ERIC NGALLE CHARLES LAUNCHES NEW BOOK IN BUEA

By Moki S. Mokondo in Buea for Fako News Centre

Young Cameroonians who have the intention to migrate abroad thinking that the grass on the other side is always greener now have an idea of the dangers they may face, especially if they happen to fall in the hands of human traffickers. The details of such dangers were revealed during the book launch entitled, “I, ERIC NGALLE: ONE MAN’S JOURNEY CROSSING CONTINENTS FROM AFRICA TO EUROPE” by Eric Ngalle.

While reviewing the book on Friday January 31, 2020, at the Buea Council Hall, the reviewer, Samira Edi-Mesumbe noted that, it takes guts for one like Eric Ngalle to tell the true story of the trauma he went through in a strange land in this epic chronicle. This book disclosed the ordeals of a vulnerable 17-year-old Eric Ngalle who left Cameroon to pursue university studies in Belgium but only found himself abandoned somewhere in Moscow, Russia in the heart of winter as an illegal migrant.

In his struggle to survive in a strange land, Eric Ngalle found himself exposed to criminal and other morally questionable activities readers need to only discover on their own while reading this book. Talking to Fako News Centre, the author, Eric Ngalle Charles, stated that this book is his autobiography and not just any book. He maintained that he was lost for about 20 years trying to find his way back home. To realise his dream of coming back home, he found himself using different survival strategies like scamming and adopting the identity of a 63-year-old Zimbabwean to travel to Wales, UK.

It was in the Wales that he got back his name, voice and identity. Mola Ngalle who is now working with other refugees in Wales helping them to find their voices and redact their own stories warned parents in particular to avoid forcing their children to travel to the West thinking that it is a land with milk and honey. He argued that he could have still made it in a better way if he had stayed in Cameroon than selling himself with his own money to travel abroad.

Mola Ngalle was born in Cameroon. He lives in Cardiff, Wales, UK, where he works as a writer and performer. He studied modern history and popular culture at Cardiff Metropolitan University and obtained a Creative Wales Award from the Arts Council of Wales for his research in immigration, memory and trauma.