Meet Clinton Achale – An Extraordinary Young Cameroonian
By Denis A. Foretia, MD.MPH.MBA., [dropcap type="circle" color="#FFFFFF" background="#8C212A"]A[/dropcap] few months ago, I received an email that nearly brought me to tears. This email touched me not because the situation appeared helpless, but because I could vividly see how a brilliant and extremely gifted young man was about to lose his dreams. Mr. Ajong had written to the foundation to tell us about Clinton Achale, a young man from the tiny village of Etam near Kumba in the South West Region of Cameroon. Etam, like many of the villages in Cameroon, has no tap water and no electricity. Its only secondary [...]
Rencontrer Clinton Achale – Un jeune Camerounais extraordinaire
[dropcap type="circle" color="#ffffff" background="#8C212A"]Il[/dropcap] ya quelques mois, j’ai reçu un courriel qui m'a presque fait pleurer. Ce courriel était touchant pas parce que la situation était déplorable, mais parce que je pouvais clairement voir comment un jeune homme brillant et extrêmement doué allait perdre ses rêves. M. Ajong avait écrit à la fondation Foretia pour nous parler de Clinton Achale, un jeune homme du petit village « Etam », près de Kumba dans la région Sud-Ouest du Cameroun. Etam, comme la plupart des villages du Cameroun, ne dispose pas d’eau courante, pas d'électricité. La seule école secondaire n’a que très peu d'enseignants [...]
Education for Sustainable Development in Cameroon – Reflections on “A Call for Teachers”
By Manuella Fosso Yimga (Policy Intern) Skills, independent of the domain of activities have become the global currency in the 21st century for upward social mobility all over the world. Almost everywhere the need for competence is required for professional growth. Due to the complexity of our environment and critical issues African countries are experiencing, the role of teachers in the educational system warrants a critical re-appraisal. One of the biggest challenges in the education system of Cameroon is the gap between available resources and its distribution within the various regions in the country. These resources include the available professional, [...]
Cameroon: Let Them Eat Local Rice
By Adam Sneyd As corn, soybean and wheat prices have surged over the past two months, many commodity watchers noted that rice prices were not trending higher. The latest projections reported in the Wall Street Journal, however, indicate that Asian rice will be subjected to considerable upward price pressure in the coming months. This is a worrying development for Cameroon and other African countries that depend on rice imports to meet their basic food needs. If Cameroon’s rice import bill does balloon later this year, the country’s households that are vulnerable to food insecurity — nearly one in three according [...]
Rethink Teaching of Science, Maths
By Dr. Alex O. Awiti The African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Kenya Government recently signed a $43 million loan agreement. The funds will go towards improving the quality and relevance in engineering education at the university level.The ultimate goal is to train a critical number of qualified and skilled engineers to drive the key sectors of Kenya's Vision 2030. This loan agreement is both laudable and critical. However, I am not sure that investing in university engineering faculties is sufficient to stimulate a deep and sustain a culture of scientific and engineering innovation. I have argued in this column [...]
