Buzz Byte

The Cultures of Resistance Scholarships Deadline: 20 March 2015 Thanks to a very generous philanthropic donation received from the Cultures of Resistance Network Foundation and the American Friends of SOAS (AFSOAS), a set of new postgraduate scholarships are now available at SOAS. That donation has been matched by an additional contribution from the SOAS Students’ Union to make up the Cultures of Resistance Scholarships at SOAS. The scholarships will benefit people from countries that have been affected by wars and extreme poverty. This scholarship embodies the values of the Cultures of Resistance Network Foundation, which seeks to empower and enrich communities – especially those that have been affected by armed conflict – through the promotion of human rights, justice for victims of war crimes and the enrichment of civil society and robust grassroots democracy. Security conditions permitting, scholars are expected to return to their home countries to apply their knowledge and s...

University of Kent at Paris Scholarship A scholarshipworth £25,000 is available to international applicants wishing to study a taught MA at the University of Kent, Paris starting in September 2015. Criteria Open to UK, EU and overseas fee-paying students. Applicants should be on track for a first-class Bachelor’s Degree in a relevant subject, or an equivalent non-UK qualification, or a Master’s degree at merit or distinction in a relevant subject or equivalent. Applicants must have formally accepted an offer of a place on one of the following Paris MA programmes starting in September 2015: Architecture & Urban Design, Comparative Literature, Creative Writing, Eighteenth Century Studies, English and American Literature, European Theatre & Dramaturgy, Film Studies, French and Comparative Literature, History and Philosophy of Art ,  Modern French Studies, Modern History, Postcolonial Studies, Religion Scholarships will be awarded to outstanding applican...

An article featuring Bill Gates as Guest Editor, surmises that Africa is most likely to benefit from mobile banking than America and many other developed countries. So how is Africa to benefit? The article elaborates on the use of mobile technology which saves mostly market women the extra effort to travel across miles to purchase commodities. As a result of mobile banking, all that's left for the women is to transfer their money via their mobile phones and get the supplier to send their goods to their local basements. This means that traders wouldn't have to travel across miles to buy items saving cost, and protecting lives from bandits given situations that traders go around carrying huge sums for transactional purposes. Having gone through the article, I wonder how this is going to alleviate poverty. I was thinking more at the macro-level where these phones would have to be produced in Africa to give the endeavour any significant meaning on the economy a...

Global Press Institute seeks to hire women from 26 countries around the world to take trainings and ultimately become their reporter. This is another way to earn extra income. No prior journalism experience is required. English language skills are not required to join our team of reporters. The main requirements are basic literacy skills in your native language and a passion to make a difference! Source: http://globalpressinstitute.org/become-a-reporter/

The World Linguistic Agency ranks Uganda as the best English-speaking country in Africa. Pointless to add that some Ugandans were sceptical about this news as they left FB comments doubting the validity of the research. The question I always pose is whose interest is served. South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Namibia followed in that order. Nigerians were particularly applauded for making great attempts to express themselves in English with little grammatical errors. Could this be as a result of the new wave of potent writers from Nigeria? mapsofworld.com Unfortunately/fortunately, Cameroon was not among the listed countries. Does this mean Cameroonians do not know how to express themselves in accurate English? Well, given the socio-cultural environment in which Cameroonians are immersed, the aftermath of colonialism and the constant importation of popular culture into local spaces, it becomes complicated to tackle speaking English as...

I must applaud the efforts of CRTV's online team for creating a nouvel website which sorts of represents the expectations of the technological age. The web site is well-presented, fairly animated, and inviting. But as usual, majority of the stories are in French whereas The Constitution of Cameroon categorically spells that "both official languages shall have equal status", and not representative status. Someone is surely not respecting The Law of the People, and I hope that they make attempts to address it. The fact that I'm unable to listen or watch news live from CRTV is again another issue with the website. I only get slots of news items which could be unsatisfying for those of us who would like to keep abreast with the complete package of home content. I presume this is the beginning and like with every start, baby steps are crucial. I can't undermine how this website would in some way, serve the interest of the diaspora community. My expectatio...