The meeting started at about 2: 20 pm with a welcome statement from the president. He thanked the Almighty God for having kept everybody in good health and for having made it possible for members to turn up for the meeting. He went further, after his welcome statement, and asked members to make announcements or report any news concerning Fulbright members. In this light, it was announced that Professor Mrs Martha Ayuk was currently in the US for a brief stay. It was also announced that Dr Ngefac has been awarded the Alexander von Humboldt (AvH) fellowship for experienced researchers and that Professor Tamanji recently attended a conference in Germany under the sponsorship of AvH.
After the announcements, there was an evaluation on the progress made so far by the new exco. The following realizations were mentioned:
1- The new exco were able to address a letter of congratulation to President Barack Obama via the Ambassador of the US in Yaounde on his election as the first African American president of the United States.
2- A letter was also sent to the former FAAC president, Professor Edward Ako, to request for the association’s documents. The president regretted the fact that so far the reply of that letter has not yet been received. It was then decided that another letter should be addressed to him to explain how the association desperately needs the documents and his assistance to be able to pursue its roadmap. It was also decided that a copy of the letter should be sent to the Embassy.
3- The fact that a website has also been created for the association was also mentioned. The president however pointed out that the host of the site is threatening to close it down if the maintenance cost is not paid. The vice president, Prof. Tamanji, suggested that the president should appeal to Serge (the contact person for the website) to go ahead and pay the money needed to maintain the site and the association will reimburse him within a period of six months.
As concerns the plan of action for the future, an exco meeting was scheduled to take place on January 13, 2010. During this date, the exco will discuss and evaluate activities that will mark the Fulbright week and the Fulbright Day. This day will certainly be April 5, 2010, given that William Fulbright was born on April 5. The activities earmarked include the following:
· Roundtable discussion on an appraisal of the democratic process in Cameroon.
· Seminars to disseminate information to potential applicants in different towns in Cameroon.
· Talks from American Fulbrighters studying or researching in Cameroon on “Fulbright alumni and international cooperation” with a particular focus on how potential Fulbright applicants can be linked to US scholars.
The different exco members present at the meeting were assigned different tasks and they were expected to present the results during the next exco meeting. Professor Tamanji would be in charge of the Fulbright Day; Dr Ngefac would focus on FAAC seminars and the dissemination of information to potential applicants and Professor Kishani would be concerned with the Fulbright alumni and international cooperation. An evaluation of the different activities involved in each of the programs, the human resources needed and the cost are expected from each of the exco members assigned the tasks.
The meeting finally ended at around 3:30 pm with a closing remark from the president. He thanked all those who managed to be present at the meeting and wished everybody a safe return to his or her destination. He ended by inviting all those present to a “buffet” at the “Le Normalien Restaurant” opposite the ENS campus.