User talk:Fotang

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Hello, Fotang, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers:

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Fotang, I just wanted to welcome you to Wikipedia and to say hello! I saw your comment on Talk:Bamileke that you are a Bamileke yourself. I lived in Bandjoun for three months while I was in training for the Peace Corps. Then I went to the East Province and lived in Abong-Mbang. However, I am still in contact with my host family from Bandjoun. Where are you from in Cameroon, if you don't mind me asking? — BrianSmithson 16:43, 6 June 2006 (UTC)


BrianSmithson: I do not mind at all. it's a pleasure to meet someone who can write so much about the Bamilikes. I come from a village 23km from Dschang, on the Bamboutous range of mountains. It's called Mmuock-Leteh, one of the four Mmuock (Mmock) villages created by Bamilikes who migrated up into the hills in the 18th century. When the French and the English divided Kamerun amongst themselves after the second world war, the boundary was drawn right after my village, leaving us in the British part: thus we are in the Southwest Province, while everyone else is in the french-speaking part of Cameroon. A long story; maybe I need to put it up somewhere... Bandjoun? I was there in 2003 for a funeral. It's great that you still have contact with your host family. My family had a friend, Dan Taylor, iirc, who was a peace corps volunteer in Bamenda, starting 1986. Unfortunately, we lost contact a few years after he returned to the States (letters getting lost, poor postal service etc). It's a pity that the peace corps no longer organize the annual holiday school in Bamenda. I attended it 1986-1988, and it is what got me and my pals into science and engineering—despite the good Ms Carol Schnell giving me a zero in Math, for talking ;). IMHO, that was more help to Cameroon than the billions in financial aid. Anyway, enough of my rants... --Fotang 11:39, 12 June 2006 (UTC)

Sorry, Fotang; I lost track of your user page and just now saw this reply. (I have too many pages on my watchlist!) Thanks again for your help on Cameroon-related articles. We struggle at Wikipedia to give Africa the depth of coverage it deserves, so to see someone from Cameroon helping and contributing is just stupendous in my opinion. I had several friends who worked as volunteers in the Southwest, but they were mostly concentrated near the coast/Mt. Cameroon area (Bakweri, Isubu, and Bakossi territory mostly). As for the Bamileke, you mention the split that occurred resulting in both Anglophone and Francophone Bamileke populations. Do the two sides remain in close contact? Our Bamileke article does not mention the Anglophone Bamileke, so that might be something worth noting there. -- BrianSmithson 14:33, 19 July 2006 (UTC)