- Title: Displaced Cameroonian teen builds remote controlled toys
- Date: 27th September 2019
- Summary: DOUALA, CAMEROON (RECENT) (REUTERS) CHI BLAISE AWA, SELF-TAUGHT TOY MAKER, MANIPULATING HOME MADE TOY CATERPILLAR DIGGER IN FRONT OF CROWD TOY MOVING IN FRONT OF CROWD CHI DEMONSTRATING HOW HIS TOYS WORK CHI MANIPULATING REMOTE CHI SURROUNDED BY CROWD (SOUNDBITE) (English) SELF-TAUGHT TOY MAKER, CHI BLAISE AWA, SAYING: "This work, it was the time that I was still small so I was trying to play with toys and there are parents that were buying toys for their children so our own parents didn't have money to buy us toys. So, I was trying now to form my own of the - to create my own toys, how I can also play with it. How those other children play with it. So, I was doing them during Xmas period because those are the time that parents get toys for their children. So when I see those toys, I always try to fix mine." CHI LOOKING INTO DUMPSTER FOR MATERIAL CHI CHECKING CARDBOARD BOX CHI LOOKING AT BOX 10 VARIOUS OF CHI LEAVING WITH BOX (SOUNDBITE) (English) SELF-TAUGHT TOY MAKER, CHI BLAISE AWA, SAYING: "So I get some of the material in dust bins, in scraps, radio and deck (DVD player) because I don't have money to get the right ones so I decided to work for some dust bin and get the scrap deck, scrap radio and I pick cartons and some plywoods to combine them in my own way to have what I want like to have the caterpillar machine. So that is where I always get those materials." CHI TAKING OFF SIGN SAYING (English): "MADE IN CAMEROON, CHI STYLE" FROM TOY VARIOUS OF CHI WORKING ON HIS TOY HOUSE ENTRANCE VARIOUS OF CHI IN HIS ROOM (SOUNDBITE) (English) SELF-TAUGHT TOY MAKER, CHI BLAISE AWA, SAYING: "I was in Bamenda and that crisis (Anglophone crisis) disturb. I was going to school so I decided to drop school because of the crisis. So, I have to look for a place that I can be comfortable there so that I continue doing what am doing because there am not comfortable there, why doing anything that am doing. So, I come to Douala so I can come and go to school and continue also with the research project." VARIOUS OF CHI MANIPULATING TOY IN FRONT OF CROWD VARIOUS OF DOUALA RESIDENT JEAN MOHAMMED CHECKING OUT THE TOYS (SOUNDBITE) (French) DOUALA RESIDENT, JEAN MOHAMMED, SAYING: "This talent is really that of a genius. I really like this because when we were in school as kids, we thought of things like this as a miracle. We thought it was skills and secrets that belongs solely to white people but I see that in Cameroon we can industrialise." VARIOUS OF CHI AND HIS BROTHER WALKING AND CARRYING TOYS
- Embargoed: 11th October 2019 15:21
- Keywords: Cameroon toy maker school violence northwest scholarship
- Location: DOUALA, CAMEROON
- City: DOUALA, CAMEROON
- Country: Cameroon
- Topics: Human Interest / Brights / Odd News,Society/Social Issues
- Reuters ID: LVA001AYFNN87
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Chi Blaise Awa a 17-year-old teenager from Cameroon's northwest English speaking region showcases the toys that he built himself in the streets of Douala.
Originally from Bamenda, Chi left his hometown to escape violence, continue to go to school and also build his toy creations in peace.
Chi says he started building his own toys when he was about 8 years of age. Other children his age were receiving toys buy his parents were not able to buy him or his seven other siblings toys to play with.
"This work, it was the time that I was still small so I was trying to play with toys and there are parents that were buying toys for their children so our own parents didn't have money to buy us toys. So, I was try now to form my own of the, to create my own toys, how I can also play with it. How those other children play with it. So, I was doing them during Xmas period because those are the time that parents get toys for their children. So when I see those toys, I always try to fix mine," he says.
It takes him between a week to two months to finish a project, depending on the availability of materials gathered from garbage bins.
"So I get some of the material in dust bins, in scraps, radio and deck (DVD player) because I don't have money to get the right ones so I decided to work for some dust bin and get the scrap deck, scrap radio and I pick cartons and some plywoods to combine them in my own way to have what I want like to have the caterpillar machine. So that is where I always get those materials," he says.
An insurgency erupted in Cameroon late in 2017 following a government crackdown on peaceful protests in the Anglophone Northwest and Southwest regions. Since then, fighting has killed about 1,800 people and displaced over 500,000, according to U.N. estimates.
The start of the school year in September is a tense time in Cameroon's Anglophone regions. Separatists have imposed a school boycott as part of their protest against President Paul Biya's French-speaking government.
As of June 2019, at least half of schools in the affected regions were closed due to attacks or the threat of violence, depriving more than 600,000 children of an education, according to the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF).
"I was in Bamenda and that crisis (Anglophone crisis) disturb. I was going to school so I decided to drop school because of the crisis. So, I have to look for a place that I can be comfortable there so that I continue doing what am doing because there am not comfortable there, why doing anything that am doing. So, I come to Douala so I can come and go to school and continue also with the research project," Chiwho arrived in Douala in March 2019, said.
After posting his work on the internet, some bloggers launched a crowd-funding campaign seeking to raise money for Chi's education, and he is now enrolled at a private high school in Douala.
On the streets, Chi's audience is often impressed whenever he showcases his work.
"This talent is really that of a genius. I really like this because when we were in school as kids, we thought of things like this as a miracle. We thought it was skills and secrets that belongs solely to white people but I see that in Cameroon we can industrialise," said Douala local resident Jean Mohammed.
Chi who brands his creations "Chi Style" now has his sites on making drones and aircrafts that would be able to fly short distances.
(Eyong Blaise/Christophe Van Der Perre) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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