FRE 124 the course to take

Why do I have the audacity to advice students of all majors to take this class? I have made it, believe me, it's one of the reasons I have enjoyed my degree at Daystar University.

Can anyone imagine that this is an exam? Yeah I thought so, you think I am just bluffing. I am serious, this course has no written exam, just blog posts and you have your grade.

Enough of the trivial matters. Let me explain why I chose this course. I added this course as a filler to complete my hours. I needed to graduate and I had free electives hours to cover. My late addition not withstanding, thanks to Dr. Wandia, the HOD of Languages and Performing Arts at Daystar University. I didn't know of the fun that was in store for me through the semester.

All foodies in the house, can I hear an an amen. This is the course for you. We cooked and sampled cuisine from different Francophone countries. This course even made some of us better cooks. You can just peruse the different articles on this blog written under cuisine, to get a feel of what I am saying.

This is one of the coolest class you will ever find. Can anyone tell me, when was the last time you took a selfie with your lecturer? At FRE 124, we were so free with our lecturer. Dr. Wandia Njoya took the four of us through the course just the same way she would handle a full class.

Yes that was the whole class. Where are the students to take this class? You do not know what you are missing out on.

Any student claiming to have passed through an African University should have some knowledge of African history. This class gave a wealth of knowledge on Negritude, the colonization of francophone Africa and of course Haiti. After every class, I had the desire to read more African history.
https://books.google.co.ke/books/about/The_Wretched_of_the_Earth.html?id=-XGKFJq4eccC&hl=en
Patrice Lumumba and
Léopold Senghor are part of the interesting topics of discussion.   

We were even nominated for the blog awards by BAKE. This time we did not clinch the title but who knows, maybe if you join this blog might be the next best education blog.

Finally, I am not a linguistic major. My major is Public Relations, which is why I haven't mastered my French. This course is taught in English one gets to learn french on the way as you interact with French terms. Actually regardless of your major, you need some cultural classes because the world is shrinking into a village.

All the best as you make your choice for the coming semesters. Look out for FRE 124. Remember that no pre-requisites are needed to register.

Poulet Dg

For the week 7 topic, Negritude and the arts each of us was given a country. Mine was Cameroon. AS you'll note from my other post I was to present on Cameroon and also, COOK a traditional dish. We created  a whats up group  and agreed on me cooking the Poulet Dg. The name is quite interesting for the Dg is an acronym for "Directeur Général" (Director general). It is also known to be a special meal  that was only prepared for important people but is these days enjoyed by all. 

 Thank God for the site I found that not  only had the recipe but also provided visual aid that helped me know I was doing every step correctly. http://www.macocote.com/poulet-dg/. In the ingredients Plantains were one of the main components and truth be told I have always thought that they were just ripe bananas like the 'matoke but ripe matoke'. :)

Well it turns out that is not the case. You can not buy the 'matoke' and give it some days to turn into plantains. They are to different things . In actual truth the plantains are not as easy to find at the market. The cooking process was nerve wrecking. The fact that I have attempted to cook chicken before and been told it as 'okay' didn't help make thing easier. To know that more than two people are expecting your food to appear a particular way  (since there was a photo I  posted) or also that there was no time for trial and error having prepared the meal the morning that the class was to take place. 

My own mother had suggested that I maybe make a complementary dish just in case I failed on this one. Many are thinking what was the final verdict well, I succeeded!!

The photo I posted

My Poulet Dg

Cameroon

Cameroon is one of those rare countries that was colonized by more than one colonial ruler namely the Germans, British and the French.

  

The dark orange represents the German Kamerun, The dark red the British Cameroons, the dark blue the French Cameroun and the dark green the Republic of Cameroon. 

French Cameroun gained independence first on the 1st of January in 1960 as the La Republique du Cameroun. The northern two thirds of the British cameroons who were mainly Muslims opted to join Nigeria while the southern Cameroons voted to join with the republic of Cameroon thus becoming the Federal Republic of Cameroon. 

Its first chosen president was Ahmadou Ahidjo in 1961. He was in power for 21 years and in !982 he willingly stepped down for his successor Paul Biya. As one can imagine for those 21 years many were loyal to him and as such he was believed to have been behind the 1984 attempted coup which led to the death of approximately 71-1,000 people. As a result Ahmadou was exiled to France and later died in Senegal. 

Paul Biya is the second president of Cameroon. His been in power since 1982. For the past 32 years they've been elections that he has won. His wife Chantal Biya is famously known for Her hairstyles.

His wife Chantal Biya and is famously known for her hairstyles which during the recent African summit in the America an article about it was published in the Washington post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/reliable-source/wp/2014/08/04/the-first-lady-of-cameroon-and-her-hair-have-touched-down-in-d-c/

Cameroon fashion has been noticed across the globe with the embassy of Cameroon being present during the African Fashion Week an event which was organized by a Cameroonian designer Miss Diana Tambe. The designer that intrigued me the most from Cameroon was Patou Manga. He showcased his work in Amsterdam during the African Fashion Week. The United Fashion for Peace referred to his work as Dandy Urban style. His style is popularly known as the Patou style.  http://webzine.unitedfashionforpeace.com/ethical-fashion-trends/patou-manga-dandy-urban-style/#.VFkHkBYQv1U