Mining the Congo Basin at the DC Environmental Film Festival, Glorifying Gabon

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Africa, Ali Bongo Ondimba, Cameroon, Congo, Congo River Basin, DC Environmental Film Festival, DC Israel Embassy Protest, Gabon, Heart of Iron, Leo Bottrill, Republic of the Congo, Tridom, Wilson Center, World Wildlife Fund

Bottrill at Right (I need a new camera phone)

The ongoing Environmental Film Festival has screened numerous flicks with an Africa focus (how had I not heard about this annual event before?). Yesterday, I got my day started with a voyage to the Wilson Center, to watch a double feature of Forests on Film, sponsored by Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program (ECSP).  The second film, Heart of Iron: Mining in the Congo Basin, examined Tridom, a remote region 6x the size of Belgium, straddling Gabon, Cameroon, and the Republic of the Congo, rich in iron ore reserves.

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Optimism – Eugenie Kabiwa of the Agatha Foundation, Part II: USA

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Agatha Foundation, Cameroon, China, DMV African beauty products, Eugenie Kab, Koreans, Maryland, orphans, PG Mall

I previously blogged about Eugenie Kabiwa, who is the Executive Director and founder of the Agatha Foundation, an organization bearing her mother’s name that seeks to ‘uplift the culture and the quality of life in both the US and Africa.’ In this post, I recount Ms. Kabiwa’s initial challenges in the US and her work with the Agatha Foundation.

Inspiration – Eugenie Kabiwa of the Agatha Foundation, Part I: Cameroon

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African immigration to US, Cameroon, Cameroon Agriculture, Chris Cleave, Eugenie Kabiwa, Guinness Beer Africa, Inspirng stories from Africa, Limbe, Little Bee, the Agatha Foundation

Eugenie Kabiwa of the Agatha Foundation

On a recent rainy day, I had an embarrassingly difficult time locating the offices of the Agatha Foundation, which turned out to be only blocks from my home in NE DC.  I had a very interesting chat with the amazing Eugenie Kabiwa, who is the Executive Director and foundation of the organization bearing her mother’s name that seeks to ‘uplift the culture and the quality of life in both the US and Africa.’ In addition to speaking about her current work, Ms. Kabiwa related an incredibly transparent and open account of her youth in Cameroon and early struggles in the US as an unauthorized immigrant.

A brief glimpse of Ms. Kabiwa’s time in Cameroon follows and I will discuss her experience in the US and the path that led her to found the Agatha Foundation in a second post to follow.

Kah Walla – “It’s the politics, stupid.” (Guest Post)

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Africa Rising, Cameroon, emerging Africa, gender parity in Africa, Ghana, Kah Walla

By Angie Tyler, Graduate Student at SAIS at Johns Hopkins

Kah Walla, entrepreneur, activist and former presidential candidate from Cameroon gave a short presentation on Thursday at Georgetown MSFS titled, “Africa is Rising. Are Africans?” and then spent most of the time on Q&A. She said that she chose her theme based on her recent trip to Ghana where she found that despite impressive statistics on economic growth her conversations with Ghanaian citizens revealed a different reality.  Apart from a few exceptions, she argued, most African countries have not been able to translate their vast economic potential into health and wealth for their citizens, which led her to ask, “Why is there such a disparity between the potential and the reality?” In a word…GOVERNANCE. She says Africa is not poor, but poorly run and lacks visionary leaders and strong democratic institutions.

Kah Walla at Georgetown Tomorrow – Guest Post Anyone?

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Africa Society of Georgetown, Cameroon, Georgetown, Kah Walla

I have to confess I don’t really know who Kah Walla is.  However, the name sounds very familiar, so I suspect for Cameroon watchers, her talk tomorrow afternoon at Georgetown on ‘Leadership: Africa in the World and Women in Africa‘, is a rather big deal.  Her brief bio is quite impressive – presidential candidate, recognized by the World Bank, and celebrated by Forbes magazine.

I don’t usually plug events of this nature, but I had such a good time at the Africa Society of Georgetown’s pan-African conference last weekend, I wanted to highlight more Georgetown Africa activity (especially since I rarely get to their events).  Cameroon is also one of those countries (similar to Uganda and Burkina Faso, but definitely a notch below) where the lack of explicit US commitment to the professed policy of supporting democracy and governance really concerns me.

As always, I welcome a guest post from any of you who attend.  Also, I had promised a post a few weeks ago on a Cameroonian-American in DC with an awesome story, that will be coming soon.