Cameroon: How to assure a sustainable African development without Africa losing her soul?
Douala: Close to 70 people from the whole country participated in the open days of the economy of communion that took place on the 21st and 22nd November 2015. Report from the first day...
by the Central Africa EoC Commission
Close to 70 people from the whole country majority being students of the Catholic University Institute of Buea (CUIB), some heads of companies and experts of varied business lines participated in the open days of the economy of communion that took place on the 21st and 22ndNovember 2015. It was the first most famous in the city of Douala and all participants were very eager to see how to put economy and communion together, and get the outcome of the combination of both elements.
At the beginning of the first day, a brilliant talk from Max Mbock and Steve William Azeumo on The Origin and Meaning of Eoc Project gave rhythm and orientations to these two days on the economy of communion (EoC). After a thirty-minutes break, we continued the morning session with discussions on the crisis of African identity, poverty and its consequences, the education system, the influence of the great African family and globalization. We had as speakers: Melanie Njonou, Leocadie Pougoue, Nji Mabih and Steve Willam Azeumo, all members of the Central Africa EoC commission. From the analysis presented by these speakers, it comes out that most crises in Africa today result from dualism in between tradition and modernity; a dualism that mostly has negative consequences on both the behaviour of Africans, particularly the young, and on the development of the African continent. Leocadie Pougoue who is an expert on African traditional savings illustrated it by an example taken on the "shwaa" in the western region of the country or "njangui", which is a form of microcredit practiced by several African people, is in a bad shape today in spite of the fact that it perpetuates the sense of honesty and respect by giving one's word while privileging some sort of reciprocity in community life; all this with an invisible partner's blessing: "God" or" Sii ". This analysis brought about the following fundamental question: How to assure a sustainable African development without Africa losing her soul?
To sum up answers proposed from exchanges between speakers and participants, one keeps in mind that to assure a sustainable development in Africa, Africa will need the "new men" that is formed African personalities, anchored in African values and educated to interculturality and "living together" so as to put the culture of giving, hospitality and group solidarity at the centre of development and globalization such that the come together of cultures and individuals in Africa be no more at the origin of "injuries" and underdevelopment, but rather of blessings and sustainable development.
The afternoon shift was enriched by workshops; three workshops were established to this effect: ''we are all EoC''; ''business creation'' and ''EoC practices in business''. These workshops allowed some participants to be more enlightened on the culture of unity and EoC practices in business. For others, particularly the young present at the start-up workshop, it was an opportunity to help them discern ideas on business and prepare together a follow-up towards establishment as need be.