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|  | poetry with AIDS theme by Cameroonian TV journalist |
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|  Say "NO" to AIDS (a book of poems)
Author: Tikum Mbah Azonga
Languages: French/English Published: 2006
Cameroonian journalist and former Health and Media course participant, Tikum Mbah Azonga, has published a book of his poems focusing on issues surrounding HIV/AIDS.
With some poems in English and others in French, Tikum reflects on Abstinence, Loneliness, Hope, Children, and more.
For more information and to get your copy, send and email to the publisher: larondedespoetes@yahoo.com
From the Author: "This book is a work of art that was inspired by three main factors, namely, Cameroon's increasing leadership role in the fight against HIV/AIDS in the Central African sub-region, the need for everyone - each in his own way - to wage an all- out war against the pandemic, as well as the part the art of poetry has played in my life.
My mind was quickly made up about writing the book in the form of poetry, partly by the very inspirational workshops we hold within La Ronde des Pohtes, a Yaounde-based poetry association for poets and lovers of poetry.
It was also partly because of the willing ear given me by the Permanent Secretary of the National Aids Control Committee then (NACC), Dr Zekeng Leopold, when I discussed the project with him. Although the poems are written in both French and English, it must be said there has been no translation of poems from one language into the other. Poems were written in the language in which they are published. Simply, where the author was inspired on a theme in a given language, he wrote in that language.
'Say No To AIDS' is a practical work of art, written for everyone and anyone, and conceived such that it can be used by readers at all levels. Teachers can use some of the poems as stimuli for classroom exercises or in HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns. It is possible to extract part or all of a poem and use it as a slogan that can be recited by pupils, made into a label and stuck on home windows and doors, vehicles or even bags. Musicians can select some poems and compose songs that can be listened to or danced, just as dramatists can adapt some for school or community theatre. The list is endless.
 Whatever use you choose to make of your own copy of the book, we hope you and others will draw benefits from it."
-- Tikum Mbah Azonga, Yaoundé, Cameroon
We shall triumph
(AIDS shall be defeated)
We shall form a vibrant league
A sturdy shield, an impervious fort
An impregnable wall, a repellant barricade,
A common front
So that the monster HIV/Aids
Can at all times
Be kept out
Out of reach
At bay
At arm's length
In quarantine
No, better still
We shall fight it, tackle it, attack it, harass it,
Dribble it and score it
With the last iota of our strength
Fight it to the finish
Break its long and intruding neck
Crush its slippery body
Destroy it
Wipe it out of existence
Delete it from history
Deny it its place in time and space
We have our men
Our women
Our children
Our dogs
Our horses
Our Dane guns
Our spears
-- Tikum Mbah Azonga, taken from his book, Say "NO" to AIDS |
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