SABESA ALUMNI Sept. 2014 | Page 25

25 Education, but I just believe Economics is one of the best subjects anyone can study on planet earth. It’s a multidisciplinary field of study with an interesting and objective social and scientific dimension in various domains. It helped me a great deal and still does today. I enjoy participating and watching sporting events and I was opportune to play for the SABECO volleyball team. Sport is a global language and it can take you to places you never dreamt of. My interest in sport led me to participate in the organization of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. So you should at least practice a sport and take it serious. As for languages, when asked what super powers he would have loved to have, the American president B. Obama said, the ability to speak the language of every people he visited. I will never forget having been spared from beatings by villagers in form one because I spoke in my mother tongue. In some job interviews you may even be required to say something or write your mother tongue. It is empowering beyond imagination to speak a variety of languages. French is the first language in Cameroon, unfortunately some of us English speaking students don’t take it serious. Whatever you wish to do in life, start by learning how to speak your mother tongue, English, French, and other languages if possible. These are the three most important curricular and extra curricular activities that have influenced me but I will like you to add a reading culture to these. Start by simply reading anything you find. Our dean of studies of blessed memory Mr. Mangong Emmanuel use to say “It pays to be book warm” and today I can tell him “it truly pays sir. May his soul rest in peace. 6. What hurdles, if any, did you overcome along the way, and how? It is well known that no one whosoever succeeded in whatsoever in life did so without difficulties. After my Advanced Level, I decided to go to the University of Yaoundé II, I still wonder if that was the best decision. The French system was unknown to me and results were not coming as planned. I didn’t make it the first year and it was for me unheard of. I went in for four different competitive examinations between 2005 and 2008 but had no positive results. I became a little frustrated and almost thought I wasn’t good enough, despite consolations from relatives who claimed it’s because I didn’t bribe or have any relations to succeed as it’s often the case. Today I simply believe I wasn’t ripe back then. My toughest challenge came after graduating from university with a Bachelor in Management. Getting a job wasn’t easy and even when I got my first job in October 2009, it wasn’t what I had dreamt of. The pay package and work conditions were not the best, but I was optimistic. I tried and tried in my optimism but things went tougher and tougher as years went by. Some days I