How Did We Get Here?
Africa is bleeding… the leaders have failed their citizens and continue to, given all that is going on in certain African countries. If it were possible to hit a reset button and reshuffle the entire government in those countries, it will be great but that isn’t an option. It’s been four years ongoing, in the early stages I tried to listen, read, and watch in order to get an understanding of the why? To the few people I talked to, there seemed to be no unified connection in the why. That alone was enough to say there are personal agendas. I rarely get involved in the conversation about politics because there’s always more to what meets the eye. I’d read here and there to stay abreast, listen in on conversations to get different points of view and occasionally ask questions because sometimes people tend to contradict themselves.
Election doesn’t work in these African countries as it does in ‘developed’ countries. So what are the odds or how soon will it be that the entire cabinet in these African countries; Cameroon to be specific or say part of it will be reshuffled to have new younger people with a ‘new generation’ mindset to revive the economy and country at large. Because if part of the cabinet is reshuffled, any older ones left may just grandfather the new generation into their old ways, and then we are back to ground zero.
All that may not sound optimistic but how else do we explain the onset of lawyers and teachers in the Anglophone region wanting to be heard, turning into four years of all the burnings/destruction of property and killings in their own region? Some of which have been reported to be caused by the people supposedly protecting against the ‘enemy’ or those they are trying to get a point across to. The other puzzling part is the coordinating/fueling of this fight/crisis by people who aren’t even in the country, pushing differing agendas meanwhile they and their family have a safe place to lay their head, food to eat, clothes to wear and go about their daily lives.
I'm not trying to criticize something I don't understand but the mixed messages or misinformation or lack of information or lack of unified front in this crisis is disheartening. Is it just me or has anyone else noticed that since the recent happenings in Kumba, the flyers that have been going around have the Cameroon flag colors and not the Anglophone flag colors? What does this mean? Does it mean that the 'leaders' of the Anglophone section or those who want to be leaders have gone silent when their people are bleeding? Or aren't they aware of this? Someone more versed with this please shed some light because nothing makes sense.
The recent Kumba incident has sort of hit the reset button on any efforts that were being made in the mental health and education sector for people volunteering their time, resources, and funding. I'm speaking about these areas because that's what I'm familiar with; I volunteer my time and funds in these areas because I am passionate about it. I started in the education arena in 2010 and then mental health/rehabilitation in early 2016 before the crisis. The ripple effect of this incident cannot even be put into words. Irrespective of who instigated this, nothing is enough to justify the reason for such an act not to forget previous killings. What happened to just telling the kids to leave the class and go home? The trauma from the kids who survived that horrific incident, the teachers, not to talk of their parents, is going to linger for a long time. What happened to kids being the future? What happened to the power of education/knowledge?
The classroom would now have a different representation; kids may now wonder if their school/classroom will be next, some may not want to get into a classroom anytime soon or even care about education, some may rather join the group that perpetrated the crime. Parents may not want to risk sending their kids to school or may want revenge, teachers may be fearful for their lives. In the end, we would have a nation (Anglophone nation) or what’s left of it; with people full of revenge, anger, bitterness, trauma, and uneducated. How then do we build with that?
With all that said, is this recent incident going to be the turning point in a positive direction? As someone who has been volunteering in the education and mental health sector, this feels like we took one step forward and a thousand back. Yes, the act has been condemned, resources and finances are being galvanized to provide free medical help to the injured but there’s no putting a band-aid on mental health/recovery. How much effort is being put into addressing the underlying cause and finding the perpetrators? I get that the medical help is of utmost importance but it feels like addressing the underlying cause will fade away; it’s like taking medicine to calm a symptom with not much attention to the root cause which means the root cause could be triggered later on and the condition will flare-up. Yeah… medical analogy.
This journey is a marathon, not a sprint, something has to be done differently because whatever has been going on for the last four years doesn’t seem to be working… or is it? Someone, please enlighten me and those wondering the same. Hitting the reset button to reshuffle the governing body is wishful thinking or maybe it isn't? There has to be another way out and we have to figure it out. We (especially those in diaspora) have to get to work; do some re-strategizing, get more active than passive. How did we get here and how can we get out? Will this be the straw that breaks the camel's back?
“We can’t go on pretending day by day that someone will soon make a change”
Composed By: Manekeu N Ndoping
www.sitmpodcast.com