The Chia Report

Cameroon-born "Yummy Spoonfulls" Founder on CNN

Fon Angwafor of Mankon Commissions Queen Mother for US of A

By Innocent Chia

Written for and published in the May issue of African Lifestyles Magazine in Chicago

 

Beguiled and despised with rivaling passion, Queen Cleopatra of Egypt remains one of the most fascinating women in world history and arguably an august reminder that Africa had been trailblazing in women’s rights and prominence. Even in today’s predominantly chauvinistic African societies, the Queen mother is treated with reverent adulation as the one from whose womb the King ensues. There is always only one Queen mother in a Palace. His Royal Highness Fon Angwafor III of Cameroon did not change any of that during festivities marking his 50 years on the throne. But he made history for his Fondom by commissioning Mrs. Marie Ebie a MAFOR – the first Queen Mother based befittingly in America’s heartland, Chicago.

African Vibes Magazine Presents...The other Picture of Africa

An interview by Innocent Chia

Beginners need only visit her Facebook page - where she currently is four friends shy of 5,000 - to begin to understand the chord that African Vibes Magazine is stroking. Its founder and Editing Director, Mrs. Amabel Niba is on a combat mission: restore and redefine the battered and distorted image of Africa by highlighting that which has withstood the test of time – its vibrant and rich culture. Unlike what her critics credit her for, she does not deny the stories of famine, disease, extreme poverty, corruption, and war that bedevil the continent and have become an obsession of traditional media.

But, true to her name – Amabel for lovable in Latin - she takes the view that there is another story of Africa, Africa the beautiful, which is uncommonly told. It is the story that she sticks with, and has been stuck with for the last four years by way also of new social media and technologies which are a dictate of the intercourse between the messengers’s savvy to package meaningful content and their otherwise sassy audience. The Chiareport has this exclusive with the Cameroon native-born...

WIDIKUM: A Forgotten Fondom Comes Alive!

By Innocent Chia
To the cross majority of Cameroonians in Chicago-land, kids and their parents simply called this affable figure “Uncle Joe”. That was before “Uncle Joe” traveled to Cameroon in the mid of 2009 to accept the honor his departing father had bestowed on him as he parted this World to the great beyond. Meantime, without ever letting the cat out of the bag that he was a “Mbeii” – enthroned royalty – Uncle Joe’s home has always been palace-like, bustling with activity and people shuffling in and out. The pots on the gas cooker have always been commercial-type pots, not because of his four kids – Iya, Franchika, Claude and Destiny. Auntie Mabel, with unparallel culinary skills, may have been cut out for her husband’s destiny (no pun intended); feeding large numbers that come and go like at the Widikum Palace she seemed to have been prepping for.

The Chiareport caught up with the Fon – a self-confessed friend of the Chiareport – and the man whose dexterity on computers has earned him a living in Chicago for the last decade, was at ease in his new wardrobe.

Will Mankind Self Destruct or Agree To Save Itself? - Dr Richard T. Munang on Climate Change

Interview conducted by Innocent Chia
 
A little less than a month from today (Dec. 7th – Dec. 18th), in the Danish cosmopolitan capital city of Copenhagen, environmental experts like UNEP’s Richard Tingem Munang will  look to President Obama and his peers to provide political will and leadership on the pressing issue of climate change. While the big boys, and girl, club will be making these far-reaching decisions of global import, a looming concern for activists is what will happen to the Africas of the world that pollute least but are set to suffer most if nothing is done? As climate change Deputy Project Manager at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Cameroon-born Richard T. Munang (PhD) is part of a team charged with the daunting task of saving the world from itself with smart policies that build communities while saving the world.  

Thanks to the convenience of social media networks, Chiareport caught up with Dr. Richard T. Munang for an exclusive focusing on what Climate Change means to Africa and Africans.

Up Close and into the Den of Dibussi Tande - Part II

By Innocent Chia

The Chiareport: There is no denying that many have tried to pigeonhole you: there are those who have regarded your writings to be in favor of a unitary state as Cameroon currently is; there are those who believe you are a middle-of-the-road guy; and there are those who believe you a cautious supporter of the Southern Cameroons secessionists’ movement…. Who are you not?

Dibussi Tande: (Laughs). It was only a couple of weeks ago that someone asked me if I was a “silent supporter” of the Biya regime. When I asked why, the person responded that to the best of his knowledge, I have never insulted either the President or the ruling CPDM, even though I have criticized both. My response was that the facts about the president Biya’s rule in Cameroon are so compelling that giving in to emotion while analyzing the Cameroon situation only obscures those obvious facts.

Up Close and into the Den of Dibussi Tande - Part I

By Innocent Chia 

Why we call anyone or anything any name has always fascinated me. Maybe because my parents went curious on me with the name Innocent. No wonder then, I got tickled with “Scribbles from the Den” as I began to wonder why a Den? The part of a scribbling Scribe was self-explanatory,but why “from the Den”? As much as these seemingly trite questions took up valuable space in my mind, so did I get interested in the trailblazing man behind the powerful, brilliant and introspective pieces. 

If it is the power of his pen, or keyboard, that has put him on the high pedestal in the public eye, I have been fortunate to come close to the son, brother, husband, father, friend and consummate professional. On the occasion of his third title, Scribbles from the Den: Essays on Politics and Collective Memory in Cameroon, I seized a pretext to talk to Dibussi Tande about his book, and much, much more…What he fails to reveal in his treatises is plentiful – for instance, that his fun-loving wife, Therese is fuel to his virtuoso; that his seven year-old son, Mokali is his heartbeat; and that his disgust for Africa’s dictators is only abated by the juicy flavors of well-done slices of barbecued pork or beef on a charcoal grill…