FakoAmerica

In the beginning… Revisiting the Birth of Fako America

In the summer of 1993, a group of Fako elements led by Mola Ngale Efange and Mola Makuna Tande began a series of in-depth discussions about the state of Fako division in general, and of the Fako Diaspora community in the United State in particular. They lamented the fact that unlike other Cameroonian communities in the US, Fako elements had never come together to discuss their collective problems or to celebrate their individual successes. It was also noted that the said community had never had a national organization in North America.

The general consensus was that creating a national Fako association in the US would be the best method for mobilizing the resources of the Fako Diaspora community for developmental and networking purposes. Unlike hundreds of similar discussions that had taken place within different segments of the Fako community over the years, the individuals behind the Summer 93 talks were determined to go beyond the rhetoric of despair and inaction of the past.

Revisiting the Origins of Fako America: The July 1993 Washington Agreement

By Makuna Tande

 
Mola Makuna Tande and Mola Mbua Efange, the brains behind Fako America, outlining their vision at the 1995 DC convention

In the years leading up to the creation of Fako America, I had spent a lot of time mulling over the absence of a representative umbrella Fako organization in the United States. Over the years, I jotted down a number of points as to why this was the case and what could be done to rectify the situation. However, for one reason or the other, I never seriously pursued this idea to its conclusion. Things were to change when my brother, Dibussi Tande, came over to the States in May 1993.