Lewoh Cultural & Development Meeting Developing Lewoh

The first flight of LECUDEM-USA-0624-27/2016 landed in Columbus, OH last night heralding the holding this weekend of the Organization’s 2016 Biennial Conference. The flight, from the Douala International Airport in Cameroon brought along His Majesty the Atemangwat of Lewoh, Patron of the Lewoh Cultural and Development Meeting. The Conference opens on Friday June 24 with the Atemangwat of Lewoh presiding.

 

The Atemangwat of Lewoh arrivesLECUDEM, the Lewoh Cultural and Development Meeting in the United States is poised to show-case Lewoh (and through it, Lebialem) culture, traditional and culinary exhibitions, cultural displays, and generalized celebration during a three-day jamboree.

His Majesty, the Atemangwat of Lewoh received an enthusiastic reception in Columbus last night Columbus in what promises to be a groundbreaking Conference. Apart from being His Majesty’s maiden visit to the United States, Columbus, Ohio 2016 will shine the light on what this North American of the Lewoh Cultural and Development Organization is doing to leverage development initiatives in the Kingdom. Working in sync with the Mother Organization, LECUDEM-USA intends to raise funds for projects in the healthcare, cultural (Lemo’oh), and social domains in the Lewoh Kingdom.

As delegates to the biennial Conference converge on the Buckeye State, early projections indicate that this will be LECUDEM-USA’s highest attended biennial Conference since its incorporation as a not-for-profit organization. The projections also show that the heavy turnout at the three day event will bring delegates from Canada and Cameroon in particular, as well as from Europe. Sons and daughters of Lewoh from the four corners of the United States are, of course, flocking into the Buckeye state with different cities striving to outsmart each other with the number of delegates.

LEWOH CULTURALThe presence of their King apart, this LECUDEM-USA conference, also happens to be happening in an election year. In fact, the current executive and board of this North American branch has served for the last eight years with very little changes to the faces and personalities. Current President, Barrister Nkemajiawung Fondungallah has been at the helm piloting the organization to its present status with more than 500 registered members concentrated mostly in the DMV/New Jersey/Atlantic coast corridor of the United States but also in Houston, TX, Minneapolis/Saint Paul, MN, Boston, MA, Chicago, IL, Atlanta, GA and Phoenix, AZ.

The decision to hold this biennial Conference in Columbus, OH was reached during LECUDEM-USA’s Family Reunion in Dayton, OH last year. Since then the National Executive and a Conference Planning Committee have worked relentlessly to ensure success this weekend. In that light, the organization is proposing a wide-ranging agenda that will not just include celebration and merrymaking but include debates, the exhibition of Lewoh/Lebialem cultural artifacts, dances, culinary art, and sightseeing. A Conference Magazine goes to press Thursday night and will carry advertisements, information about the Conference, Lewoh, and bits and titbits from here and there.

The venue for the conference is: Comfort Inn North Conference Center
1213 East Dublin Granville Road, Columbus, Ohio 43229.
Tel: 614-885-4084 ext. 303

Lewoh Kingdom Gears Up For Its 2016 Cultural Festival

The National President of the Lewoh Cultural and Development Meeting (LECUDEM) Dr. John Nkemngong Nkengasong has confirmed that the 2016 Lewoh Cultural Festival will hold at Anya from the 17th to the 19th of March. The National President’s confirmation of the Festival date is contained in media handouts and postings to all sons and daughters of Lewoh in Cameroon and in the Diaspora.

According to the communication, this year’s Cultural Festival, dubbed “Bechi Begeh” (come let us showcase our traditions) will, among other things feature a fundraising for the construction of the Lewoh Cultural Complex (the Lemo’oh Lewoh).

Consequently, the National President calls on “all branch presidents and special committee presidents” to “take particular note” and mobilize members accordingly.

Dr. Nkengasong further calls on all sons and daughters of Lewoh and branch executives to “circulate this information to all Lewoh sons and daughters, friends and well-wishers” at home and in the Diaspora.

Pursuant to decisions taken at an enlarged National Executive Committee Meeting in Douala last October, all sons and daughters of the Kingdom are expected to make contributions toward the realization of the Lewoh Cultural Complex, the “Lemo’oh Lewoh.” The National Executive Meeting categorized sons and daughters of Lewoh into ten groups, each contributing a given amount for the project. Such contributions range from CFA 5,000 francs minimum to CFA 200,000 francs and above (maximum).

While branch presidents have been tasked with compiling, collecting and submitting their manpower lists and sums due for the project to the General Secretariat, it is expected that the branches would speed up the collection and quick dispatch of the funds to the Treasurer. Concurrently, appeal letters are being addressed to friends of Lewoh and other dignitaries to solicit funds for the project.

Meanwhile, the programme of the three-day Lewoh Cultural Festival (Bechi Begeh Lewoh) shows that activities would kick off on Wednesday (Angong) with the gathering of all sons and daughters of the Kingdom. A cross-country race and an ecumenical church service would start the day of Thursday (Aseih) before the Patron of the Lewoh Cultural and Development Meeting (LECUDEM) and Paramount Ruler of the Lewoh Kingdom, Nyatemeh Fotabong Lekelefac, formally launches the Festival. The launching ceremony would feature the “Nteuh” dance in the esplanade prepared for the purpose, as the “Lefem” “talks” in the Royal Grove. An enlarged National Executive Meeting is expected to hold from 4:00 p.m. as the Kingdom retires for the day.

Day three (Friday Alung) of the Festival will feature a meeting of the General Assembly of LECUDEM, a traditional dance competition, and an all-night “Abanda” and a display of Lewoh folklore in the Nweh dialect.

Saturday (Ankoah, a traditional Sunday in Lewoh) is expected to start with a carnival of traditional displays, an art exhibition, a mini-agro-pastoral show, the second phase of fundraising for the Lewoh Cultural Complex (the Lemo’oh Project), and entertainment.  An all-night gala is expected to draw the curtain on the 2016 Lewoh Cultural Festival – an avenue that would have enabled Lewoh to showcase its culture and traditions in this “Bechi Begeh” rendezvous.

Hope for Health BD & Heart to Heart International

On Thursday March 13, 2014 we moved some of the supplies from our headquarters at Fuafeh’s to the District Hospital. We had been planning this mission to coincide with the Anyoutah Lewoh but as Providence will have it, this mission was a necessity. As we arrived Lewoh, we got news that the community has been without a doctor for months. The resident doctor of the Lewoh is married to the resident doctor of Alou and so she lives in Alou. She has been on maternity for who knows how long. How our people have been fairing without a doctor for months still baffles my imagination and bares testimony to the fact that God has been working and continues to work over-time here.

Medical MissionAs our pick-up truck approached the hospital, it was bustling with people from the main grounds to the entrance and on the sides and inside of the building. News had spread like wild fire of our arrival and people had camped out as early as 7:00 am. As we settled in , a motor-cycle pulled up and the gentleman who alighted from it, introduced himself as Dr. Fossouo Deffo Emmanuel. Dr. Fossou Deffo is the resident doctor of Alou hospital and husband to the resident doctor of Lewoh who is on leave. We were happy to hear that he will be assisting the team.

With the assistance of the medical staff of the hospital, we were able to set up a reception table and three rooms for the doctors. Our lab technician settled into the laboratory with the nurse and the resident “pharmacist” and midwife setup station in the hallway ready to dispense medications. The process went as follows, a medical staff called the patient’s name from a heap of  hospital books that were on a desk, the patient is directed to one of the doctors for consultation; if the doctor determined that further tests were needed, the patient was sent to the laboratory; the patient returned to the doctor for diagnosis and prescriptions. With prescriptions in hand, the patient then comes to the pharmacy table to receive supplies of medications. With the process in motion, I decided to take a walk around the hospital. The doctor’s residence that we had worked hard to renovate and equip with a water system toilet seats uninhabited. The maternity ward that we also worked hard to realize seats unused because the contractor, one of Lebialem’s paramount rulers, I was told, did not build it to specification. The current maternity ward is still in the state I met in 2009. How mother and child have gotten out of here alive after delivery only God knows.

Medical MissionThe malaria test kits we were to get from Buea were expired so they were not brought to Lewoh. We however did get the HIV test kits. The doctors nevertheless did malaria tests at the cost 500 frs with the test kits that we bought from the hospital’s supply. At 3 pm the team had not had lunch. The abeh nchi that had been prepared by Mami Monica at Nkemateh’s had to be transported to the hospital for the doctors to have lunch. After consultations resumed, I hurried down to GTTC Lewoh to attend the LECUDEM Executive meeting. I returned at 9 pm to find the team still at work dispensing medications using a touch light as the lighting at the hospital did not extend to our make-shift pharmacy. After a delicious dinner from our hostesses, the team hit the main square to join in Cameroon’s favorite past-time– beer drinking and dancing.

Submitted by Nkemajiawung Fondungallah