In Cameroon, the Lire au Sahel association has published a collection of ten short stories, written by young people from the Far North region. One of them gave its title to the work, Boko (is) Halalin other words “ education is legitimate “. Through short fictions, which were, for most of their authors, first attempts at writing, the pain and concern of these young people at seeing their region affected by extremist violence are expressed.
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To encourage the readingwith funding from the French Embassy in Cameroon, the Lire au Sahel association, chaired by David Wanedam, developed, at the end of 2020, a system of mobile libraries which today has a documentary collection of 3,500 works: “ African books but also more oriented towards young people. The enthusiasm has been interesting. It must be said that in Maroua, it is difficult to find a comic book, the bookstores do not sell them “. Loans are free. The project currently affects around 800 beneficiaries.
The success of the country’s child, Djaïli Amadou Amalwinner in France of the Goncourt prize for high school students for her novel The impatient ones arouses enthusiasm: “ More and more young people came to us and told us, “I want to write, but I don’t know how we’re going to do it.” A competition is launched, with the sole theme: Boko Haram. “Because this subject may have been covered enormously in the media, there is little room for young people to speak out and express their vision of what this crisis is.” A hundred manuscripts arrive. Stories of destroyed schools, kidnappings and lost projects.
“ Here is the opportunity to make my dream come true »
“ I was particularly struck by the way they addressed violence and inner pain in an environment where we express very little about our pain, about what touches us deeply. “, says David Wanedam again. Among the selected stories, that of Julienne Apsi, 25, a master’s student in communications in Maroua, who imagines the journey of Bineta, kidnapped by Boko Haram and who manages to escape. “ Nightlyshe says, I was in front of my computer, I wrote a sentence, two sentences, half a page, I closed it, the next day I came back and in the meantime I was also looking for information through friends who are in villages deeply affected by the Boko crisis Haram. When the call for applications came out, I said to myself that – wow – this is the opportunity to make my dream come true. »
The author of the short story which gave its name to the work, Honoré Mboake, first prize in the competition, is in his thirties, holds a master’s degree and is awaiting registration for a thesis. He also dreams of becoming a recognized writer: “ I have two manuscripts that I am working on. I dream of one day seeing one of my novels published so I can share my stories with the world “. For David Wanedam, the radicalism imposed on the region has damaged the prospects of young people, who nevertheless aspire to quality education. The Lire Au Sahel association hopes to make this first edition an annual competition.
Literature without bordersHemley Boum, Cameroon at the heart