Skin Bleaching is Disgusting and Stems From Lack of Self Love- Sahndra Fon Dufe

Sahndra Fon Dufe is an Amazon Bestselling Cameroonian author, best known for the Yefon Book series, and for her prolific acting roles in movies like 'One Night in Vegas', 'Rejected', 'Refugees' and commercials for Dove and The American Cancer Society.

She loves video blogging and reading books as well as traveling and experiencing new cultures.

KB had the following chat with Sahndra:

KB -You have a huge drive and hunger for success that is lacking among Cameroon's youth today. How did you cultivate yours? Is it inborn or was it groomed at school?

I don’t know… lol. I guess I’ve always been motivated in whatever I was doing. Whether that meant dancing ballet or majorette at the age of 6; writing in secondary school; dancing professionally in UB, or just whatever...

It’s my nature… I guess.

Sometimes, I think my ancestors are with me, walking with me and communicating with me in my dreams. They might have something to do with my motivation, but we live in an interesting universe.

Everything is possible, and I genuinely believe that.

KB - You and Okawa Shaznay are two dark-skinned Cameroonian actresses making waves internationally. Knowing how showbiz rivalry often starts, have you experienced any with Miss Okawa?

Hahaha. You bloggers and amebo. Of course, there is some rivalry between us. What do you expect? Lol.

Just kidding.

Okawa is awesome. She is a pretty chilled chick, and I have tons of respect for her. There is no problem between us at all.

But think about it… There are so many artists in the world, and there is room for us all. I’m all about seeing African girls getting it, and right now, she is, so I am so happy for her, as I am for Lupita Nyong’o, Uzo Uba, and everyone else on this grind. It's inspirational.

KB - Congratulations on the launch of your first children's book. Was it written from your experience growing up as a child?

Thankyou! It was written with experiences from all over. I feel like I might keep saying the same thing each time I get asked this question, but I cannot overstate it. My biggest motivation came from the lack of self-love in the black community.

I feel that one of the main reasons we as a black culture have lots of self-love issues comes from a lack of misrepresentations at an early stage of the media. African children most likely watch Disney, Cartoon Network or Mangas. So their first cartoons as most likely Elmo or Scooby Doo.

There are no African characters with names like ours, no Bessem or Yefon or Houego in their animations or books.

As a child growing up in Africa, I read Oliver Twist, and Pride and prejudice before I ever read Ayi Kwei Armah or Chinua Achebe, and that, frankly is a problem.

As a young girl, I found myself wanting to be American so bad. It was just the cooler thing to be, and nothing could convince me otherwise.

I think African children deserve to see themselves in books and media from a young age, for positive things, and so I’m not one to complain about things all the time. If I see something I don’t like it, I fix it if I can. It's my intention to publish 250 more, directly or indirectly before transcending from this world.

KB - Which age group is the book written for?

Four to ten years old.

KB - We learned about your two months book tour in Cameroon. Tell us about it and the activities you will carry out during the tour.

Thank you for asking. It's pretty much an elevation literacy book tour. I will be in Cameroon in January and February touring schools with my message of rekindling education and igniting self-love and resilience among young Cameroonians. I will visit several schools and organizations while I am out there.

I will be touring in Yaounde from January 6 to 22. Then I'll be in Nso from the 23 to 26. Next will be Bamenda from January 28 to February 2, then back in Yaounde where I will be launching the Yefon books on February 6 at the Muna Foundation.

From Yaounde, I will be visiting Buea from the February 10 to 13; then Douala from the February 15 to 20. During my stay in each town, I will visit several schools and do motivational speaking, and interactive conversations. At the end of each city, I would hold a book signing. All information about the tour would soon be available on my social media pages.

I intend to do this tour annually, and its an integral part of the tour to find some young authors during my visits. I will organize a writing contest; the best writers would be published through a partnership venture I am working on with one of our powerhouse publishers in Cameroon. This is because, we need more black writers worldwide.

Lol, let me end here because this topic can get me all riled up, and your readers would probably be bored like ….lol

KB - As an activist, role model and dark-skinned girl, what do you think about Whitenicious by Dencia? What is your message to young African girls' bleaching?

Lol. Them send you abi. lol. I think skin bleaching is disgusting. It stems from the lack of selflove I was referring to in one of the questions above. As an activist, I don’t advocate for skin bleaching because it’s bad for the skin at the level of the cancerous effects it can have on you.

But, in regards to Whitenicious in particular, while I don’t like what the product is about, I am a very objective person, and so It’s only fair for me to say there is a lesson that can be learnt from Dencia. She is a very resilient person, and I think if all of us have that persistent attitude towards our dreams, we would go far.

However, I think adults have 100% responsibility towards whatever choice it is that they make. If a person thinks bleaching would make them happy, or prostitution or whatever other thing people are into, that's their business. I have learned to accept the fact that it's hard to control other's’ prerogatives.

Now to the young girls, I think you would all do what you want to do irrespective of what I say to you right now. But, for those of you who would listen, please don’t bleach your skin. Love your skin, just the way it is. It's a gift and it's beautiful. White people tan their skin, to have some of our ‘glow’ and so there is something to it.

If you want to change your skin because you feel pressure, remember life doesn’t end in high school or university. There is a big world out there where you can fit it just perfectly.

That's all I have to say on the matter.

KB - We have noticed you haven't uploaded pictures of the 'famous' Jon for a while. Is everything OK?

Lol. Stalkers. Yeah, everything is fine. We are not in a relationship anymore. It's been over for a hot minute now. That’s probably why you don’t see pictures of him anymore.

What do you look for in a man?

Confidence is attractive to me. Swag. And yes, I am vain af. I love a good looking chocolate man. I really like a man who lets me be. I am a very free spirit person and it’s sometimes hard for people to understand me.

I have always been misunderstood. I need a man who understands that side of me. I also like the deep thinkers, who are able to spend two hours talking about random things. I love them passionate too. lol. Do the math. (winks).

KB - Who is your favourite Cameroonian young celebrity?

I am a big fan of quite a lot of them. I respect their hustles and I pray for them all the time, but I’ll go with Gasha. She has so much soul, it’s infectious.

KB - Your favourite city in Cameroon?

Hard ball. That’s a hard one. I like a lot of things, but shhh, let’s see, I am gonna go with Yaounde. probably cuz I live there now. lol. When I used to live in Douala, it was Douala. Maybe, I’m not loyal like that lol.

KB - Name three crazy/weird things about yourself.

I am fascinated by Buddhist Meditations; I believe in aliens and all types of things that most people consider ‘weird’ and I love kama Sutra. I have all types of books with the weirdest positions that make me go like ‘who would try this’? lol. Smh.

KB - Thanks for taking time to do this.

Thanks, Kinnaka blog, for interviewing me. I’ m truly grateful, and thanks for not asking basic questions. #Noshade lol.