The library of the University of Buea (the place to be), is a great library which is expanding fast to meet the needs of its equally expanding student population.
In high school (Government Secondary School, Owerri, in Eastern Nigeria) in the 1950s and 1960s, we read novels such as Oliver Twist, Treasure Island, Huckleberry Finn, Robison Crusoe, Gulliver’s Travel, The Count of Monte Cristo and many others. They were mainly fictions based on European life and culture. We read them for pleasure and to improve our English and may be help tickle our little minds. Today, we have our own stories – real stories of life experiences, written by real people – Cameroonian and other African writers, that are not only interesting and fascinating but provide more relevant and useful learning experiences and a store of knowledge for our young people. Most of these books are in bookstores in and out of Cameroon. Struggling students cannot afford to buy them. The universities cannot afford to provide every reading material that students need given the competing needs of other faculties, departments and services for the university budget. We as individuals, organizations, Alumni Associations, donor organizations, etc need to assist the universities in making these and other library materials, including modern ICT infrastructure available to these students. I decided to donate copies of my book to the university in order to make it available to the students of this university. Because the book was published abroad, the price in Cameroon is rather too high for students to afford it.
This event was held at the American Literary Center/Corner which was funded by the Americans and hosts a rich store of foreign magazines and ICT facilities. The Library is contemplating, if and when funds are available, to establish a similar Center for Cameroon Literature. This is an initiative worth the support of people with means especially Cameroonians.
For me, it was a pleasure and privilege to donate copies of my book to the University of Buea and I am greatly humbled by the much interest and attention given to the book by the university authorities represented by the Deputy Vice Chancellor in charge of Research, Cooperation and Relations with the Business World, Prof. Lucy Ndip, and the Director of the Library, Dr. Rosemary Shafack who received the books on behalf of the university. May I, through the Deputy Vice Chancellor express my sincere thanks to the Vice-Chancellor for the honor accorded me and my book.
I also wish to thank Prof Lucy Ndip, Dr. Rosemary Shafack and her deputy, for receiving the books. My profound gratitude also goes to my friend, Oke Akombi, an Emminent Cameroonian Writer and Poet and former Director of the Linguistic Center, Buea, whom I invited and who travelled all the way from Yaounde to attend the ceremony.
Finally, let me just correct a little misunderstanding on what the book is about. “The Journey To The World: Reminiscences And Moments” is not about the fascinating stories which the Author’s father told him when he was a little boy of his travels during his employment in Nigeria. Rather, the fascinating stories which the Author’s father told him when he was a little boy, of his travels in Nigeria, invoked in him a burning desire to undertake his own journey to “broaden his horizons.” It is a journey which the Author started from the small town of Small Mamfe in the then Southern Cameroons and which took him to Nigeria and then to North America, Europe, the Middle East and East Asia, and to over 45 countries in Africa before bringing him back to the Republic of Cameroon after 46 years, It is a journey during which the Author left as a frail little boy of 14 and returned as an old man of 60. During that journey, he encountered the “Good,” the “Bad,” and the “Ugly” in human behaviour and character.