hopetikar

Because of his devotion to refugee and immigrant issues, Mr. Nyaphaga was invited to speak before the French National Assembly on the 50th anniversary of the Geneva Convention on the Status of Refugees for the U.N. High Commission on Refugees in 2001. He engaged in innovative social work projects with a wide variety of at-risk groups, including child soldiers from Africa.

Issa Nyaphaga was born in Douala, Cameroon (central Africa) in 1967 and grew up in the small village of the Tikar tribe, called Nditam, in the very heart of Cameroon's equatorial forest. As a child of the fields, Issa was in contact with the earth and nature through artistic practice. The Tikar are primarily farmers and like the other Tikar children, Issa was initiated in his early childhood into traditional painting. His father is an herbalist and a calligrapher, and Issa grew up next to shaman pygmy women in the deep "Mbam" in Cameroon. As a child, Issa didn’t like his last name: ‘Nyaphaga’. "My son, you'll only be successful in life if you like your name", his mother said.... (sorry the rest online)

BEFORE Issa met Ibrahim, a young polio survivor, in his village of N'ditam in Cameroon, his brother took him everywhere in a market cart. AFTER a few months, thanks to donations from Issa’s networks in France, Ibrahim was able to go to school and complete his primary education. And Ibrahim is now a technician in his village... I'm looking for better education for him.

Issa always says, "Hyde is my spiritual mother. " They collaborated on several art projects while Issa was living in Paris. The bond between painting and photography could never be as strong as the one between Issa Nyaphaga and Jacqueline Hyde. The first time Issa packed recycled items for indigenous Tikar and Pygmy people in the rainforest in Cameroon, Hyde took the trip with him to ship these much-needed supplies. When Issa decided to create HITIP, Jacqueline said to him "You have my blessing." Art is really not that far away from Social Justice. This community-based organization could never have a better godmother.