Human Trafficking: The Ugly Side of Africans in the Diaspora

By Samira

A special report on the website of Renew America Organization shows the ugly side of African culture and of Africans in the Diaspora. The website profiles Louis Etongwe, a Cameroonian, who helped free domestic slaves within the Cameroonian community in the Washington, D.C., area. In the name of that masking hospitality and extended family relationships, many are presiding over emporiums of "slavery" and disaster.

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dWe, who as a race should feel sacrilegious in the usage of that word ‘slavery’, seem to practice a modern version of it in hypocritical and inhuman thoughtlessness. As usual we live in total denial of the fact that some of our relationships towards the less fortunate members of our families are nothing but cavalier.

‘Bushfallers’ travel back to Africa, where they are admired and shameless praised as the neauveau riche, deservedly or not. The poorer relations would fall over themselves to literally ‘donate’ their children in mindless sacrifices for a chance to taste of that “whiteman country.’’ At prima facie, it looks like a great opportunity for a poor child to be given a chance to gain western education and a better life. What better life!! But that unfortunately is never what obtains. Sometimes, it turns out well, more often than not, disastrous!! Money, not religion, is the opium of the masses. When foreign currency and fine clothes are displayed in front of dumbstruck poor Africans, we lose our sense of reason, morality and ethics.

The parents of the little girl in the article to me are just as guilty as the couple who kept the child girl as housemaid and treated her harshly. How could anyone, told of the death of his child swallow such bitterness with stuporous indifference without tangible evidence and no investigation?  And shame on the Cameroonian community for deriding the one man who seems to display a rare sense of responsibility and sympathy towards a helpless child—Mr Louis Etongwe should be commended and not condemned. That singular act of kindness may have saved a child’s life.

It is a brewing  scandal that will one day blow up in the face of the African communities abraod. If it is not another man’s child treated as a slave, it is peoples’ parents. Sometimes, mothers, fathers, siblings, supplanted from Africa on the promise of plenty and a prayer, to be turned into a modern slaves. While Mr and Mrs have time to build their lives, and foster their nests, with a trusted maid to care for their pampered kids, they hold back the life of an unfortunate human being, more often an innocent child.

While we all sit and condemn our Gov’ts for being discriminatory and corrupt, how many of us have really thought about how our domestic setting is a reflection of our world views and if put in a position of responsibility, like being at the head of a Gov’t we will only manifest our meanness at a national level? Our forebears were trussed up and shoved abroad in the underbelly of the slave ships without their will, we use the “power of the bushfaller” to put modern slaves in modern crafts, sometimes even first class with the blessing of poor parents, and one more African child is hinged to the rest of the chain gang.

Cameroonians abroad especially those in America are fast gaining the dubious distinction of being “slave traffickers’’. This is not alarmist, we should wake up and look around us. Resonate the alarum. We cannot underestimate and continue to take for granted this very deep and disgraceful practise. And when the law takes note, rethink and readjust. The Mubang affair and others should have been viewed as the collective gargoyles on our battlements. It is one other shameful vice we could very well do without.

My thoughts for the day.
Samira

Comments

[Marc Donbon]

This article is facetious, self-serving and ridiculous. It is ridiculous to me that the parents of the so called "slaves" will believe the reported dead of their children in the USA. In this age of instant world-wide communications such reported demise of children abroad is easily verifiable.

Having extended family live with more prosperous ones is an old Cameroonian tradition. Many Cameroonians got a start in life through such mentorship. It may be frowned upon as an aberrration in American Society. I am sure that there were instances of abuse of relatives but this does not take away from the fact that for poorer relatives, working as housemaids in thier kins' houses in he USA was as good as any other way to climb up the social, economic and education ladder. I find it simply unbelievable that transplanted Cameroonians such as Louis Etongwe will commit self serving acts to promote himself for what was a helping act of well to do relatives for less well to do relatives

[mumawo]

I classify them as one of the meanest acts possible, and the worst demostration of remorseless malignity for someone to bring a child from cameroon to be a lesser member of his her household. What could be more selfseving than considring oneself superior over another human being. Marc Donbon's contribution is a disgrace. How could we be so poor in basic ethics. Such defficiency in simple morality is disgusting. Mentorship? please. Try lesson in suffering and degradation. Louis Etongwe is a good man. let him keep up with the good work.Fools try to blame a brother because he is not as complacent as they are. Isn't it amazing how some people get drawn into this bushfulling illusion? Of a strange sudden they now deserve house help. Some people just don't get equity do they? Ignorance is such a bad thing.

[herbert]

hello from germany, visit my site, please

[Human]

South Asia Continent People Analysis
-------------------------------------
Gorah European 1M
Kalah African 1M
Chaptha East Asian 20M
Bhoorha South Asian 1300M
Arabie West Asian 20M
Adiwashi Jungle 50M
Manushay Earth 108M
Total South Asia 1500M

North America Continent People Analysis
----------------------------------------
Gorah European 350M
Kalah African 60M
Chaptha East Asian 20M
Bhoorha South Asian 5M
Arabie West Asian 5M
Adiwashi Jungle 50M
Manushay Earth 35M
Total North America 525M

Manushay or human, are usually people that are mixed, hybrid, interracial or the sort, where we cannot specifically identify their physological identity.

5M mean 5 Million people, 1M means 1 Million people and so on.