South African Goliath!

I met this Goliath at the boarding gate traveling to Joburg on South African Airlines. Guy told us he is the smallest in his family. I am 1.77 m tall oh. But see how I bi na Lilliput for yi corner. Hmmm, he is quite a South African Gulliver!

Meeting Museba

I was working on South African last Wednesday and was at the “box”, SA boarding pass control. A tall, gold complexioned beautiful woman walked towards me and asked if I was treating Camair-co. She was flying to Lagos. I said nope. But her pretty face was familiar. I thought and.....Yes. Got it!

“Museba!” I said slowly. She nodded and smiled, meaning she was the one.

“Ah! I like your music. I always watch your videos on Boom TV.

“Okay, thank you.” I didn’t have my camera with me but I spotted my colleague, Marie Michelle passing by. So I met MM and told her to take photos of Museba and I. And so MM fired two shots.

Daphne and Wax Nde tear down the roof of the BBCL event at Le Meridien Hotel, Douala

I arrived at Le Meridien Hotel in Bonanjo, Douala on December 30th, 2014 just in time for the highly anticipated “Bold and Beautiful Camer Ladies”, BBCL event. This event was the brain child of some bold and beautiful Camer ladies pictured below.

Meet The Social Media Manawas @ A Business Opportunity for Top Brands

It started as an idea, an opportunity and a necessity for a fusion between Cameroon bloggers at home and those in the diaspora. They wanted to connect in real life and exchange ideas. However, the event they decided to put together is more than just a meet and greet event. It is a networking event that has attracted many businesses as they know this is an opportunity to brand their products and be visible to the thousands of followers following these bloggers.
Social media is the new way to push businesses to the right clients.



The Bold & Beautiful Camer Ladies (BBCL) group was established with the intention of bringing together young and dynamic Cameroonian ladies who are very active worldwide in promoting their business activities, mainly on social media. The group currently has over 400 members located around the world with a potential reach of over 600,000.

FabAfriq Magazine is pleased to be amongst the founding members of this amazing event and would like to invite all it fans to join us as we unveil what 2015 has in store for us. Here below, is a little bit of information about the heads behind this event and where they blog.

Chantal Edie is a photographer and the Owner of Chantal Edie Photography

Anrette Ngafor is a Fashion Designer and Creator of the Liiber London, a Fashion clothing line

Delly Vibang is the genius behind multiple websites like Ferdelle.com and several others

Hilda Awambeng is a Fashion blogger, Stylist and Creator of Mammypi, a Fashion & Lifestyle Blog

Adeline Sede is the Publisher/Founder of FabAfriq Magazine, a Fashion & Lifestyle Magazine

Antonia Mundi is the Publisher/Founder of Maischna Magazine,  a Fashion & Lifestyle Magazine

Reneta Ndisang is a Fashion Designer and Creator of  Mareta West, a Fashion clothing line

Yefon Mainsah is a Blogger and the Creator of IRepCamer, a Lifestyle & Entertainment Blog

Mbole Ekaney is a Fashion Blogger and the Creator of The Hotjem, a Fashion & Lifestyle Blog

These bold and beautiful ladies organised the event and also racked up sponsors such as Baileys and Madiba Consultants. It was the third such meeting in our inaugural bloggers meet year, 2014. After dining and wining, (NGO damay) we all made our way to the hall for the main event. There were close to a hundred participants. Compare that to the fifteen who attended the first one at White House in Bonapriso and you’ll guess we’re forging ahead.

I admired the hotel’s exquisite architectural layout and Christmas illumination as I made my way to the pool side where bloggers, fashion designers, models, entrepreneurs etc were being treated to a fabulous buffé (manna from heavenly blogosphere) and shack. (You want know whetti bi shack? Shack mean say jong. Lingua K-mer). Non K-mer google up. Lol. 

The master of ceremonies for the night was Hilda Awambeng, who introduced the panel; Mbole Ekaney, Yefon Mainsah, Anrette Ngafor and music lover Takor. Techies Churchill and Clifford Ako of Wasamundi were also available for technical support. Last but not least, Chantal Edie was the photographer.

MC HIlda

Panel

Each of the panel members gave a talk on various blogging issues and from their angles of fashion, music, work and advice on how to blog better and build a wider audience, so as to attract companies who can come up with publicity deals. There were many questions and contributions from the attendees. There were complaints and counter complaints from some and advice, technical advice and more advice from the tireless panel. I learnt loads of new things from the panel’s advice and I got a little irritated from some of the attendee complaints.

And among all that serious blogging-talking, questioning, advising and technical advising, the organizers managed to spice our blogosphere with fabulous rainbows; the rainbows being the fashion costumes adorning the bodies of the tall beautiful models, who paraded our hall’s runway like they were all Naomi Campbells.

Finally, there was acoustic sunshine in the blogosphere dazzling as beautiful music from three brilliant, young Cameroonian artists. The first artist to perform (whose name I missed) made us gyrate to his strong Cameroonian rhythms. Next, came the contemporary makossa artiste, Wax Nde who tore down the roof with his performance singing a song that he worked on with…oh hoo, hear the name well oh, Koko master, D’Banj. Ooooshea! Wax Nde’s new album “Makossa” is out now. Get your copy oh! With collabos by Femi Kuti, D’Banj and other household names in African music. The boy is good. 

Wax Nde and Adeline Sede kamga of Fabafriq magazine

The third and final artiste of the evening was our young, magnificent Reggae star girl, Daphne who performed a gospel song before blowing our hearts away with her hit track, “Rastafari” which is topping the music charts on Trace Africa right now. She’s even been on the number one spot there y’all. She’s put a beautiful soulful twist on her reggae music and it’s something you’ll not want to miss in your music repertoire. 

Daphne performing "Rastafari"

After her performance she went to the open air section to deliver an interview to the Urban TV crew who were also filming the occasion. (Hey, but Daphne is not “smoke high as a Marley oh!” She nodi “fume le gae like Jovi oh” Meme si elle fume le gae, “Et p8 koi?” Uh? The talk and performances ended but the professional hook ups took off then. The BBCL event was one successful one. And we know it’s going to be even bigger in 2015. Happy new year y’all.

moi

Popular blogger Yefon Mainsah and I

*Two pictures and part of my article, courtesy of Yefon Mainsah's blog "I Rep Camer."

The Golden Baobab Tree

Originally submitted for the Africa Book Club Short Reads competition, The Golden Baobab Tree (by Nkiacha Atemnkeng) is a story that blends age-old African storytelling traditions with a modern twist. Set in the village of Letia, the story centers around the baobab tree, which is where the villagers come to meet with their chief, and children gather to listen to storytellers when they visit. On this day, Uncle Jimi Solanke, the storyteller comes to Letia at the invitation of the chief.

Solanke gathers the children under the baobab tree and shares his story about an old man who travels to America to visit his son. The story carries important lessons that will resonate with many young readers and their parents, moreso those who either live in the Diaspora or have relatives there.

The Golden Baobab Tree was published in November 2014 by Aalvent Books

Ethiopian Airlines' Dreamliners soars the Cameroonian sky

When I heard that Ethiopian Airlines’ Dreamliners would be coming to Cameroon from the month of October, I was elated. So the next time I was scheduled to work on Ethiopian, I made a request to our Ethiopian Airways Swissport supervisor to post me on the ramp…

“CY, I brought my camera. I want to take photos of the plane and write about it!”

“Ah, okay. So Nkiacha, position 4, Ramp safety.”

“Yes! Great.”

So a few hours later I was on the ramp, waiting for the arrival of the aircraft. And at about its estimated time of arrival, I spotted it in the sky blinking and approaching. As the world’s biggest Boeing airplane, the 787-8 Dreamliner landed, I announced it over our radio, took out the camera for the first landing shot and…Oops! It couldn’t switch on! Damn it.

“Come on, you’ve never done this to me! So you want to spoil my Dreamliner photo plans abi?” I slapped it gently. Nothing. Okay back to work.

The first thing I noticed about the state-of the-art aircraft is how gigantic it is. I used to consider the Swiss Air and Air France’s Airbus 330 planes big but the Dreamliner is bigger. It is colossal, with a max take-off weight of 227.930 kgs. The length is 57 metres, wing span 60 metres and interior cabin width 574 cm. Now that is a flying mansion! And it is very beautiful too; white, spotless, majestic, even sexy. With its sharp tapering nose which is evocative of Concorde’s.

Nose

Other Stats

Fuel capacity: 126.903 litres

Range: 14.500 km

Typical cruising speed at 35.000 feet

Thrust per engine at sea level: 64.000 pounds

The second observation I made is how “quiet” it is. The plane doesn’t make noise that much. It lands, taxies on the ramp silently and parks silently such that, if you are not looking at it, you’ll barely even notice that a plane has landed. You don’t really need an ear defender when working around it. The other smaller Boeing and Airbus planes make noise well. Not to mention those small archaic propeller planes (like those in the Rambo jungle movies) that fly to Malabo, with reactors that rotate and shatter the air with their deafening, ear splitting noises, “praaaa-pra-paaaa-paaa-papaaaapa” like a million primary school children and seek attention all over the place and if you don’t close your ears you will develop deafness.

The Dreamliner’s greatness is due to an improved engine and fuel efficiency improvisation. This contributes to 20% reduction in fuel consumption and emissions thus it is environmentally friendlier than the previous versions.

It is also going to be Ethiopian’s flagship aircraft. Okay, statistics move away, let me find my camera. Then it hit me. Try something, anything. I removed the battery and put it back in. I switched it on and….it worked!

Reactor

Rear view of reactor

Wheels

 

Offloading

I earlier said it’s gigantic right? But look at this. The 1.77m tall Nkiacha stood underneath the aircraft and his head couldn’t even reach the plane’s "belly"!

Underneath the aircraft

 Okay, take off time. I have to position myself perfectly for the photo. And as its speeding away furiously like a rhinoceros, I’m focusing and estimating exactly where lift off is going to be but oh, I got it wrong, there are baggage containers barring my vision and I begin running away from those containers to get the plane back in sight and focusing to get the perfect shot and…..yes

Take off

As the biggest Boeing airplane in the world pierces the afternoon sky and soars away like an eagle, I ponder about aerodynamic lift and admire the peak moment in aviation –takeoff.

All About Pac

Eighteen years after Pac’s death and he’s still hip hop’s greatest ever. I watched a documentary about his life “Thug Angel” and was amazed by the depth of his artistry and what he read. He incorporated all he read into his lyrics which are explosive, ingenious, prophetic, compelling. Some of his lyrics are considered extremist poetry and studied in some universities like the University of Pennsylvania. Here are some books the hip hop genius read.
The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli (it’s from this Italian statesman that he derived his nickname, Makavelli)
Ponder on this, from the writings of Alice A Bailey and the Tibetan master Djwal Khul,
The Tibetan Book of the Dead by WY Evans Wentz,
The Phenomenon of Man by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
Mastering the Art of War by Zhuge Liang
Thought and Meditation by Khalil Gibran
Our State of Consciousness
Kabbalah by Gershom Scholem
Roots by Alex Haley
The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy
The Autobiography of Malcolm X
The Occult Teachings
The Ancient Mysteries
The Impact of Colour
The Buddha
Astrology
Alignment
Challenge
The moon. He read books by William Shakespeare, Donald Goines, Sun Tzu, Kurt Vonnegut, Mikhail Bakunin, J. D. Salinger, Hermann Hesse, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Henry Miller, Homer, Friedrich Nietzsche, Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Fox Butterfield, Robert M. Pirsig, Robin Morgan, George Orwell, Aldous Huxley, E. D. Hirsch, Herman Melville, Thomas Merton, Evelyn Underhill, Bhagavad Gita, W. L. Wilmshurst, John Steinbeck, Nikki Giovanni, Sonia Sanchez, Richard Wright, Jamaica Kincaid, W. E. B. Du Bois, Maya Angelou and Alice Walker

Douala Airport Ebola Phobia

Colleague X approaches another, let me say colleague Y, who’s not looking great.

X: What’s wrong with you?

Y: I’m not feeling well (Colleague X instantly sprints away)

X: And you’re standing near people! You want to infect them with ebola! You want to infect me with ebola!

Y: I went to the hospital yesterday. It’s malaria

X: Have you done Arik Air recently?

Y: Yes

X: Chei! Hei! Maybe you’ve been infected with ebola from those Lagos passengers at the arrival hall. Don’t come near me. Why did you even greet me?

(Trust Cameroonians to exaggerate things)

Y: It’s just fever from malaria. Ebola is not in Cameroon yet.

X: Go, go, go, go away. Why did you even come to this airport? Who told you its not here yet. Do Lagos passengers not land here? By the way, a case was confirmed at Laquintinie!!!

Y: Na lie, that Laquintinie thing. Radio one battery. Lagos passengers are tested for ebola at their airport before they board any aircraft.

X: And so, they can still bring it here. Our government should even ban all traffic to Nigeria -land, sea, air. Thank God there are no direct Douala flights to Monrovia, Freetown and Conakry. If not we’re finished. Y, I’m concerned about these Lagos flights oh!

Y: God is in control. (Smiling) if Ebola has to enter “pays”, Ebola will surface in Ebolowa.

X: Why?

Y: (smiling) Can’t you see its two letters short, Ebol”ow” a

X: You’re very stupid, very dull.

Y: Masah, this fever is making me weak!

X: Go, with your ebola.

Monday 18^th 2014, Cameroon suspends all flights to Lagos, sea and land traffic, shuts down borders….Character X rejoices when he hears about it. But then, are we still safe? What about passengers from West African neighbours (Senegal, Togo, Congo) transiting via Douala???????