“President Obama is the pioneer US President of African descent. Moreover, his speech touches on issues that affect humanity as a whole, especially when he says all languages and cultures are our heritage. And so we thought the speech would interest Lamnso readers,” explains Prof. Kishani. He goes further to explain that the translation of the speech has enriched Lamnso tremendously as common features have been discovered in African American, and Nso philosophical thinking. In addition, new words and expressions have been formed.
The issue also revisits the 2009 visit to Yaounde by the Fon of Nso and other traditional rulers of Bui Division to raise funds for, and lay the foundation stone of the Nso Cultural House in Yaounde. The narrative is well illustrated with pictures of the visit. The aim of the journal, according to the publishers, is to provide reading material for those who are literate in Lamnso, while hoping to cause others to seek to be literate also, says LLLO President, Prof. Kishani.
The journal also pays tribute to the memory of the late Catholic Archbishop of Bamenda, Paul Verdzekov, who in his lifetime served as boost to the promotion of the development of Lamnso. A memorial statue named after the founder of the Nso tribe, Ngon Nso, that the Germans took back home after their 1906 expedition to Nsoland, also features prominently on the front cover of the journal; as well as details on Ngon Nso, the female founder of the tribe.
As part of further efforts to boost the learning of Lamnso in the division, Prof. says some elementary and secondary schools have already bought the idea. He says the future of the Nso language or Lamnso, is great, expressing hope that the publication of the journal would encourage other language groups to begin publishing in African languages that were hitherto only spoken and heard. The 25-page annual publication is sold for FCFA 1,000.
