Hello everyone and WELCOME to this very first edition of what I intend to become a monthly "staple".
First off, THANK YOU so very much for subscribing.
Heaven alone knows how BUSY everyone is, (the hustle is, indeed, real, abi?), so for you to add this one more thing to your plate means a whole lot!
Glad and grateful you did!
Well, here, in a very tiny nutshell, are the 4 elements that make up the "special delivery" you can expect to receive every 1st Monday of the Month moving forward - so help me God!
COMMUNITY SUPPORT | What's going on in some "neck of the woods" somewhere in the Musings World?
SPOTLIGHT OF THE MONTH | Highlighting an upstanding business or individual)
CULTURAL CORNER | Shining the light on the practices and way of life of a people; their dress, cuisine, proverbs, traditions, artifacts, etc.
EGBE’S TAKE | Reflecting, Opining, or Speaking out on diverse pertinent, relevant or current issues.
Bon! Without much ado, let's get this maiden edition rolling!
The "charity begins at home" adage may be cliché, but it exists for a darn good reason.
It is just natural that whatever "hits close to home" touches and affects one much more.
Explains why this very first COMMUNITY story comes right out of CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA, my own community.
Unfortunately, it is a very SAD tale; one whose course I hope we all might be able to shift for the better.
THE NANJE OWASU STORY
NANJE OWASU, is a very respectful, unassuming and nice young man who didn’t engage in the bad habits or excesses associated with other youth his age.
Unfortunately, in the early hours of Sunday, May 21st, 2023, Owasu's life was forever changed when he suffered a severe brain hemorrhage, that has left him frail, and clinging to life by a thread!
He went from being the strikingly handsome and robust man in the picture to the left, to the person lying helpless in a hospital bed, in the picture below.
The harrowing journey that has ensued since he was rushed to the hospital that fateful Sunday has been filled with moments of uncertainty and despair.
Right now, part of his brain has been removed and preserved in his abdomen.
Obviously, it will need to be placed back in his head, and that surgery will cost money; A LOT of it, and he will need outpatient rehabilitation thereafter.
While Owasu has fought valiantly to regain consciousness, and there have been flickers of progress, the road to full recovery stretches before him, daunting and uncertain, like an endless labyrinth. This maze of a journey will test his strength and resilience to the core.
In a situation like this, with or without medical insurance, a patient is at the Mercy of God and well-meaning individuals.
Finding those individuals outside one's immediate community of shared experiences and understanding is hard.
We are that (broader) community!
In these moments of adversity, we, as a community, have the power to make a significant difference in his life. With each gesture of kindness and contribution, we can give him the support and love he desperately needs and deserves at this time of dire need.
Your financial contributions, no matter how small, will be a lifeline for him, ensuring access to the medical care that could make the difference between life and death.
With compassion, love and prayers, we can rewrite his story, transforming adversity into triumph; despair into hope.
Together, we have the power to make a difference.
Let's do it!
Please forward your kind donations to:
Dr. BESTOS FONGOH | ZELLE: (803) 290 3861
CASHAPP: $bfongoh | CONTACT: (803) 290 3861
Terese Tande is currently an Access Operations Coordinator (Supervisor) for Outpatient Rehabilitation and Referrals for Northwestern Medicine in the greater Chicago area where she manages a team of over 40 Specialists and two Team Leads who provide patient access services to 10 acute hospitals and over 200 outpatient sites.
Away from her corporate job, Terese is the founder of the Cooking with Terese (CWT) show that promotes healthy cooking and eating. CWT is Terese’s platform to engage and inspire the public towards a healthier lifestyle.
She is also behind the hugely successful CWT-inspired range of products that include six organic/dry spices -- Organic Fish Spice Mix (“Fish Smix”), Stew and Chicken Smix, Pork Smix, Rice Smix, Everyday Seasoning Smix and Mbongo Tchobi Smix – and three instant dough products; Instant Puff Puff Mix, Coconut-flavored Puff Puff Instant Mix, and the Donut Instant Mix.
Born in Buea, Cameroon, Terese attended Baptist High School, Buea and Saker Baptist College, Limbe. She subsequently moved to the United States obtained a B.Sc. in Public Health from Northern Illinois University, in DeKalb, IL.
Terese Tande is also the founder of Wholesome Health Promotion (WHP), a not-for-profit organization which she created in December 2016 to encourage people in rural and marginalized communities in Cameroon to live an active and healthy lifestyle thereby preventing lifestyle diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure that are on the rise. In June 2023 she received the President's Lifetime Achievement Award from President Biden in recognition of her philanthropic activities with WHP.
CONGRATULATIONS, Ma'am, on this highly prestigious and well-deserved recognition!
NOW, here are some samples of her finger-licking, marriage-saving delights, the majority of whose culinary magic I can attest to, from personal experience!!!
You see???? For the first time in my over-half-a-century life, my puff-puff hath no octopus-like tentacles! Wonder if I can still fit into that T-shirt without any risk of asphyxiation. Anyway ...
To purchase any or all of these marvels online, simply click on this link:
PROUDLY ... BAFAW
The Bafaw people hail from Meme Division of the South West Region of CAMEROON, West Africa.
They make up 10 towns or villages, namely: Kokubuma (Ekobum), Kombone Bafaw, Dikomi (Likomi), Kurume (Krume), Bolo, Ikiliwindi (Kindi), Mambanda (Mamban), Kumba (Ekumba), Dieka and Njanga (Ujanga), each ruled by a chief known as “Nfon.”
The Bafaw Paramount Chief is His Royal Majesty Senator Nfon Mukete IV Ekoko.
SOME BAFAW ARTIFACTS:
Their use and significance as explained by
"AMAH" VENNESSA SONA and "SHI'ABWA" DANIEL AKWO of BAFCUDA-USA
1. Fishing Basket (ESHIE'U) -
This basket (eshie'u) was used to secure fish. Women mostly went out fishing in groups. In the process, the basket was strapped around the waist. When fish was harvested, (in fishing nets), they were dropped in this basket and taken home.
2. "MBWINDI"- In yesteryears, our fore-parents were concerned about the health of the family. Most households had special clay pots for storage of drinking water. Each individual was supposed to own a drinking cup made from coconut shell or wood. The clay pot was filled regularly from various known/sure sources. To collect water from the clay pot (etenge), the "mbwindi" was used to fill individual cups and placed directly over the clay pot on a string or attachment made for the purpose. To make the water in the clay pot cool, it was placed in dug-out spot in the ground filled with sand.
3. FI'IH - This is a beauty product that women applied to their bodies on special occasions. Most of the items were local, made from plants or roots. Colors varied depending on preference and the type of event.
4. EFUN e NJO (big game Axe) - While women did fishing, men focused on hunting. Among other hunting weapons like bows, arrows, spears, etc., there was the efun e njo (axe). This is the weapon that was used to skin or cut any game into pieces, so that it could be easily transported home to be shared amongst family members. It was used mostly for elephants (njo) and is still used nowadays in certain areas.
SO, WHAT’S HOLDING YOU BACK?
I’m willing to bet that someone read that question and went:
“For me, it’s not a WHAT that’s holding me back”, but a “WHO”.
(Hopefully, the “WHO” ain’t their “village peepo”!)
Truth is, it could be either one or both.
Could be a PRIDE issue:
- Too PROUD to apologize – or to accept an apology, so a relationship can be restored.
- Too PROUD to ask for help so we can learn and perform better at our jobs or careers.
Sadly, it could be “PEOPLE” – your Community, or Society and its various “ceilings”.
- A woman doesn’t want to be “frowned upon” … or find herself “husband-less” so she shies away from (stereo)typically “man pikin” jobs, while a young lad may be reluctant to pursue a well-paying career in Nursing, because it is a “woman’s job”.
Could very well be YOU:
- You’ve become so complacent and comfortable in your current position that you are unwilling to make the slightest change.
- You keep telling yourself that you will, eventually make that change, “when the time is right”, and you’ve been saying that since the days of Mungo Park, Ferdinand Magellan and Vasco Da Gama! (And all the others listed in the S.N. TITA Primary School History Text Book.)
- You’re stuck in the past, terrified of moving forward because of the haunting memories of a time when you did try to, but failed, or you’re just plain afraid of even trying for the very first time, because you just don’t believe you are capable of succeeding.
And why might you be so certain you can’t make it??
- Could be your FAMILY history. No one has made it past secondary or high school in your family, so you cannot imagine you ever could. You are plain unable to even DREAM that it’s possible for you, (the “last born” in a family of 10 maybe), to break that pattern.
- Worse still, it could be a Family Member – a parent even, who just doesn’t believe in you and misses no opportunity to tell you to stop wasting precious time on what they consider a pipe dream.
- It could also be your choice of FRIENDS! You have gone and surrounded yourself with people who not only have no aspirations whatsoever but are actually barreling down the road to utter perdition at breakneck speed.
Whatever your reason may happen to be for not “MOVING ON UP” or FORWARD, do your best to PUFF it away and SHINE!!!
“For God has not given us a spirit of timidity or cowardice or fear, but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of a sound judgment and personal discipline [abilities that result in a calm, well-balanced mind and self-control].”
2 Timothy 1:7 Amplified Bible (AMP)
NOW, HOW ABOUT WE TAKE A POLL AND FIND OUT WHAT IT IS THAT HOLDS US BACK THE MOST - OR THE LEAST:
PRIDE, YOU, FAMILY OR FRIENDS ???
SO, WHAT'S HOLDING YOU BACK???
0%PRIDE?
0%YOU?
0%FAMILY?
0%FRIENDS/SOCIETY?
UNTIL NEXT TIME, STAY CONNECTED!!!
Regards,
Excellent newsletterSending Prayers for Nanje.