Ambassador Joseph Charles Foe-Atangana heralds new era of détente and honesty in relations with Cameroonian Diaspora that is much appreciated by all.
Some 1,000 Cameroonians and Americans of Cameroonian descent, together with their families, converged at the sumptuous Hampton Conference Center in Maryland on May 29, 2009 to celebrate in a special way the 37th National day of Cameroon. This family reunion, so to speak, was the initiative of the new Cameroon Ambassador to the United States of America, His Excellency Joseph Charles Bienvenu FOE-ATANGANA. It came on the heels of the official commemoration of the National Day that took place on the night of May 20, 2009 at the eponymous Ritz Carlton Hotel downtown Washington, DC to which the Ambassador and Mrs. Foe-Atangana had invited some 400 dignitaries from our host country, foreign diplomats accredited to Washington, prominent friends of Cameroon, and representatives of Cameroon cultural associations in the USA. The huge turnouts at these two events at short notice bear testimony to the success of the public relations groundwork that Ambassador Foe-Atangana had undertaken, immediately after his arrival in Washington some eight months ago, to bring back a measure of honesty and mutual confidence in relations between the Embassy and the Cameroonian Diaspora that had been fractured for years.
The major highlight of the celebrations at the Hampton Conference Center, besides the food, the music, and the drinks, were the quality speeches, particularly the Ambassador’s address which was much applauded by the participants and has since become the talk of the town. The Chairman of the All Cameroonian Cultural Development Foundation, Mr. Ivo Tasong gave an equally constructive and conciliatory speech. The following are excerpts from the Ambassador’s groundbreaking address.
On The Significance of May 20 to Cameroonians
We are assembled here today to celebrate in a special way the 37th National Day of Cameroon. I wish to recall that the May 20 National Day symbolizes the Unity of all Cameroonians. It came about as a result of the Peaceful Revolution of May 20, 1972 when Cameroonians voted overwhelmingly in a National Referendum to institute a Unitary State to replace the Federation of East and West Cameroon that had existed since October 1st 1961.
On Ambassador’s Job description
Brothers and Sisters, I am here today to introduce myself to you as your humble “Servant-In-Chief”. My name is Joseph Charles Bienvenue Foe-Atangana and I was recently appointed to the position of Ambassador to the United States of America. To summarize my job description, I represent the Cameroon government in United States, but more importantly, I am here to serve the Cameroonian Community living in United States. It is my responsibility to make sure that all government services available at the Cameroon Embassy in Washington D.C. are made available to you as Cameroonians in Diaspora, and I pledge to you today, that I will do anything within my powers to make sure that nobody undermines your rights as a Cameroonian.
On Who is a Cameroonian
Let me immediately address the very important issue of “who is a Cameroonian”. A Cameroonian is anyone who was born in Cameroon, has Cameroonian parents or became Cameroonian through marriage or other means irrespective of what color your passport is. To me, a Cameroonian is someone who struggles to direct resources and development to Cameroon whenever they can irrespective of their social or financial status. To me, a Cameroonian is someone who loves Cameroon and wants the best for Cameroon and feels the pain of Cameroonians deep in their heart when Cameroon suffers irrespective of where they live. To me, a Cameroonian is someone who’s umbilical cord, or that of their parent, or that of their parents’ parent, is buried under a plantain or cocoyam stem in Cameroon. It does not matter to me who you are, where you are, or what you are, today. Brothers and sisters, you are the people I am here to serve.
On Embassy as First Home of Every Cameroonian
The location from which I will be serving you is the Cameroonian Embassy. On that note, I would like to take this opportunity to remind all of you that the Cameroon Embassy is your first home away from Cameroon. If you do not remember the address, it is on 2349 Massachusetts Avenue, North West, Washington, D.C. 20008. The phone number is (202) 265-8790.
Let our Embassy, or our home away from home, be the place where we collectively roll out an implementation strategy for the covenant we make today to turn the Cameroonian Diaspora community into a major driving force on the road to make Cameroon a developed nation someday. I call upon you to use your embassy as a “facilitating place” for your America connections to converge in our strategy to drive investments to Cameroon. I call upon you to come to the embassy when you have problems so we can brainstorm on the best solutions, in the best interest of our fellow Cameroonians. This, my dear brothers and sisters is what I ask of you.
On Pledge to be “Facilitator-in-Chief”
On my part, I pledge to you that I will be your faithful “Facilitator-in-Chief”. I will not tolerate an embassy where Cameroonians are frustrated unnecessarily by disgruntled civil servants. Our standards of excellence in customer service at the embassy should be nothing less than what is common in our host country. I can guarantee you of the highest standards of professionalism from my fellow diplomats at the Embassy and I hereby ask each and every one of you, my fellow Cameroonians, to feel free when you come to your Embassy. No Cameroonian is more Cameroonian than another. I do not care what party you belong to and whether you are Western, Eastern, Southern, or Northern Cameroonian. I do not care whether you speak French, English or any of the 250 dialects in Cameroon. We will all be treated with the same level of dignity at our Embassy.
On Role of Diaspora in Nation Building
In my travels, I have visited numerous countries and read about others whose economies are driven by the members of their community in the Diaspora: Senegal; Ghana; Togo; Ireland; Israel; Nigeria, and so on. All along, I have been haunted by this question: Why not Cameroon? I agonized over this for a long time until when President Paul Biya appointed me Ambassador to United States of America.
When I met the first group of Cameroonians here, my vision became clearer. I saw so much talent, resources and motivation in the Cameroonian community in the United States of America. Suddenly, it occurred to me that perhaps fate has put us together in America at this special moment when the son of an African is President of the USA. It suddenly occurred to me that in the history of every nation, each generation has to leave its own mark so that when they are no longer there, their children, their grand children, and their great grand children can stand tall amongst children of all nations and say – our parents, our grand parents, and our great grand parents were perhaps the greatest human beings that walked upon this earth. Yet, every so often, one generation has the opportunity to distinguish itself from the rest. My vision tells me that we have that opportunity today. It tells me that by the time we are done, we would look like giants compared to others.
On Honoring Our Nation
But before we begin this journey, let us take some time today to honor those through whose sweat and tears we now travel the World as free Cameroonians. Let us take some time out to celebrate this special day that we have set aside to honor our Cameroon, the country we love so dearly. Let us celebrate the 20th day of May in honor of the country that God gave us. But for those of us present here today let May 20th be even more symbolic as a day when we made a covenant amongst ourselves that we will collectively standout as giants amongst other generations as we focus on leveraging our connections in United States to help turn Cameroon into a developed nation someday.
Most importantly, let us remember to celebrate our national day every year as a means to review our performance in the previous year on this long journey towards developing our nation through our dynamic Cameroonian Diaspora community. Let the Cameroonian generation in Diaspora that watched Obama become President of United Sates be the ones that would step up and make Cameroon the greatest nation it can be.
In order to preserve our unity we have to take our destiny into our two hands and not just sit and wait for providence. As the Head of State, President Paul Biya aptly reminded us in his end–of-year message to the nation on the 30th of December 2008: “Heaven helps those who help themselves”.
On need to live in Unity and Peace
For those of us who reside in the United States of America, it demands that we should live in peace, unity and solidarity with each other; that we should be forever patriotic; that we should at all times defend, promote, and sustain the good image of our country instead of competing to tear it down.
We Cameroonians of the Diaspora should consider ourselves, each and everyone of us, and at all times, as Ambassadors of our country to the United States of America. We should always respect the laws and institutions of our host country, but spare no effort, when the need arises to rise up in defense of the values and ideals of our own fatherland. This is the Head of States clarion call to the entire son’s and daughters of Cameroon as symbolized by the theme for this year’s National Day celebration: “Armed Forces and the Nation: For the Promotion of Social Peace and Development”.
