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RAMBLE in the JUNGLE

Any Man Help Self?

By Wanaku Verdzekov · · The Cameroons

Tags: international-help, self-rule, land-people-history

For those who know: the world has been an "any man help self" one since time immemorial.

Those who can move a rock from point A to point B are the doers; the rest are observers and talkers.

Before humans develop enough concern for the evil that has befallen the people of former British Southern Cameroons, or AMBAZONIA, to send "help" (people and resources), there has to be, it seems, a better reason than pictures and videos of killings, rape, looting and stealing by armed agents of the Franco-Cameroun government. So far, those who can send people and resources have not (yet) found a reason to do so.

On the other hand, "Africans" in the Cameroons have given them excuses to use, free of charge:

  • unnecessary QUARRELS between self-appointed "leaders" over "pennies" collected from citizens who donated of their FREE WILL (no one forced them);
  • a plethora of PLATFORMS with DIVERGENT views on how to reach divergent GOALS;
  • and, above all, the proliferation of parallel STORYLINES that lead the audience to clueless endpoints and cliffhangers, with several signposts showing that the ability to navigate international systems is somehow lost in the woods.

Not a pretty picture.

However, some CONSTANTS remain, no matter what: the LAND, the PEOPLE and their hiSTORY. That's the three-legged stool that serves as the foundation for SELF-RULE and AUTONOMY, even in 1,000 years.

Question: how does one self-rule? Remember "moving a rock from point A to point B"? Hint: self-rule is WORK. That can be scary for humans who won't move a rock.

So… if Ambazonia does not help itself, no one will.

TM


AMBA: A thousand messages with different stories confuse the audience. STICK to ONE STORY: SELF-RULE and AUTONOMY.

TM

— Wanaku Verdzekov

Reading & grammar

Reading level: Gr 9–11

Understand

  1. What does "any man help self" mean?
  2. What "excuses" does the author say Africans give outsiders not to help?
  3. What is the "three-legged stool"?

Grammar focus: lists with bullet points. The post lists three excuses as bullet points, each starting with a noun phrase. Bullets suit parallel items that would make a very long sentence.

Try it: Rewrite the three bullet points as one sentence. Which form is clearer?

Discuss: Should a community ask for outside help or rely only on itself? Argue.