Showing results by author "Janvier Chando" in All Categories

The 2016 Presidential election will be remembered for ages not only for producing the biggest upset in the history of American politics, but also for the colorfulness of the primaries of both the Democratic and the Republican parties. When Bernie Sanders, the little-known independent senator from small state Vermont boldly stated that he was a Democratic Socialist, and then began his race for the White House as a Democratic Party candidate, hardly anyone took him seriously. After all, he was up against the entire Democratic Party establishment and their favored candidate Hillary Clinton. ...

Hans Wette Heinrich's world turns upside down when Nazi Germany promulgates the Nuremberg Laws and he is compelled to seek sanctuary in Africa. His father, new African family, and childhood friend help him turn his haven into a new home. However, he quickly learns that his role as the first son of an African legend comes at a price as he tames his impulses and comes to terms with the reality of his new world beyond his family. Even as he fosters a noble dream that is haunted by nightmares, and even as he tries to live with the ghosts lurking around a legacy that is too big to inherit, he ...

This insightful account serves as an effective guide in understanding the fundamental mentalities that abound in our world and in knowing the various ways that they combine in the regulation of activities in our different societies. We understand how the degree of our humanization and the influence that it has on our intellect and intuitive insight is determined by the conditional and unconditional instincts we develop.Imagine how judging from a man’s belief system, perception of the world around him, plans, actions and self-restraints, we can determine his propensity for good or evil, ...

In this hilarious but insightful tall tale of how God gave Mankind the Ten Commandments through his prophet Moses and the ordeals that Moses went through to make humans accept it, Janvier Chouteu-Chando provides angles that are educative, hilarious and borderline offensive at the same time. However, the historical contexts of these insights reveal a side of our world that is difficult to confront.

For a people that lost more than half a million lives in a liberation struggle for the independence and reunification of their country yet failed to shake off the oppressive external forces who allowed self-rule and reunification of British Cameroons and former French Cameroun but put their puppets in power in a so-called independent Cameroon, this country known as “Africa in Miniature” is an Orwellian reality. It is hard for a non-Cameroonian mind to imagine that there are tidy solutions or pithy fixes to the big challenges in overcoming the reactionary forces responsible for ...

Jeremiah Nana spends an enriching day with two sages and gets an insight into a fascinating people. The experience leaves him with more questions than answers. Does the action of a fake reflect the centuries-old tradition of a people whose meaning of life revolves around an icon that suffers from deception? The custodians of a legacy and a bright-eyed soul seek an answer to that riddle. "Ngoko's Folly" is sequentially after "The Usurper", and precedes "The Verdict of Hades" in the collection of short stories entitled "The Usurper: and Other Stories".

When it comes to Cameroon, there seems to be an international conspiracy of silence regarding the destiny of this land variously described as "Africa in Miniature" or "The Microcosm of Africa". It is as if it truly embodies the haunted existence of Africa. When talking about dictators, the media giants apparently fail to mention the world's longest-serving non-royal head of state---Paul Biya of Cameroon, as if there is something to hide or as if there is something shameful about the Biya story and the anachronistic system that France and its geopolitical allies imposed on Cameroon by using ...

Me Before Them is a collection of exquisite short stories that dispassionately explore life’s temperaments through characters and their actions that give us a better understanding of the enemies of peace―ambition, anger, avarice, envy, and pride―within us. In Dark Shades, a man embraces childlike trust again by baring his soul to his family and exorcising the ghosts haunting him; alas finding out that genuine happiness also comes with empathy and selfless giving. In The Grandmothers, brave matriarchs step in to whisk their grandchildren out of the labyrinths of desolation that their ...

Playing out as a scintillating story with unexpected twists, “The Girl on the Trail” explores the severe and overwhelming shock of discovering uncomfortable truths about those we look up to, the security of family, the joy and satisfaction of love, the devastation of betrayal and loss, and the comfort of loyalty in our lives. The teenage Tatiana is certain she has her future mapped out: She would find love when she becomes a young woman, she would live a loving life all through college, and she would marry the knight who would secure her heart. But then, her compromised mother shakes ...

A young king is desperately trying to hold his kingdom together in the backdrop of his diminishing powers owing to the influence of the new French colonial masters. He flexes his muscles and takes his sister out of her conjugal home by arrogating to himself the use of his traditional powers over the issue of the bride price. Her overzealous uncle with an overactive imagination challenges the new king in a French court, thereby highlighting a bizarre but insightful case of the clash of occidental and African cultures. The beleaguered princess finds herself at a crossroads and acts the best ...

In this tumultuous story of rugged characters who retain their zest for life, the postulation that ideas are like fire holds, as events prove that ideas can burn the world as well as illuminate it. So, when old man Joe battles his descendants in their conflicting journeys through life, he does so in a manner that reveals man's innate goodness. However, by doing so, he is not advocating for humanity alone. In a world where it is increasingly relevant for the body to be in harmony with the mind, spirit, and soul, "Dark Shades" provides insights into the nature of a serene society and ...

When Lois Wyse wrote that “A mother becomes a true grandmother the day she stops noticing the terrible things her children do because she is so enchanted with the wonderful things her grandchildren do.”, she had no idea her words could be expatiated upon and applied in real life. But that is the case in “THE GRANDMOTHERS: and Perfect Love “, an extraordinary story of the influence of three remarkable grandmothers in the lives of their grandchildren, and their uphill battle to mitigate the negative influences of their irresponsible children. Janvier Chouteu-Chando takes the reader ...

When the debased Njoumen seeks sanctuary in his grandfather's royal palace, her number one concern is her mental health. As she glosses in her recovered status as a princess and unleashes the full force of her free-spiritedness, her unfamiliar ways make her the source of attention. But nobody has an idea of what would make her contented in life. That is until she engages her grandfather the king. What she wants most is a man to make her feel fulfilled in life, a sense of worth her husband never stirred in her bosom. So, when three years later, Njoumen's dejected husband challenges this ...

This is a story about a legend in that part of Africa called “Africa in Miniature”, “The Microcosm of Africa.” There was a time in the land when the story of Josef Nana Njike’s life and death became a popular narration. Different versions of the account have been told by those born before him, people who grew up with him, the mothers and fathers whose lives he touched, and the children he inspired. Josef’s life story quickly became a third-person narration, and from that, the legend was born. Still, all the narratives had one thing in common―the disadvantaged Josef Nana Njike ...

"I am Hated" is a luminous story with unexpected twists that explores security, love, family, loss and the realization that life holds no permanence and guarantees, especially the bitterness that comes with finally discovering the truth about those we love who are not there when we need them the most. In this story shedding light on the relationship between man and his best friend, the distraught Billy recounts his story to the Grand Master about an affluent life lived and about betrayal at the hands of his parents. "I am Hated" is the seventh account of the short story collection entitled ...