There’s a popular conversation starter I find intriguing; it goes: “Introduce yourself without saying what you do for a living.”
For me, that would be both easy and impossible.
About Me
I would begin by telling you about myself as a young girl who felt too much and had a sharp mouth unsuited for someone born to an African mother. A girl who argued not intentionally out of disrespect, but because things did not make sense and she needed them to. I would tell you that this girl was given a diary at nine years old, so she could “fight on paper” instead of out loud with her mother and thus began her learning to use writing as a pressure valve for the feelings that are too heavy, the thoughts that are too loud for her body. That girl grew up. I still feel too much.
In introducing myself without my job, I would describe myself as someone empathetic to a fault, someone who overthinks and over-explains; in part as a trauma response, but mostly because I genuinely believe giving context is (and begets) kindness. If I tell you enough about how I arrived here, you can take me or leave me, honestly. You can treat me with understanding, or at least with clarity.
I would tell you I have a very strong sense of justice and corresponding sensitivity to injustice. I would like to know a whole lot less, or at least be able to compartmentalise… but there is a discomfort that comes with awareness of wrong, and an unfulfilled desire for right that has had me asking why for most of my life or crying “that’s not fair” the way children do all around the world.
I would tell you I have constantly lived in between.
In between continents and countries. In between languages. In between homes.
Between belonging and not quite belonging.
And when you live in between long enough, you learn how to observe. You learn how to read rooms. You learn how to adapt…
But you also learn longing for where you are understood without translation. A longing so fierce, I am constantly creating to satisfy it
To introduce myself without my job titles? I can use a plethora of other labels and adjectives… Cameroonian, Christian, Daring, Expressive, Bami-Anglo, Idealistic… a homebody, overly emotional… the list goes on…
But eventually the ask becomes impossible.
Because in revealing myself, my empathy, sense of justice, living in between, about needing to carve out belonging… I cannot help but indicate the sort of work I do.
The youth spaces I build and advocate for are done in memory of the youth I once was, and the mentoring I offer is what I once needed. The questions I ask in research come from years of discontent and questions over issues and systems that are ‘just not fair’.
The Praxis page showcases my professional profile, the work I have done, and the work I can do if engaged. It presents my offerings to you and recommendations of those who have worked with me.
My Library offers a compilation of my literary work across different categories for your reading and purchasing. Finally, there is a Salon for engagement, through which I invite you to engage further through other digital platforms or right here by adding your voice to my ongoing public discussions
In all, if you are here, you are stepping into my small corner of the digital world created to hold thought, memory, and public reflection. It is a showcase of my life and pondering as a Cameroonian writer, educator, and scholar-advocate
About this Space
In 2025, I wrote a reflective essay for an anthology published by the African-feminist Art and Research festival called CINEFEMFEST. In it, I recounted my journey to becoming a Cameroonian scholar-activist, poet, development practitioner, and educator, while reflecting on my ongoing process of becoming. Using life-story narrative, I illustrated how early experiences of displacement, cultural transition, film and literature and experiences in between shaped my identity and work. In writing that essay, I came to assume the identity of ‘griot’, reflecting on how all my work I do, be it education or creative practice, advocacy to transform communities, writing to preserve cultural memory and channel personal experience into meaningful societal impact, etc. All of it is the modern form of being a ‘griot’, an active custodian of knowledge and a catalyst for change.
The space you’re in now is structured as an exhibit of the different facets of my being and doing as a griot. My blog, Monique’s Musings, is an extension of that first diary I was given to ‘fight on paper’, except it is not secret, and it is just as professional as it is personal. Through monthly musings, I reflect on the pulse of the people I belong to: women, Cameroonians, believers, thinkers, young dreamers. I write about development and disappointment. About faith and frustration. About the beauty and the contradictions of home.
The Praxis page showcases my professional profile, the work I have done, and the work I can do if engaged. It presents my offerings to you and recommendations of those who have worked with me.
My Library offers a compilation of my literary work across different categories for your reading and purchasing. Finally, there is a Salon for engagement, through which I invite you to engage further through other digital platforms or right here by adding your voice to my ongoing public discussions.
In all, if you are here, you are stepping into my small corner of the digital world created to hold thought, memory, and public reflection. It is a showcase of my life and pondering as a Cameroonian writer, educator, and scholar-advocate.
“Every space reflects the values of the person who holds it”
This is a space of becoming. I write as I am becoming, and I invite you to read with me.
You are welcome to stay.
You are welcome to disagree.
You are welcome to understand me… or to decide you don’t.
But at least you will have context.
And for me, that has always mattered.
You are welcome here.
I hope this space reflects mine
© 2026 Monique Kwachou