STARTING ALL OVER

During the week, I started reading an interesting book by Dale Carnegie. It’s one of those sweet reads you can’t help but make notes of what you’re intellectually savouring. I read the opening words, the first 3 chapters of part 1 and got to a page where he included a letter. It was an e-book, so this particular spot appeared with only signs. I needed to read everything… miss nothing!

I remembered the link from where I had downloaded, thinking I had wrongly downloaded. I went back, downloaded a new copy, scrolled to the page where I was, and lo, the same thing. Then it dawned on me that perhaps that is how the e-book is. Here was I with two copies of the same book. I obviously didn’t want to keep the two, so, I quickly thought to delete one – likely the last download. I hit the delete button. I was left with one copy. When I opened, my head ticked: “Check your notes”. I hurriedly checked and as I feared, I had rather deleted the earlier copy where I had all my notes. I felt like dashing my phone to the wall, slapping myself… but none of these could or would help.

If I wanted those notes, there was only one way out – start all over.

I had already gone into the 65th page or so. How on earth was I supposed to read all that again? Besides, was it even necessary? I could choose to just continue the read, but that will mean I have no notes for the previous part of my read. If I need what I believe I need, then I must start all over.

A couple of days earlier, same thing almost happened when trying to complete an online transaction. The page went out when I had not completed payment. I tried to refresh, the network was bad, and when it did refresh, it returned to scratch. I had to start over.

I dread starting all over. I guess I’m not the only one in these shoes. But the truth remains that sometimes life calls us to start all over, start from scratch.

Had I found notes for chapter 1 and 2, it would have been easier for me; but there was nothing. Had I saved some of the details to fill in for my online transaction, I could have picked up some bricks and continued building, but everything was wiped out. I had to research all the details, gather them anew, input them anew and complete the transaction.

This happens all too often in our lives, in school with courses taken and failed, with relationships that suddenly hit rock bottom, with parents and loved ones who depart this world… these and many others sometimes leave us with this helpless and despairing feeling of what to do. As hard as it may sound and be, there’s one way forward – start all over. Register once more for the course, take the lecturers seriously once more, take the exams once more; meet that new person and re-start to discover who he/she is; learn the new habits, new code words, new life with that person, rediscover the new patterns; learn to re-adapt; if it had to do with forgiveness, forgive and start anew, a new fresh page.

It is hard, yes. But the other option of skipping, jumping stages and simply continuing comes with immeasurable losses. When you start anew, you start afresh. You start mindful of the pitfalls in front of you, and you’re better placed to address them and come out better – victorious.

The year has begun. It’s still time to start all over. A new month comes, the days don’t tire to start anew. Our 24hours are renewed us. The dark comes, but the day comes also. As long as there is day, a today, do not be afraid to step out and start all over, and this time around, start better!

“There is no shame in beginning again, for you get a chance to build bigger and better than before”

Leon Brown.

Being a single lady in my part of Africa

Being a single lady in my part of Africa comes with a lot of startles. Life becomes a chest with each action, reaction and non-action interpreted from the spectre of your marital status. This post in itself will come with its own questions. Lol.

(c) Pairedlife

Social media comes with its own free drive

  1. A friend once offered me a beautiful bracelet. I took a nice shot of it on my wrist and posted on my status. “Oh! I see, you posted to show you are available… there is no ring yet” someone said.  
  2. And then, I was a bridesmaid and got some nice shots of mine “Oh, when are we coming for yours?”
  3. You get a good pic with a friend or acquaintance and share, and then you need to answer “Is that him? Hmmmm just ‘friend’, ‘tell us; is that all we need to know?’”
  4. And then Valentine’s day comes up, and you post a sweet message for whom it may concern, “May the Lord give you your own sweetheart”.

You would think we Christians will better understand God’s ways/Word. Well, get in and hear for yourself.

  1. On a good day after service, you’re called for a small talk “My sister, you shouldn’t be too choosy. Age waits for no one. Even the Bible says there is a time for everything. Make hay while you still got the time to”, a well-meaning father or mother would advise.
  2. When you get a personal experience and you say it out loud that ‘Jesus, I love you. Your love is enough for me’, they quizz “Hmmmmmm are you sure it is Jesus? In short, He will hear your prayers”.
  3. And when I think of a song lyric which says, “He surrounds me with his caring arms and fills my heart with His love”, they come asking “hmmmmm who is the ‘he’ here? Be explicit”. Then another will outrightly say “You do not want to get married so that you can be singing that Jesus is your love?”
  4. You’re listening to a beautiful song, and dancing your nuts out, then someone whispers, “Now I know the song we will play at your wedding”.

General living, growing, decision making, personal development also gets conditioned through the same spectre.

  1. You manage to navigate a challenging year like 2020, and early 2021, you get to manage issues like, “New year, new resolutions. So, tell me, it is this year? When exactly do we get the invitations”?
  2. Now, there’s this really bad road network in some places, and you’ll hear it as “Just manage with the motorbike. If you buy a car now, you will scare away potential husbands”.
  3. And then I realise it’s time to beef up the knowledge in my head. But then, “be careful oh, when you learn too much, you reduce your chances. Many men don’t want to have a woman who knows too much around them. You may go and start challenging them because you are better schooled than them. Slow down with school first”.
  4. You’re maybe considering a career jump, then you hear “that your kind of work…. who will want to marry a career-career lady? You must be wife-material. Make time to stay at home, care for the family, care for the children, etc.”

I can go on and on and on….

While I agree the issue is pertinent and that the questions sometimes make sense, and that these questions are super well-meaning, I just wonder, is this all there is to being a single lady – marriage?

I know [have heard and seen] that it is a beautiful thing – but I won’t say much, because he who has never tasted apples cannot compare it to bananas. Each has got its unique quality and benefit – if anyone makes the most of them.

What I also know is that the above, and much more, put many single women in my part of Africa under pressure – and I’d say… UNDUE PRESSURE. Well, thank God many of the questioners might not get to see this post, else, I’m sure I’d get sermons as to how thinking this way ‘disqualifies’ or “limits” me from tasting the bliss in marriage.

Don’t get it wrong, marriage is a good and honourable thing. And N.B. being SINGLE is also a super good, and honourable thing.

I am a Christian, so I’d always draw virtue from God’s Word. There are many verses that speak either of being single or of being married. However, I sum it from the perspective of Colossians 3:17 – “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him”.

“If you be single, be it unto God; and if you be married, be it unto God”.

And again, being single and having the desire to marry is a beautiful thing, and an honourable one. No one should shame whosoever has that desire; or whosoever does not have that desire. The grass is always greener on the other side, so is this issue at hand. The more reason why, it’s best to make the most of whichever side you find yourself on, for now.

DELIBERATE ABORTION!

This day, 59years ago, was INDEPENDENCE DAY, like it or not.

Well, was it really? It gets tricky putting it on the table in Cameroon without seeming subversive. This is history; the history of Cameroon. Is it a deliberate abortion of relevance?

On October 1, 1961, British Southern Cameroon officially joined the Republique du Cameroun (French Cameroon), birthing thus the Federal Republic of Cameroon.

A major event that led to this was the plebiscite which took place in the British Cameroons (British Northern Cameroon and British Southern Cameroon). The date was 11 February 1961. It was PLEBISCITE DAY, not YOUTH DAY. Over the years, the powers that be have levelled it as Youth Day. Generations rising know it as youth day. Whatever happened to Plebiscite Day? Was it so gory an event that requires it be blotted? Last I read, people did not die. Or did they and we are not told? If they youths are honoured because they came out en masse on that day, why not let the youths of today know EXACTLY WHY the youths of that day came out en masse? Is this another deliberate abortion?

British Northern Cameroon voted then to join Nigeria, and they are there till date. Then president Ahmadou Ahidjo declared June 1 National Mourning Day. That was in memory of our countrymen who had gone to Nigeria. What has become of that landmark? Another deliberate abortion?

British Southern Cameroon voted to join La Republique du Cameroun and we are here till date. One thing led to the other. Sessions, cessions and concessions ensued; the federal system was swooped in a melancholic toss of YES and OUI. Ideas became Spartans. The Trusteeship head and its colonial fingers were blamed. That was what was. The Anglophone crisis has been raging since!

Bloodied water swept under the bridge; 2019 seemed epic. Hurayy, OK leaders were no longer arrested on October 1. Rather, the ‘fire’ hearts made a huge fest. They told who wanted to hear that it was a great day. They printed T-shirts, summoned cameras, sounded gongs in much ado about nothing. That is when the Grand National Dialogue was still steaming in hearts and mouths, intended to masturbate seeking minds and muzzle questioning tongues.

This is 2020, 59years down the lane. Who says what? Everything gets blamed on Covid-19, I’m sure. But the pandemic has not withheld bullets from flying, or soldiers from arresting, or pockets from filling up with cash from another’s brow.

If it be true, I’m sure Foncha and the other October 1, 1961 signatories on the British Southern Cameroon side are rolling in their graves. He lamented before resigning from the CPDM in 1990. The 6th point in his letter read:

“The Anglophone Cameroonian whom I brought into the Union have been ridiculed and referred to as “les Biafrians”, “les enemies dans la maison”, “les traites’ [traitres], etc., and the constitutional provisions which protected this Anglophone minority have been suppressed, their voices drowned while the rule of the gun has replaced the dialogue which Anglophones cherish very much.“

His letter makes me believe so. Like a virgin led to a skanky macho-man – abused, used, wasted and abandoned to a sorry fate, Foncha and co. really do have reason to turn in their graves. They signed this union. All what happened seemed a deliberate abortion. Blotting this day, October 1, in Cameroon, is a deliberate abortion. And I think all what is happening is a continuous deliberate abortion.

  • Crying woman, pain and grief concept, flag of Cameroon
  • Signatories to the reunification deal, Oct. 1, 1961 – Buea
  • Long live a reunified Cameroon: Sthn Cameroon delegates in Foumban, 1961
  • Cameroon for Peace, Prosperity and Performance
  • (c)spreadshirt.com

PEACE

I wish I could look and say “peace be still“,
To raging tempers, bloodied hearts and earth weeping.
But I know together, we can climb that hill,
And pluck for all enough sunlight to be KING.

It takes me seeing Jove in neighbour, friend and foe;
It takes me dishing plates of love, on top of dough;
It takes me lighting candle lights on darkened hopes;
And dishing justice when it’s due for those on ropes.

It takes the will, yes, the might and the plan;
It takes the mighty warding off their devil’s wand.
It takes the weak stamp action to “Yes I can”;
It takes us all advancing through, hand in hand.

I pray this peace becomes a reality….

#defyhatenow
#ShapingPeaceTogether
#PeaceJam2020
#Peace4All
#Right2Peace
#PeaceDay
#HateFreeCameroon
#ProsperousCameroon
#InternationalDayOfPeace…
#PositiveScribbles

No more a-roving down the Sally Gardens

Today I’d like to share with you two of my favourite poems. True I got drawn to the second because of my name…. Sally 😃… but I’ve often been xgtpmhgt why the author added an ‘e’. Lol

Never mind… they bring to mind, my mind, a palace of souvenirs…. blissful and nostalgic.

Love begotten and culled, love enjoyed and endured.

Hufffffff maybe, just maybe I should scarcely go no more a-roving down by the Sally Gardens

Savour! 😘

3 things learnt from 2weeks+ of no taste, no smell!

Ever imagined how Apple tastes while chewing it? You probably wouldn’t, cuz generally, you taste it with each bite. I’ve had to imagine how foods used to taste as I chew them. National delicacies like Eru, Bean stew, kwacoco tasted like nothing.
I remember two days into this ordeal, my lil niece suffering a bout of malaria threw up. I generally might cringe at the idea of cleaning it up… maybe the stench though. But helas…. was this a blessing… nothing, no smell. Just the slime of the spewed content was nazzzzz. The rest… nothing.

Sometime last month, I somehow lost the sense of taste or smell. It felt/feels bad. You can’t differentiate whatever you consume by either its taste or smell. For the first few days, I literally starved the big worms in my tummy. They were eager to consume, but the mouth or throat was weary swallowing tasteless items.

Once I got into the kitchen and my senior sister came running in. She smelled gas leaking. I hadn’t. That was dangerous… I thought. As I stepped out that day, it was drizzling. I remembered enjoying the chalk-like smell that the earth gives out when rain drops kiss the dust. Now I couldn’t. I sniffed around like Tom might do Jerry’s armpits. Lol. Nothing. This made me sad.
At the office that day and others, I’d sip hot tea, chew ginger slices, take teas and anything with a harsh smell with the hope to get anything out of it….Nothing.

I even became a self-proclaimed medic. I conjured up a remedy. If honey be good for the body, and bittercola be good as well, why not mix the two and watch wonders happen. Still…. nothing.

“Maybe you should take vitamins, it helps boost your system and would definitely help you”, my sister would say.

I abhor medicines, more specific, tablets – in any form. Well, I tried it. Took some effervescent vitamin tablets. The once abhorrent nausea feel it generally leaves in my mouth and throat was absent. There was nothing.

Would you doubt I prayed? Ahhh don’t. I did. I still do….. you know what… there’s more. Some things popped to mind in those times, which I’d serve now.

  1. We are often unconscious of the little things we have until we lose them. I am a Christian and would often be grateful to God for His goodness towards me. I’d thank Him for life, health, eyes, family, etc. It’s often off to thank Him for the ability to taste or perceive a smell. That would in the the spur not pop up in my mind. This I have learnt. Life felt somehow sour and colourless without taste and smell. Some detail so small at that moment meant so much that probably, were I from elsewhere, I might have fallen into a depression.
    How many times would we thank God for the fact that our upper teeth can actually clench with the lower teeth, enabling us to chew?

Have you ever imagined eyes without eyelids? Medics will tell you how dangerous that would be. How many of us ever thank our creator for the eyelids of our eyes?

Those few hairs inside your nostrils…. remember them. That black spot in your iris, remember it. That fingernail of your smallest toe, remember it. That cartilage that enables your elbow to bend whenever you want to sneeze ‘new-style’ because of covid-19, remember it.
This is my submission… take nothing for granted. The most insignificant at this time could be the very branch the rest of your life perches on. Take time to appreciate God for it all.

  1. You can actually do what you need to do without you ‘feeling’ like it. I didn’t feel like eating, but I had to eat. So I did. Once at work, I served myself bread and eggs in the morning, put it in a tray and left it on the table until 4p.m. when I was about leaving for the day. That’s when I remembered I wasn’t fasting. I had not eaten the entire day. I didn’t feel like it. My sister soon realised I was growing pale. I soon realised I needed to eat. Eat, not because I felt like, but because I had to. Eat not because I liked to, but because my body needed it to function well. And me being healthy would ultimately contribute to my sense of taste and smell being restored.

How many times have we foregone what we had to do in life because we didn’t feel like it, because it wasn’t so convenient us doing it, or so tasty to us? That doesn’t or should matter. We all know that thing that we must do. We know that early watch we must keep, that expense we must cut, that attitude we must work on, that acquaintance we must sever… let’s do it, not because we like it or feel like it, but because we need to do it. We need it to move forward, to grow.

  1. This is the trick…worrying didn’t help me one bit. The more I worried about it, the more I didn’t perceive smell or have taste. The more I beat heads for it to return ASAP, the less it did. In fact, it didn’t. Did I even tell you I checked online to see whether it was a symptom of Covid-19? Yeah, I did. Read articles, testimonies, possible home remedies and the like. I’m not saying don’t try to fix it. I’m saying, don’t worry too much about it because worry never has solved a thing. I soon somehow resigned. I told myself I could live without smell and taste. I told myself life could go on, and it did. Of course it wasn’t same, but it wasn’t the end. Ther were times I would still pray and wish to have the taste of the Eru I was supposed to be relishing, but I would wield my thoughts to rather be grateful for what I was eating, the mouth I was using rather than focus on that lack of taste. I could still manage to enjoy those foods, buy them, consume them, even cook them. I chose to see colour, actually taste, perceive smell when I actually didn’t.

I’m also not making an apology for pain and resignation as defeat. Depends on how you choose to see it… me, half full. In fact, very full. Just depends on what fills the other part. Hope. Gratitude.

By week 2’s ending, that was how I lived. From time to time, the reality would linger around. But, it didn’t control my every thought. I controlled it. I wielded when I wanted it to occupy my thoughts and when it shouldn’t. It didn’t barge in and overtake every other thing. I literally defeated the fear of whatever I didn’t know. And soon enough… it started finding it’s way back to normalcy. I don’t know if the phrase that says ‘when you ignore something, it starts working to please you’ really works. Well maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t.. God knows best.

I’d leave us with this line from Patience Strong – “Nine times out of ten, if you let things rest, they’ll turn out for the best”.

I’ve heard many complain about loss of taste and smell these days. I’m neither medic nor prophet, but I’ll say this….While the ordeal lasts, sail through it with your head high. Make the most of it, learn a thing or two and get to the other side of it better in spirit than you got into it.

Selah!

The Gambia Six-logy 2 – The bathroom of fertility

Do you remember the pool with the crocos? I am told it has special powers – it gives babies. Its waters are used for the bath of fertility.

Beside the croco pool is a traditional toilet. It is open to whoso is badly in need of a child and believes it can work. Our guide tells me people have actually had their bath in the toilet and it worked for them. It is part of the mystery of the Mandinka people.

You may like the ancient bathroom which triggers fertility! That’s if you believe and want a child so badly! I wouldn’t….. But, make sure to have a visit when next you visit the Gambia.

Well, take a listen as our guide speaks in the video below 😊

Cheers! And don’t forget to stay on for the rest of my Gambia ‘six-logy’ 🙂

Guide at the croco village explains use of the bathroom of fertility
View of the bathroom of fertility and pool where the water for the bath is fetched

The woman who was married for just a day!

There’s this really intriguing woman. She was married for just a day. She married her husband and long-time partner on April 29, 1945. They actually got married at midnight of April 28 breaking 29 of that year.

She was born in 1912. Though she’d been with her partner for over a decade, the latter had refused to marry her. He believed this would come between his political career. She wasn’t specifically accomplished or known as a woman of great talents. Her partner never allowed her to be seen in public with him. Many of his people didn’t even now she existed. But, if there was one thing he admired about her, it was her loyalty towards him.

Perhaps that loyalty pushed him to finally marry her, and that same loyalty, for her to follow him into the grave.

On April 30, 1945, her husband bid goodbye to his friends or maybe fiends, walked into his bunker and put a bullet to his head. She too, out of loyalty, I guess, took in poison, probably a cyanide capsule. She was aged just 33. Even death could not hold her loyalty back. The couple was burned, according to the man’s testament.

Her name was Eva Braun. Her husband’s name was Adolf Hitler!

Eva and Hitler (c) allthatsinteresting.com

The conclusion of the whole matter…

Thinking about life itself sometimes sends chills down the spine. I sometimes even wonder, why be good at all? Why strive to do well? Why not just do what pleases me and makes me feel happy? Why not go where I want to go, eat what I want to eat, say what I want to say? Why not just live, no restrictions, no limitations, nothing?

Why not just pay the extra 1,000 and skip standing on the line? Or ditch the lessons and pay for the grades? Well, why not just COMPEL the patients to consult only in my hospital? Afterall, I offer good medical services too!

Afterall, does the Bible not clearly spell out that all is vanity? Everything will pass away, of course, even Jesus said it.

The preacher in Ecclesiastes says it is in vain that we wake up and sleep, toil and rest, do this or do that. It is all in vain. So why not just do what I want to do?

But…

If I stop at just that part of Ecclesiastes, then I miss it all. In chapter 12:13, the preacher says this

“The conclusion of all matter….”

He said earlier that all is vanity. And we see in life that indeed he is right. But, that’s not the conclusion of it all. It is just a comma, a break. There is a conclusion to all matters – and that is to

1. FEAR GOD

2. DO HIS COMMANDMENTS.

It is after those that we have or can put a full stop.

And the reason is simple. In the last verse of the chapter which also is the last for the entire book of Ecclesiastes, the reason comes up – God will Judge us all, all our actions, for the good and the bad.

So, is all vanity after all? Is that just all there is? A giant NOPE. At the end of it, it isn’t all vanity.

God will judge. That gives substance to what I do. What I’ve been doing, the choices I make, the words I say, the reactions I have, the regard for myself and for others which I adopt. All! It may be vanity on earth and with the eyes, but, that is just the comma of the story. At the full stop; at the conclusion of it, it isn’t vanity. God judges!

The preacher said “everything under the sun” is vanity. But, life doesn’t end under the sun. That is what I/we often fail to remember. There is someone who made the sun – so, there is life above the sun. If life under the sun is vanity, life above the sun isn’t. And how I/you live under the sun determines how I’d/you’d live above the sun.

Our life under the sun is the journey, the comma, the break in the path. When we think of the full stop, the end, then, the conclusion should come to our minds – and, that conclusion of all matters is – to FEAR GOD and to DO HIS COMMANDMENTS.

Selah!!!

 

 

 

Poli, Cameroon – Home of beautiful Mount Atlantika

The ancient town of Poli is situated in the North region of Cameroon. It has existed as a town since 1924. It is situated at some 136km from Garoua, capital of the North region. From 1927 – 1957, reports say Poli was named the Namchi-Atlantikas sub-division, probably from where was drawn the name of the Mountain Atlantika.

Mount Atlantika

Mount Atlantika stands tall at the entrance of the town of Poli, perhaps reminiscent of its beautiful past, and of a hopeful future. Mount Atlantika, beautifully green on a bright afternoon, flanks the West side of Poli. The mountain chains which so gracefully wind along the untarmacked road rise above huge deposits of gold and uranium, according to research reports. However, such richness in soil is largely contrasting to the reality of the present-day Poli.

Mount Atlantika has for long been a hub for White tourists in Poli. Besides it, Poli is gifted with other natural attractions like the Faro National Park (one of the main natural wildlife reserves in Central Africa with several species of animals) and the Faro River which snakes alongside the mountain chains that flank almost a third of the 36km road from Carrefour Poli (estimated 100km from Garoua) to Poli town itself.

The riches, the people!

Poli is rich in different minerals like Uranium, as it is in its people. It is home to the Daoyos, also known as the Namchi, the Dopas, Papès and Fulbes amongst others. It has also welcomed a great number of immigrant peoples like the Toupouri, Mafa, Guiziga and Moufou amongst others. Its 45,000-man population mainly practices Christianity and Islam.

Accessing Poli

Though largely enclaved, Poli is quite easily accessible in the dry seasons, and current worst-case scenarios during the rainy season could see a visitor spending up to 2hours on the 36km stretch of road from Carrefour Poli to Poli itself. Vehicles heading to Poli can be boarded in Garoua, capital city of the North region of Cameroon.

 

 

Cameroon: Humanitarian Organisation OCHA provides food and non-food items to over 400,000 persons in NW/SW regions in 2019

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has reached a total of 424,091 persons in need in the North West and South West Regions (NW/SW) of Cameroon in 2019, according to a report published on January 21, 2020. Though underfunded at just 31% of US$ 93.5 million requested, UN OCHA in partnership with at least 27 partners in the NWSW regions implemented the humanitarian response plan (HRP) in 8 sectors, viz: Food security, Protection, Shelter and Non-Food Items (NFI), Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), Health, Education, Early Recovery and Nutrition.

2019 Humanitarian situation and response overview

The implementation of the international HRP in the NW/SW regions was carried out within the framework of periodic consultations and regular coordination meetings between representatives of authorities and national/international humanitarian organisations.

Food security:

Local NGO CHRDA donates foodstuffs to IDPs

27 partners collectively assisted 250,274 people (88% of the target) in 2019. 8% of the 2019 beneficiaries (20,589 people) received agriculture and livelihood support and 92% (229,685 beneficiaries) received food assistance through in-kind, cash and voucher modalities.

 

 

 

 

Protection:

UNHCR and INTERSOS recorded 8,967 protection incidents. However, protection monitoring only covered 07 out of 13 administrative divisions of the NW/SW due to lack of funding. Incidents registered showed women were more affected than men.

Shelter and NFI:

Shelter Cluster members agreed on the need to implement cash-based interventions (CBI) in the NWSW. However, in 2019, partners distributed in kind, providing shelter to 81,546 people and NFIs to 92,271.

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH):

The cholera outbreak, open defecation and lack of potable water were some main WASH challenges. In November and December 2019, some 161,000 people were reached. These challenges were part of UNICEF’s main 2016 – 2030 response strategy to WASH .

Health:

As of 30 December, 380 cholera cases and 16 deaths were reported. 35,502 persons were vaccinated against cholera with support from partners like World Health Organisation (WHO), Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF). The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) also provided clean delivery kits to pregnant women and supported rape survivors.

Education:

OCHA Education Cluster partners distributed teaching and learning materials; and gave tests through radio programmes and trained teachers.

Nutrition:

With limited comprehensive data, cases of severe acute malnutrition (SAM) and Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM) were recorded. Approximately 17% (415) out of the 2,500 estimated SAM caseloads for 2019 accessed treatment.

2020 outlook

As violence continued until late 2019 and even into 2020, the humanitarian situation remains uncertain, and is expected to worsen in 2020. The number of people affected and targeted will be adjusted in the 2020 HRP.

The Gambia Six-logy 1 – The Crocos which don’t bite!

So, on this Sunday afternoon, we move to the Katchikally museum. I’ll tell you more about that later in part 3. Behind the museum is the crocodile village. Scary right!!!

They’re everywhere, not caged! There are almost 100 or more crocodiles in the pool and around the park.

Origin – The crocos are full of mysteries!

It is believed the croco pool was founded in the 1600s. The place was a farm used by the Bonja Nkunda people who were amongst the first settlers of Bakau, The Gambia, where the croco pool is located. History has it that on the farm, then, a jungle, lived a woman who was said to be more than just a human being. She had the crocos – just two, by then. She kept them as pets. Then there was a man close to a big tree at the entrance of the pool (this is before the pool was fenced). This mysterious woman asked the man for help, claiming her daughter had fallen into a well (the pool). Though a stranger, the man accepted to help her. When they arrived the pool, she revealed she had simply wanted to test the man’s kindness. As a reward, she offered him her two pets – Crocodiles! She advised him to keep them well, and also use the pool to help women with fertility issues (watch out for part 2)…… the crocos mated, and today, are close to 100 or more. Generosity pays huh! 😊

The big white croco that smells luck!

The Mandinka have the belief that when the white crocodile comes out every Friday or else, then whoever sees it could make a wish and it’ll come to pass. Well, that’s legend, no doubt. That big white croco could just be an albino crocodile. Our guide tells me there exists one still. Well, whether it be true or not, make sure to say a wish when you visit Katchikally and if you see the white croco. 😊

The woman, and man, and water?

My historian doesn’t tell me more about the woman and the man. But, for the water…. the people here believe it has spiritual powers. The crocos live in it, but also around the gutters in the park. The Bakau people are Mandinka and they believe the pool has a connection with the one in Katon and with the Brikama people also. It is the water in the pool which is used by women in bathing – so they can have children. Believable?

“Thesito” – Your Problem is my problem!

A helping hand always. “In The Gambia we have “Thesito” – your problem is my problem. So, we join hands to solve the problem. When we realised the water was becoming small for the crocos, the community joined hands to dig and extends the size of the pool to contain more water and more crocodiles”, our guide tells me.

The crocos feed on fish, so our guide says they can’t harm humans because they’re not used to meat. A dog once fell into the pool and swam from side to side, unharmed. A man once fell into the pool and was removed unharmed.

Almost human huh!

It is believed the pool here has a link with another one in Katon – “more of a spiritual link because we also believe these animals are spiritually associated. That is why we don’t use their skin for leather; we don’t sell them. Sometimes they die out of sickness, or injury because they do fight. We don’t also accept outside crocos to breed with them”.

And when the crocos die, they are buried!

 

  • Entrance into the croco village in Bakau
  • View of crocos
  • Pool of crocos
  • Place where eggs are kept and guarded my Mama Croco
  • A Croco egg
  • Crocos hang by the pool
  • Free roaming
  • Hello!!!
  • Big and strong
  • Basking in the sun!
Crocodile village @Bakau – The Gambiahttps://sallynchainfo.wordpress.com/2020/02/01/my-six-logy-on-the-gambia/

 

MY ‘SIX-LOGY’ ON THE GAMBIA

So….

I’ll begin my six-logy on The Gambia. 😊 Lol

Land of the Smiling Coast (c) OW

Named the Land of the Smiling Coast, The Gambia, this west African country, sits cheerily on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. It has a very refreshing coastline; believe you me!

But…. I wouldn’t want to savour that all alone.

  1. What do you think about visiting “spiritual” crocos? They don’t bite! Youpiiiiii
  2. Or you may like the ancient bathroom which triggers fertility! That’s if you believe and want a child so badly! I wouldn’t…..
  3. Or the museum which houses clippings about The Gambia and how WWII was lived by this coastal country’s ancestors? You never know, your great grandfather may have been a world war hero. Who knows! 😊
  4. Or maybe you intend to return home with a basin-full of fish? It’s so much the locals actually don’t pick most if they fall. And you can see an Octopus, out of Nat Geo wild! lol
  5. Or go to the Eden-like beach and pick some shells – you could get some good relics huh! And surf. But if like me you can’t, I’d suggest you take classic pics standing on the beautiful beach. 😊
  6. Maybe you hesitate because you hear it’s an Islamic State? I’d admit the Adamawa region of Cameroon looks more “Islamic” than this Islamic country. Is it one even? Well, the president said it is but… you definitely should visit The Gambia!

Well, hang on for my ‘six-logy’ on The Gambia … as the first drops 5p.m. (GM+1) today!

 

TO HELEN ……

Dear Helen,

There’s never been a day I read about you without shedding a tear in my heart and through my eyes. The latter may run an hour but the former travels days. It surveys minds, searches thoughts and lands on my soul. I just can’t help it, I don’t know why. And this time around I’m thinking maybe I can write to you, wherever you may be, or to me, and see how it goes.

I picture you two in that room – those last hours. I’m wondering how much strength you garnered at 14 or slightly over, to be that savvy. I picture you answering all of Jane’s questions with such conviction and peace. I remember you having such deep faith. I can feel the peace you so longed for, and that earnest desire to be rid of all forms of ache the eyelids can’t perceive.

I do long for that too, dear Helen. I know you knew you were leaving soon, you so surely were. I’d want to be too when I must. I don’t want it to come unawares. I want to be able, like you, to tell a Jane with such certainty where I’m heading to. I want to be able to still love in the pain, to still care in the discomfort, to still be honest about it all.

I know you may as well have ended in Jane’s mind or Charlotte’s ink or Penguin’s Classics et al; but I doubt there’s not even but a tiny tittle of you in me.

There’s got to be that conviction in Jove above

There’s got to be that serenity even as I cough out my breaths in this cocktail of ignorance, doubt, fear and else

There’s got to be that heart that longs for a Jane, that cares for her comfort and that cuddles for her calm

There’s got to be that knowledge that when the lids close, they’ll open up to glory

There’s got to be that you, dear Helen, in me, for sure, there’s got to be.

And as I said, you may have ended in Jane’s mind, or Charlotte’s ink, or Penguin’s Classics or in al.; but a great deal of you, my dear Helen, has ended up in me.

 

… TO LIFE

There’s too little to smile about in my world today

How I long for showers where tears get brothers

Or moments of muted shrieks with my pillow

 

I look for drops of sweetness in sour days and hours

Where phone bips prick the next tear trench, I long for cheery tales

So I’ll just look for the crack and savour the sunshine

As I raise a cheery cheek in toast to tomorrow.

 

SHE, MILES APART

You know what I feel lately, that I don’t have a part in your life again. It’s like a piece of cherished  furniture kept in a special corner of the house.

(c) Kris C.

But you see, that doesn’t work well for me.

I understand you’re busy, and believe me, I do. Currently negotiating the route not to get into burn out street. Lol, so trust me, I know work pressure. I can’t fathom yours, so I don’t pretend to be in your shoes.

But hey, there’s life apart from that. And if I’m part of it, there’s some due for me.

Who am I to you? I understand I’m not priority to you. That’s not bad. But being very low on the ladder hurts to know. You could prioritise work, and be bent on following it to to the letter, but I think you’re overpushing it. I am patient and understanding and you’re abusing it.

I ask that you communicate well before you act. That’s not so big a request. That’s just about me being part of your life. I’ve not even touched the area of you being part of my life. Do you know what my life is today? What my joys are, what my struggles are? What my aspirations are?

We’re supposed to be living our lives together, despite the distance, trying to bridge the gap, make it work. Are we? Can we honestly say we are?.

I honestly an not comfortable living like this. It wears me out emotionally.

And I try not to react the way you act. Sometimes I just can’t help it. I want you to know I’m around when you wake up, so I’ll try to wish you a good morning. I want you to simulate my being close to you throughout the day,  so I wish you a blissful day and check in when possible to see how far. I want you to think of me when going to bed, so I’d wish you a blissful night.

And then when that cycle breaks because of a reason or the other, for a lengthy period of time, imbalance sets in. This thing is about commitment. Not about ability or wish. It’s a choice.

And to say I watch, and wait, and check if you’re online, seen my chat or replied it. Yes. You see it. You view my status, but put the reply for later. Sometimes the next day.

And when Next or when later, you expect it to be same. What happened? I just wonder how long it takes to say good morning; Or good night.

Or that if really you cared, you’d be so busy as to forget to ask how I am whereas you’re visible online. I don’t think it takes so much time.

But I understand. It’s about priority. It’s about choice. So I have a question.

Do you see a future of us together? Or when do you intend to look into that future and tell me what you see?

I’ve been waiting for you to bring it to the table, but you’re very busy with other important stuff these days. I understand.

But last, was January. Then June, and now it’s August. It may soon be October and then December and then 2019 is off. So please, tell me here and now, today. No later pls.😔

Open Letter to the Fathers of the Church in Cameroon

Open letter to the Fathers of the church in Cameroon

Dear Fathers,

My heart is smelting. “A nation can never be better than the state of the church within it”. There’s every truth in this statement my father, Bishop Chris, always makes. There’s every truth in it as you seem to mirror the hermit, entombing your heads in the pools of our blood while you chant “Hallelujah”; “Peace be Still”, to hungry hordes of weary souls looking forward to even one man standing in the gap.

I can recall one man who stood in the gap for those He loved, those He’d made. That person sacrificed His son, and sure bore pain when He saw His only and beloved nailed to the cross and had to forsake Him when He became sin. God did it because He had to sacrifice that in order to save mankind. I am cognizant in my spirit of Jesus who sacrificed it all. He lost His earthly life, was treated of all names and scourged with all scourging; had to bear the forsaking of His Father because He had to do what He had to do to save mankind.

In a contemporary case, I can recall the church in the Democratic Republic of Congo, who lost its members, saw some arrested and wounded, saw its buildings destroyed and its name tarnished, because it decided to cry out for the respect of the agreed canons of the people, in order to save their nation.

I’d also want to recall tomorrow how my fathers stood in the gap for Cameroon. We are dying. We are wallowing in misery. As days go by, our present and future are being minced. We have fathers. But, where are they? Why don’t they wake up? Why don’t they stand? Why don’t they SPEAK AS ONE MAN for the safety of Cameroon? Why don’t they carry the nation on their shoulders and be that light Jesus said we ought to be in the nation?

We have Fathers who got hordes of children west of the Mungo. You have a voice. Make it heard. I think of our fathers of The Apostolic Church in Cameroon; and of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon; and of the Cameroon Baptist Convention; and of the Full Gospel Mission; and of the Catholic Church; and of the Christian Missionary Fellowship International; and of the Council of Protestant Churches endorsing the several charismatic Churches we have today. And what about those also east of the Mungo, the EEC, the EPC, the UEEC, the UEBC, the EELC, the EFLC, the MEEC, and the list continues. Are you not our fathers?

Crying woman, pain and grief concept, flag of Cameroon

I am making this statement because I have been so wearied in reflection that I too must unseal my lips. I have been so tanned by tears because I feel we have been forsaken. Cameroon needs fathers. Cameroon has got fathers, only they are maybe still to wake up to their responsibility as fathers.

The church has a prophetic voice. Where is that of the church in Cameroon? If it be not true, why do you give the impression that you have traded your voices for handshakes and contact numbers? Should that be your crown as the light of Cameroon and the salt of this land? Is that the kind of city on a hill you want the world – us – to see?

Stand for the truth – PAY THE PRICE. Jesus did. You are His followers. What can they do to you? Arrest you? Kill you? Defame your name? Soil your ministry? Close your church? Vandalise its buildings? Beat you? Scourge you? Attack your family? Please tell me, what really can/would they do to you that will be news? Is that what you fear? Didn’t your and my Jesus say that we shouldn’t fear those who kill the body but cannot the soul? Was He ignorant in saying that? I doubt. He sure knew there would be those who will kill the body, but He tells you it should matter not.

When will we stop the sermons, ecumenical or not; when will we stop the prophecies, inspired or not; and be true WATCHMEN of the city – Cameroon – in which God has placed us? Are you afraid you will no more be called to preside over them ecumenical services; that you’d enter their bad books? For crying out loud, what is really holding you back?

Fear? Spinelessness? Is that the spirit God gave you? Isn’t it a spirit of love, power and self-control His Word confirms He gave you?

Where is your love for the nation; for the people, when corpses increasingly litter our streets? Where is your power when you seem to cringe under the shadow of your seeming comfort? Where is your self-control when you won’t put aside your denominational cloaks and act like the BODY OF CHRIST that you are?

I know I may be wrong in all what I say, and I truly pray that I am. I pray this simply be my wits playing me turns and not reality. I pray your fatherhood to this nation has not been emasculated. I pray your fatherhood over Cameroon doesn’t end on our pulpits. I pray that like Jesus, after praying in Gethsemane, you will descend the mountain and go to the cross for your mankind – Cameroon.

Yes, get off the pulpits. Rally as ONE MAN. Speak to the political authority as ONE MAN. You may be arrested, yes; beaten, yes; killed, yes; whatsoever, yes. But then, you’d have stood up for the truth, the way and the life you stand for as Christians; for the ideals of a sane land the Bible does preach when it calls on righteousness to flood our streets. These may be sham ways out – forgive my utterances if they offend. You sure know better. Do something.

Even if nothing happens afterward, you’d have stood up for the people as ONE MAN.

You’d have been the VOICE; Our voice!

Is it so difficult or complicated? Just give it a try. Write a memo, like I’ve done to you. Condemn what’s condemnable; propose solutions to what’s arrangeable. Bring them to the table – show them The Way to peace.

If nothing avails, rise as ONE MAN. Get down, hand in hand to the gates of Etoudi. Ask to speak to its occupant. Tell him you have seen enough blood spilled. Give him your pathway to get out of this logjam situation. Confront him publicly with a good way out, so much so that he’ll be too ashamed to publicly turn it down while claiming he is working it out. Please, I beseech you, do something. Don’t sit down with folded arms. Sow that seed!

You are watchmen of the nation. Stop doing such disservice to our land. For how long will this continue? For how long?

Arise my fathers. This nation is miserably and expectantly groaning, earnestly longing after its fathers; its watchmen to take up their position at the gates of the city.

RISE UP; SPEAK UP!

 

Yours tearfully,

Lysa.

Finale

I wonder what I’d do,
if I knew that I had to die
I’d surely write poem
wherein I’d tell ppl goodbye,

I think within the tension
it’d be easy to be inspired
when it all turns to vanity
as life’s about to be retired,

I’d probably gaze around
and see the fear in ppls faces
as they think bout how God,
is going to judge their cases,

I hope the pain is ephemeral
sometimes death can be so dramatic
will any of us survive,
or will it all be so tragic?

I can hear the angels dancing
as I make my final prayer
with the sound of an explosion
I return home, to my maker.

~ D.E.B ~

ETERNAL LIFE!

Tis a guileless memo, to all who say they’re Christ’s.

The question comes, where will I go; will it be paradise?

For God so loved the world He gave His only darling Son,

So all believers would not mourn but always see the dawn.

 

Some say it is the blissful place whose streets are made of gold

The place where rays are always beaming, nothing there to mould

Some think it is the long-lost Eden guarded by cherubims

Where pastures will be evergreen; no sons of Anakim

 

I want to believe that would be true, but then I have a cue

His Son Himself gave us the clue and that, my friend, is true

Heaven and earth will pass away, it will, yes, heaven will

That means my paradise of gold can’t be Father’s final will

 

That we may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You sent.

Now this is eternal life; life everlasting; that can never ever be bent.

That’s life eternal dear friends, by Jove, that’s Father’s will for us,

That we may know Him and know our Brother, nothing there to fuss!

 

 

Sadly so, it seems if the equation of heaven and hell is removed, many who are Christians today won’t be counted in the fold. Truth is, eternal life is not to go to heaven; Eternal life is to know God. Heaven in not our eternity; God is!

John 03:16 – For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Matthew 24:35 – Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

John 17:3 – Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.