Arrey Echi, The Sickle Strong Warrior and Advocate

I have been blogging a lot on entrepreneurship that I even forgot that there are other things one has to do to encourage people who have taken a different route. I am a social entrepreneur and encourage anything, everything that will help my immediate community live better.

In my reading and writing career (I wonder if reading is a career), I have come across many great writers and bloggers in Cameroon. They do have interesting content and I think the blogosphere in Cameroon is improving with great content. Citing some here will be like using a tea-cup to empty the ocean.

I have also learnt that promoting my blog without doing same for others will mean promoting me, myself and I. That is one thing Bloggers in Cameroon still need to practise. The more we promote other bloggers, the more we succeed to spread our own. Many is better than 1. If you can promote many blogging friends without asking for anything, your own blog will flourish and go beyond your loyal audience.

Anyhow, I came across one very interesting blog, Joy2Endure, by Arrey Echi (the sickle cell warrior). Her insistence and endurance in writing and educating sickle cell warriors has made me to fall in love with her blog. Each time I browse through it, there is something I learn.

Many people may know her because of her posts on Facebook. Very few know about her blog which is just so enriching. We have never met face-to-face but we have discussed heartily as if we have known each other for a very long time. This lady is just so artistic until I wonder how she gets time even with her tight schedule to come up with the interesting stories she tells us in both her blog and Facebook posts.

Is it her taxi driver stories, sharing her cooking skills online, tips on sickle cell anaemia, her random thoughts which she shares…. I can’t name all, but if you visit her blog, Joy2Endure, you will find out the rich content – arts & culture, her random thoughts, her sickle cell warrior diary, short stories not forgeting her interesting treasure box that recollecting her childhood days which applies to Cameroonians born around the late 70s and early 80s.

What I have noticed is that she rarely shares posts from her blog on social media. I discussed this with her once and she told me she doesn’t know how to do it. I taught her, yet she rarely does it. Old habits die hard. Anyhow, this did not make her blog not to be seen. Those that need the information go for it. This could be seen when she was shortlisted by Health Unlocked as a “Health Blogger of the Year Nominee”. She did not make it to the finals, but this nomination meant a lot to her and her audience.

My writing about Arrey Echi’s blog is not to only to give honor to what she is doing but to let you know that it is not only about money that people blog, but also to sell information and personal experiences for free. Note she does blogging at her own expense. I even told her on how she could monetize her blog at least to cover some cost but she has always been reticent.

If I am to be asked on how she could cover the cost of her blog because such is a blog to be promoted widely, I will ask her to put up a Donate link. Her information is very enriching not only to the Warriors but to the entire community and world at large.

I don’t have much to say about Arrey Echi for now but will be looking for to an interview with her on this blog. I realized I was talking about Arrey Echi, the “Sickle Strong Warrior and Advocate”. Don’t hesitate to check her space and leave your comments below.