things.

I then made up my mind to teach in a Historically Black University in the USA, turning down offers from others, because I wanted to feel aligned with my philosophy of community service. This book, “Communicable Diseases for School and Community Health Promotion” is the second in my profession and the centerpiece for solving the problem that I diagnosed before going to America in 1984. Every person who can read this book is encouraged to so, because though written in a textbook format, it appeals to ALL and SUNDRY across the board. At some point it will be translated to other languages to reach a wider audience. The third publication is a model I developed for planning Community Health Promotion Programs titled “INDICATE MODEL”. INDICATE is an acronym for Identification and Community Assessment, Nurturing and Community Organizing, Decision-Making and Program Planning, Implementation, Coordination and Communication, Appraisal and Community Feedback, Team Building and Inservice Training, and Evaluation. This will be a chapter in the next book” Culture-Based Community Health Promotion”, which is going to hinge heavily on the findings of my dissertation and community organizing.

CWN: You said that “Health education messages must be tailored in cognizance of Cultural values.” What do you mean by that? What example can you provide us to illustrate that statement?

Yes, Health education in a community setting must recognize and respect cultural values, beliefs and practices. To change or modify behaviors, you must do it not through coercion. People want to feel dignified and participate willingly to effect change. Again, my experience in Bambui while a Student Nurse in Bamenda is case in point. We went to the Community and never went to the Fon to seek permission or alert our presence, feeling that since we were Government people, we could just  move on. The people refused to listen to us and of course before we knew, the Fon sent a message inviting us to the palace challenging our presence. We apologized. Thereafter that we had huge crowds attending our educational sessions. One person in the group, an opinion leader challenged us that Worms are normal for any human intestines and that without worms in the stomach, people will die. The people agreed with him and we never succeeded in making our point at that session about how to prevent Intestinal Worms. We went back and made more investigations about it only to discover that what they meant by worms was “Small Intestines”. The lesson here was to identify a few Opinion leaders and talk with them first and then use them to reach out to the people. This would have clarified cultural beliefs and practices of the people saving us the embarrassment we had. This will be the focus of the upcoming book “Culture-Based Community Health Promotion”.

CWN: You are suggesting that health education should start in our schools from Form Five. Why not at a kinder garden level?

Yes I agree, having a curriculum starting from Kindergarten and progressing from General to specifics with a culture appropriate and age-appropriate curriculum is great. By citing Form Five, I was taking into consideration the readability level of this textbook.

CWN: What type of leadership can you provide to our students, and educators, or other interested parties?

One thing must be clear that there are health professionals out there. Sometimes you find them joggling between many other public health responsibilities because of lack of personnel. I remember as a Nurse in Ndu, I was conducting, deliveries at the health center (Midwifery), performing Minor surgical procedures, doing community and school health talks, and screening for diseases, and making prescriptions. Prevention is in three levels-Primary, Secondary and Tertiary. Health Education/Health Promotion as a profession and academic discipline is Primary Prevention. That is prevent the disease before any person even gets it. It hinges on Behavior Modification and Behavior Change. My leadership will be to create a positive collaborative environment to ensure the profession of Health Education/Health Promotion is given its deserved recognition and is aligned with international Standards. Development of a Sound Academic BS /MS Curriculum in Health Education/Health Promotion in the department of Community Health is a must. There is a NEED. In the USA Health Education/Health Promotion is approved as a Profession by the Department of labor. It has its Code of Ethics and National Standards of Practice. Certification is at two levels, CHES for BS, and MCHES for Masters and Ph.D. In Louisiana I served on the State Grade Level Expectation (GLE) Task Force for Health Education. I enjoy being a Health Education/Promotion Professional.

CWN: The Cameroonian government will be interested in working with you if it becomes aware of your expertise. How do you envision cooperating with the branches of the government in charges of public health and education?

I am a People-Oriented Person. Collaboration in service is always the key. No one knows it all, No tree makes a forest. It is important to Utilize SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportuinities and Threats) as guide to functioning. HIV/AIDS is killing our Youths. Cholera is resurging, other communicable diseases abound, Malaria, Schistosimiasis, intestinal parasites etc are there. Primary Prevention (Health Education/Promotion) in Schools and Communities will save lives, increase quality of life, prolong longevity, increase life expectancy, reduce health care costs, boost productivity, and empower people to make intelligent health decisions. This should be at the forefront of any health care delivery system. Good Health is Wealth.

Admin | January 11, 2012 | Cameroonwebnews|

The book is available at: http://www.authorhouse.com/  www.Amazon.com/  and Barnes and Nobles Stores. To order, go here

Pr. Martin Ayim can be contacted at this address: atakyen2002[at]yahoo.com

More about the book and the author:
Press Release Communicable Diseases for School and Community Health Promotion

When the weather allows it, Didier can see, from the Medina of Tangier, the Spanish city of Tarifa, the doorway to a dream that might never come true: getting to Europe. “I am confident that once in Europe, I’ll make it!”, he affirms.

Didier is a Cameroonian citizen. He did not reveal his real age: “I’m twenty-four years excluding taxes, but with taxes I’m twenty-eight”, he bursts out laughing.

He has a fake age and a fake name too. The fake age is for the prospective football clubs he was hoping to join here in Morocco. Revealing his real age would have ruined the chances of this former junior Cameroonian international. As for the fake name, it is intended to avoid trouble with the police. He chose the name Didier in tribute to his favourite football player, Ivorian striker Didier Drogba.

15km to paradise

Sitting on low wall in the old city of Tangier, Didier is facing Tarifa in Spain. From here, he can see the wind turbines and roads on the mountains, beyond the 15km wide Strait of Gibraltar. Fifteen kilometres looks like no distance at all for Didier, who has travelled thousands of kilometres across five countries. “I am frustrated as I can see Spain every day. The sea is the only thing standing between us and paradise”, he says.

Didier has been stuck in Northern Morocco for two years, living in squalid buildings with other clandestine immigrants, helping the bishop of the Spanish church after the service. He also occasionally poses as a guide, taking tourists around the Medina and the Kasbah in Tangier. “At least they treat us like human beings and we manage to earn a few dirhams”.

Didier has kept his hopes alive for two years. He almost made it once, when a Spanish woman fell in love with him and tried to obtain a visa for him. “But once again, I was victim of the racism here against black people. The Moroccan employees at the Spanish consulate didn’t even bother looking at my application”, he says.

Called slave and harassed by children

During the time I spent in Didier’s company, I witness a scene that he claims happens to him on a daily basis. In front of the city’s Spanish cathedral, a Moroccan beggar calls Didier a slave as he passes by. “See? Even crazy women do not respect us”, says Didier. Children also laughed at him and other sub-Saharan immigrants like him. “We don’t pay attention to such things anymore. Anyway, I will get to Europe, where there are human rights”, he adds.

Didier gets his image of Europe from watching television. “I watch TV5 and France 24. There is a lot of money there. People eat 15-Euro sandwiches and drink 10-Euro coffees at the Champ Elysées, in Paris”, he says. An image that is exaggerated and idealised by the sugar coated accounts of his ‘brothers’, who do not reveal the difficulties they have encountered in Europe. “Even the immigration detention centres are better than our homes. At least we get food”, he explains.

Last attempt

Didier remained enthusiastic over Summer – convinced that one day he would cross the Strait. Since then the rain has started falling on Tangier, there are fewer tourists and the prospect of another winter in this Moroccan coastal city has shattered his hopes. To make matters worse, the Spanish and Moroccan governments are now working together closely in the fight against clandestine immigration and more stringent immigration policies are in place in Europe.

Didier has made up his mind: he his trying to make enough money to go back to Cameroon. “There, I will try to start a small business, selling clothes”. Hopefully, in his home country, he may live in dignity.

Thibaut Cavaillès, Tanger | January 2, 2012 | RNW |

La commission nationale de recensement général des votes a débuté ses travaux jeudi dernier par la diaspora. Que ce soit en Espagne, en Chine, en France, Italie, en Suisse, Israël, Algérie Maroc, Sénégal, Nigéria, Japon, Afrique du Sud, Allemagne, Tunisie, Gabon, Grande Bretagne, Belgique, République centrafricaine, Ethiopie, le parti au pouvoir, le candidat du Rdpc est sorti victorieux.

Les écarts de voix entre celui-ci et les candidats de l’opposition oscillent entre 50 et 100 voix. Mais en Egypte, Garga Haman Adji, le candidat de l’Alliance pour la démocratie et le développement (Add) l’a battu de justesse. L’écart entre les deux est de 3 voix (35,55% contre 37,77%) sur l’une des places fortes de la révolution dans le monde arabe. Cependant, le mandataire du Social democratic Front (Sdf), Me Mbah Ndam prend ces résultats avec des pincettes. «A ce niveau nous n’avons pas le pouvoir d’apporter les réserves sur les votes de la diaspora» relève-t-il. Et de poursuivre : «Au vu des résultats que nous avons, l’on se rend compte que la commission locale de vote de la diaspora a fait un travail téléguidé depuis le ministère des Relations extérieures.

Les représentations diplomatiques n’ont inscrit sur les listes électorales que ceux qui devaient voter pour le Rdpc».

Hier au cours des travaux, le dépouillement des résultats de la ville de New-York n’attribuait aucune voix au parti John Fru Ndi. Comme le souffle d’une trompette, les membres de la commission ont attendu le mandataire du Sdf s’exclamer: «Ils sont allé voter pourtant ces Camerounais vivant au Etats-Unis avaient demandé au Sdf de ne pas se présenter aux élections!». Et Mbah Ndam d’ironiser: «ce sont les membres de l’ambassade du Cameroun et leur famille qui ont voté». Cette blague a fait sourir toute la salle. Au moment où nous mettions sous presse hier les procès verbaux du Brésil et de l’Arabie Saoudite étaient encore attendus aux greffes de la Cour suprême.
Réagissant à des complaintes de certains mandataires de l’opposition, Clément Atangana, le président de la commission nationale de recensement général des votes (Cnrgv) indiquera : «Notre travail selon l’article 30 de la loi N°92 du 10 du 17 septembre 1992 fixant les conditions d’élection et de suppléance à la présidence de la République est de faire les décomptes des votes tout en redressant s’il y’a des anomalies sans verser dans le contentieux». La Cnrgv rend son rapport à la Cour suprême ce jour.

Pascal Dibamou (Stagiaire)| 17 Octobre 2011 | Mutations |

Les résultats du vote des Camerounais en France donnent Paul Biya, le candidat du Rdpc, au pouvoir depuis 29 ans, vainqueur avec 64,97% des suffrages exprimés. Il est suivi de loin par Kah Walla (8,66%) John Fru Ndi (6,54%), Jean-Jacques Ekindi (3,96%) Garga Haman Adji (3,31%) et Adamou Ndam Njoya (2%). Ces résultats ont été communiqués par la commission Elecam en France.

Pour l’anecdote, au moins trois candidats ont enregistré zéro voix. Il s’agit de Simon Pierre Atangana Nsoé de Grand Cameroun, Marcus Lontouo du Congrès national pour le progrès et Georges Nyamdi du Social Liberal Congress. Dimanche, plusieurs électeurs à Paris ont d’ailleurs déclaré n’avoir jamais entendu parler de la moitié des 23 candidats en lice.

Cinq bureaux de vote ont été installés dans ce pays qui compte près de 40 000 Camerounais recensés. Les quatre bureaux de France Nord ont été installés au sein de l’ambassade du Cameroun à Paris, et celui de France Sud à Marseille. Sur les 1774 Camerounais inscrits au total, seul 900 personnes se sont effectivement rendues aux urnes, pour un taux de participation de 60,52%.

En France, l’élection présidentielle du 9 octobre 2011 s’est déroulée « dans le calme et sans couac », selon Frédérique Fenkam, observateur de l’Union démocratique du Cameroun. Le parti d’Adamou Ndam Njoya est la seule formation politique de l’opposition à avoir désigné un scrutateur pour cette élection en France.

Stéphanie Dongmo | 11 Octobre 2011 | Le Jour |

Related articles

• 2011 Cameroon Presidential Election – Voting Results from New York, NY, USA (cameroonwebnews.com)
• Kah Walla: “There was rampant fraud by the CPDM as well as poor technical management by ELECAM” (cameroonwebnews.com)
• Cameroon policemen on poll duty killed at a Polling Station (lebs295.wordpress.com)

Sylvie

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Après la signature du décret d’application de la loi portant vote des Camerounais établis ou résidant à l’étranger le 8août dernier et l’envoi officiel de missions dans divers coins de la planètes aux fins de lancer les opérations d’enrôlement de potentiels électeurs, il s’agit là d’un pas supplémentaire dans l’opérationnalisation du vote des Camerounais de l’étranger. Il convient de noter qu’une partie de la diaspora, qui réclame la prise en compte de la double nationalité et l’avènement d’une commission nationale électorale indépendante prône le boycott de la prochaine élection présidentielle.
G.A.B | 30Aout 2011| Mutations

Médias: Rsf propose un guide des élections
Jules Koum Koum, représentant au Cameroun de Reporters sans frontières (Rsf) a présenté hier à Yaoundé le «guide pratique du journaliste en période électorale». Même s’il estime que cet outil qui viendra pas résoudre tous les problèmes dont font face les hommes de média en période électorale, il y voit une lampe qui éclairera le journaliste durant cette période.
Au cours de la cérémonie de distribution aux journalistes, il énonce clairement l’opportunité de la conception du guide. «Il s’agit de combler un vide car il n’existait jusqu’à présent aucun ouvrage de la sorte en langue française, mais surtout d’appuyer les journalistes dans leur mission d’information en période électorale», affirme Jules Koum Koum. Le «guide pratique du journaliste en période électorale» accompagnera par conséquent les hommes de médias dans leur mission d’information du citoyen électeur pour ainsi contribuer à la prévention des violences en période pré et post électorale.
Aïcha Nsangou (Stg)