Words Bridge

𝐃𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬: 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐀𝐛𝐢𝐝𝐣𝐚𝐧 – 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐈 🇨🇮 🇨🇲

𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬

I hosted the short film premiere and launch of the Londa report at the 2026 Digital Rights and Inclusion Forum - DRIF (DRIF26) in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. While planning backstage with my fellow cohost, Jedidja Gnali, she paused for a moment and said something along the lines of “they were right, you have done this before.”

“Countless times,” was my response.

My first steps into MCing date back to university. As a journalism student and campus radio host, I would also take on side gigs, moderating weddings, graduation ceremonies, and youth events for extra change. Somewhere between chasing vox pops, editing audio at odd hours, and surviving student life in Buea, I discovered that I genuinely enjoyed wielding the microphone.

For some years, I had somewhat folded up that suit and tucked it away. But journalism, the very profession that introduced me to public speaking, never really left. If anything, it anchored itself deeper into my professional seabed.

So, finding myself years later, floating in advocacy waters was a familiar feeling. Journalism and advocacy, after all, are cousins. Both are built on the idea of inspiring change.

That is perhaps why my work with Paradigm Initiative (PIN) feels deeply personal. It is rooted firmly in my training and service as a reporter in one of Sub-Saharan Africa’s most complex sociopolitical countries – Cameroon.

Our bilingual status and other fallouts of our postcolonial history continue to set us apart as a unique triangle on the African continent. In our purely natural quest for association, we have found more than a friend in Côte d’Ivoire.

Considering each other as in-laws, Côte d’Ivoire and Cameroon share a rather romantic diplomatic relationship. So when Abidjan was announced on that stage in Lusaka as the next host city for DRIF26, my joy hit differently. I was glad to be visiting la belle famille once again.

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