My Town Monday: Life in West Africa

I worked in Cameroon from 2004-2005 and aside from learning so much about the culture in this part of West Africa, I became good friends with Boh Cyprain. This is a pic of us goofing around on the highway to Kribi in Africa. Mr. Boh and I have stayed in contact and here is his eighth MTM highlighting his country's customs:

BEFORE MATERNITY LEAVE EVER EXISTED

Maternity leave had long existed in the African context before we have gradually grown to embrace what a worker will benefit when she gives birth in active service. In Cameroon particularly in the remote villages of the centre Region, there exists a kind of maternity leave which has to do with keeping the wife way from the husband for period of at least three (03) months.

Here, it is but normal that when somebody's wife takes in, she is not very subjected to pre-natal visits due to lack of medical facilities, she remains with the husband for up to the period of seven (07) months and she moves to the parents' home where the mother with her world of experience keeps a close watch over her daughter all through till she is delivered of the baby. This change of domicile is considered very important as the husband's family cannot take the same amount of care as would the wife's during such a delicate period in the life of their daughter. It is not disrespect as someone might think but an obligation because her return to the husband entails a big ceremony.

During her stay at the parents, she is being monitored and whenever child movements become intensive indicating an approach to the period of labour, the family constructs something in the form of a cage around the bed on which the mother to-be will be staying with the new born (this takes the form of a mosquito net ). When the baby finally comes, the mother and new born are moved into this new haven. Access to this area is very restricted; in fact, it is granted only to the father of the baby and the grand mother who has the charge of helping to bath the baby and supply food to the nursing mother. This is done to keep away those who visit with ill-intentions; people are not allowed to carry the baby as it is done in other regions in Cameroon for fear that someone might have rubbed bad charms on his/her palms and may successfully place a plague on the child if allowed to carry. From time to time, the grand mother bathes the young mother with juice gotten from a collection of boiled herbs; with this, she massages the new mother's stomach in a bid to give it back its original shape. The routine continues until the husband expresses the desire to have back his wife; however, the wife's family will never in this region suggest that the husband should come for his wife because this will mean that they will lose all the gifts and feasting that comes when she’s returned at the request of her husband; thus, "a bride price is never completely paid no matter the articles and cash gifts you give the day the marriage proper is celebrated."

When the husband's family is set or prepared, they send a messenger to their in-law family to declare their intentions to take home the wife on a proposed date. The wife's family might change the said date depending on the tides of the time because some families insist on carrying out their harvest before any such occasion can hold because it entails a lot of feasting. If there is a famine they have every reason to have the dates changed. When finally both families reach a compromise, they both invite their close relations and the day the male family comes, they bring along gifts just as in the day they came to pay the bride price or 'dowry'. There have been situations wherein husbands' families have come and gone empty handed (without the wife and new born) because the in-law family wasn't satisfied with what they brought in the name of gifts.

On the D-Day, the women folk sit together while the men do same; that is to say the men from the husband's family join those from the wife's family while the women do same. Food and wine are served to the male side by the women and while they are eating, some elderly women are assigned to keep a close watch on them with attentive ears; this is because during this meal, nobody is allowed to eat the bones from the meat no matter how soft they could be. All dogs if any at all are chased away from this area because not even a dog is given a bone to eat or any part of the meal. When feasting is completed, all the bones and leftovers are now gathered and a pit is dug behind the main house and these remnants are now buried into the pit. This is done in order to guarantee the solidarity of the new family that is just beginning to build.

After this, the presentation of gifts starts and immediately after that, the woman's father makes a speech expressing his feelings as per the quantity and quality of the gifts he has just been presented. He gives his consent and the husband's family is now allowed to take home his wife; in a situation where the woman's father fails to give his consent, pledges start coming in or a quick remedy is sorted to avoid any disgrace.

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Frankencycle

My good friend, Boh Cyprain, recently traveled to the northwestern section of Cameroon where he snapped this picture of a rather interesting motorcycle. He writes:

Hi Dave, that motorcycle you see is the invention of one guy from Bamenda, my region; it actually works they way you think it does. Look critically and you will also notice that the gear selector is intact and works very well too.

I'm trying to picture Steve McQueen in The Great Escape outrunning the Nazis on this one.

My Town Monday: Life in West Africa

Mr. Boh wrote this piece over a year ago when he was actively looking for a job. He tells of the trials and tribulations in securing a position in his country. Despite all the difficulties getting through the bureaucratic red tape and corruption, we are happy to know that he was successful in this search. At the end, he's sent along some pictures of himself and his colleagues.

Getting a job is Cameroon is like forcing the camel through the eye of a needle. It has always been a very difficult task. Most often, before vacancies are published, those to fill them had already been selected and at times already working. This is a common practice with the private sector whose employees make sure that the office is filled by blood brothers or brothers from the same village or tribe. This "kanka" worm has eaten deep into the society that even public examinations are not corrected regarding merit but on who pays in how much to which minister or authority. Examination scripts are corrected in terms of which minister has sent in what list with how many names. However, there are still a few hopefuls like foreign embassies that recruit based on merit.

Recently the US Embassy in Cameroon launched a job opening for a driver for their motor pool and not less than 300 persons applied. A month later 15 candidates were short-listed for the interviews. I happen to have been one of the candidates short-listed. We did the interviews each at a time and at the end, it was announced that a selected few would still be called up for the driving test. Three weeks have gone by, still no appointment to any of us and still the vacancy remains.

While we continue to wait in agony, I stopped by a cyber cafe to check my email, and as I opened my inbox I had so many emails but one caught my attention; it was labeled "Your application for employment". I hurriedly opened that mail and it was
from the Kingdom of the Netherlands' Embassy in Cameroon. It was just to inform me that they did not have an immediate opening for a driver at their embassy and to wish me well in my search for one. This was an application that had been deposited since the month of March.

Similarly, UNESCO had sent me a mail through the post office in response to an application I submitted in their office. Theirs said they were sorry to inform me
that after the driving test conducted in their office I was not retained meanwhile I never participated in any test organised by the UNESCO office in Cameroon. This is just one case in a million. Before the vacancy was launched someone's brother was already working in that post. Their publication of that vacancy was just to tell the world that they are not involved in the corruption thing here in Cameroon. How do they stay safe from corruption when they have left the recruitment of their local staff in the hands of Cameroonians; remember Cameroon has been classified two times world champions in corruption.

Recently the US Ambassador to Cameroon, His Excellency Niels Marquard, single handedly lead the anti-corruption struggle with threats like having to curb the good existing trade relations between Cameroon and the US. The President of the Republic was forced to track down and arrest a few government ministers charged with embezzlement and corruption and they are presently serving a jail term in the Yaoundé central prison in 'KONDENGUI'.

This was the first giant step ever taken and it is hoped that in a few more decades to come, Cameroon would be like other economies of the world with jobs available for all classes of people.

G4S (Group 4 Secoricor) employs about 5000 Cameroonians and is ranged about the third largest employer in the country now; recently, they dramatically changed their recruitment policy; to be a common guard now with this company, one has to be a holder of the GCE Ordinary level (General Certificate of Education). Just a decade ago, this job was reserved only for the under schooled persons, i.e. those who have
not even completed elementary education and have nothing more like a certificate to show in addition to their birth certificates. Now that even University graduates come crowding at the gates of G4 company during recruitment they have automatically changed their policy. This was just to justify how much it is difficult to secure a job here in the country. [07 September 2007]

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My Town Monday: Life in West Africa

I asked Mr. Boh to send some pictures of his family, Cameroon, and where he works. I knew when I asked that it was a tall order but, as always, he came through. I'm posting family photos today and work pics next week. I also included a writeup from him on the folklore of the Kom people. Mr. Boh writes:

You won't believe how long it has taken me to be able to come up with Pics. I had them snapped but to process them and be able to send was just another school and I finally had to hand the camera to a friend of mine who down-loaded them into his box and in turn sent to me.

You will see Junior and the sister, their Mum and the first day to school for Junior's sister and the job their mum has to accompany them everyday to and from school. Please extend my thanks to all your kind readers for showing an interest in my country.

History of the Kom people and their settlement (originally posted 01 August 2007 on the Axiom Report)
The Kom people co-existed with the Babessi people of Ngohkitungia Division of the north-west province of Cameroon. This was in the early 1800's up to about the second half of that century. Relationships between these two ethnic groups were very cordial until hunger struck the land due to poor weather conditions. The fon (paramount chief) of Babessi, seeing that his subjects were dying of hunger, out-played the fon of Kom with a diabolic plan he had conceived. He suggested to the fon of Kom the necessity to reduce their respective populations so that the little amount of food the land produced would be sufficient for the few who were spared from the execution of the plan.

THE PLAN
The two groups were each to construct a hall into which a cross section of their population would be locked up and later burnt. This plan was readily accepted by the fon of Kom, 'TANGNAKOLI'.

Tangnakoli was so naive that during the construction of the two halls he didn't notice that the people of Babessi had been given instructions to create an exit door to the hall their own population was to be locked in. So while the Kom people ran the risk of eliminating their people, those from Babessi knew it was going to be safe with them.

Then came the D-Day; about 600 Kom elites moved into the hall meant for them while about the same number of people from Babessi MOVED INTO AND OUT THROUGH THE EXIT DOOR of their own hall. Soon, the two halls were set ablaze and as the Kom elites perished in the disaster, Babessi elites moved into hiding in the near-by bushes. Just two weeks later the same Babessi elites Tangnakoli had observed with his own eyes move into the hall were seen again roaming around the palace.

Tangnakoli couldn't believe his eyes and considered this as a slap in the face from his colleague fon of Babessi.

THE REVENGE OF TANGNAKOLI
Tangnakoli called a few of his trusted 'NCHINDAS' (palace guards) and informed them of his plan to avenge the deaths of his people; he made them to understand that Babessi was no longer suitable for them and informed them of the various signs they would see after his death and directed them to follow the instructions at the latter if not a calamity would befall them.

With the plan on the way, one morning Tangnakoli sat on his throne and was playing the locally fabricated guitar called the 'ILUNG' when the fon of Babessi came in to pay him a visit. Furious with anger, Tangnakoli got up and slammed the Ilung on the forehead of the fon of Babessi leaving a very big scar. Tangnakoli never gave room for any negotiations as he dashed into the palace and came out with a rope in hand. He went into the nearby forest (as planned) to where there was a crater lake; he climbed onto one of the trees whose branches spread further out above the waters of the lake; he tied the rope onto one of the branches and hung himself. This suicidal move had been accepted by all the Chindas he had contacted so they were all on standby for whatever signs would follow.

With the mission of the fon already accomplished, the Kom elites waited in patience for another two weeks. The decaying body of Tangnakoli soon started sending out maggots which dropped into the waters of the lake and days later, they transformed into very big fishes. Since Babessi people knew nothing about the plan nor the whereabouts of Tangnakoli, they soon discovered that there were so many fish in the nearby lake and brought the news to the palace and their fon hearing this didn't hesitate to decree that the next day, every adult male and some strong women should go to that lake and do the fishing and bring home their catch to the palace. The instructions were followed and when everyone had gotten into the lake concentrating on fishing, the lake started swallowing up the people and did not give room for anyone who had stepped in to be able to run.

THE BOA TRACK
The next day a Boa track appeared from around the lake as had been announced by Tangnakoli. Following the track, the Kom people left Babessi. They traveled for some days until the track disappeared at IJIM a neighbouring village to Kom. They temporarily settled at Ijim for about two weeks; built a few huts around and got up one morning only to see that the Boa Track had reappeared. They packed up their few belongings and again followed the track for a few more days and it finally disappeared at LAIKOM where they built the fon's palace and settlements effectively commenced after some months. The palace of the Kom people remains there to this day and where the Boa track disappeared is a tall rock of about 5ft and 10in in diameter; this rock is meant to keep track because it is believed that the day the track reappears, it will mean the Kom people will again have to move to a new home.

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My Town Monday: Life in West Africa

Some African Proverbs and their meanings : Mr. Boh sent some humorous and poignant proverbs for this My Town Monday...

He who brings kolanut, brings life --- It is a showing of gratitude because kolanuts are considered a very big gift, and where one brings out a kolanut to a stranger, it is considered as a source of life.

The one who swallows an odala seed must consider the size of his anus --- Do not attempt doing what is above you.

He who brings home ant infested faggots (a bundle of sticks) must expect the visit of lizards --- If you call for trouble, expect its consequences.

A person who has never submitted himself to anything would soon submit himself to the burial mat --- Even if you are as strong as a lion, you will still die one day.

We shouldn't bother throwing stones at a tree that has no fruits --- No use seeking help where it will never come.

That which the dog sees and barks, the sheep sees and keeps quiet - threats like those of a toothless dog ---

No matter how it rains on a tiger, the spots on its skin would not be washed away ---

The stubborn grasshopper will finally end up in the gizzard of a fowl --- If you don't heed to advice, you would end up in trouble.

One who refuses to listen to the voice of thunder would soon be soaked in rain --- If you refuse to heed to advice, you would soon find yourself in trouble.

One who listens to elders is like one who goes to the diviners --- The voice of the elders is the voice of wisdom.

No one can steal the drum and beat it without being caught --- If you commit a crime and go into hiding, you will soon be exposed.

The rock that is in the middle of the sea does not fear rain --- It is just like a corpse never refuses to be put in the coffin.

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My Town Monday: Life in West Africa

The Rayne Frog Festival was rescheduled for November, so unfortunately there are no pictures of frogs dressed in jockey uniforms to post today. But it is the perfect time for another post from Mr. Boh, who sent a great piece on the heart and soul of the Kom people. He starts off with an African proverb that perfectly suits this (he has sent a long list of terrific proverbs that I'll have to post one of these days). Mr. Boh writes:

AFRICAN PROVERB: No obstacle in the forest can make the snail not to find its way; meaning, no matter how fast you run, justice will still catch up with you (for a crime committed).

THE 'AFO-A-KOM' (Kom's Property)

The AFO-A-KOM is a statue that was carved by one of the rulers of Kom called FOYN YUH FUNKUIN (Foyn is the paramount ruler of the Kom people, otherwise called Fon in most parts of the north western grass fields of Cameroon). Foyn Yuh ruled the Kom people from 1865 up to 1912. The Afo-a-Kom statue weighs about 200Kg and is about 1m80 in height. It stands on a pedestal holding firmly to its chest a baton (baton of command) with its two hands. It is naked and its manhood clearly exposed. Its body is plated with about 600 cowries and each of the cowries stand for the Kom people who perished at Babessi before the Kom people moved to where they are presently located. No one knows how long it took to have the statue completed because no one ever knew any such thing was in the making. In fact, people only knew of its existence when the fon came into the palace and ordered that some palace guards should follow him in to the forest surrounding the palace and carry it home. When it was being carved, the fon would get up in the morning and in his privacy move into this forest, which is very rich with medicinal plants, and spend the entire morning period there and would only get back to the palace late in the afternoon. In its completion, it was displayed in the palace museum amongst many others. It little occurred to anyone how important this statue was until...

JOURNEY TO AMERICA
One day, a Kom elite sneaked into the palace and made away with the statue. It was later sold to a stranger, and how it got to America no one really knows. However, it was sold into one of the American famous museums. While in that museum in America, it felt nostalgic and started portraying certain strange signs. The museum would close its doors at the end of the day and when everyone had gone home, Afo-a-Kom would start a kind of wanton destruction of the other pieces of art also in the museum. The following day when they would open the museum, they discovered that everything had been knocked down with the exception of the Afo-a-Kom which would be seen majestically standing on its pedestal as though nothing had ever happened. It continued like that for some time and soon the guards at the museum began complaining about cries at night were becoming unbearable. This started drawing the attention of many tourist and the rest of the population as the museum authorities were looking for ways to have it returned. One day a curious Cameroonian happened to have come to see for himself the talking statue and as he got in, behold, here was Afo-a-kom. Recognising it, he quickly informed the authorities at the Cameroon Embassy at the US. Negotiations soon opened on how to get it back to Laikom...

RETURN TO CAMEROON
When its full identity had been obtained and it was certain that it was from Cameroon, the Cameroon embassy at the US together with the museum authorities who were anxious to make a name shared the responsibilities to fly it back to Cameroon. It had a hilarious welcome by the population and the Prime Minister who personally represented the Head of State. From the airport, it came into town escorted just like they do the Head of State and that same motorcade escorted it to the Kom palace despite the bad conditions of the road at that time.

In Kom, there is an annual dance that holds every December. This usually is a very festive period in the palace and all works of art that are in the palace museum are displayed for people to see; those who have always wished to see the Afo-a-Kom can take advantage at this time to have a look. It is very important to note here that the only person who is not allowed to see the afo-a-Kom during this time is the Fon of Kom, who can see it only once in a lifetime and this is only when he is being enthroned. After his enthronement, he is not allowed to see it again until he passes away. It is possible that he (the Fon of Kom) might have seen it many times before he became Fon, but from the moment he is crowned, he no longer has a right to set his eyes on it for it is said that the magical powers vested on the fon turn to conflict with the ones vested on the Afo-a-Kom.

Sometime ago in the 1990s, a group of tourists came into Kom, negotiated with the palace authorities and took away the statue back to America; this time it was an authorised visit. It stayed for about a month and was brought back.

The late legend Bob Marley sang one of his songs (lyrics) titled "Buffalo Soldiers" which was interpreted by many back here as referring to the Afo-a-Kom. In this song, he tells the story of Buffalo soldiers in the hands of America; fighting in arrival; fighting for survival; stolen from Africa; brought to America...

Articles:
The Lost Totem, Time
The Wonders of African Art Explored in 2 Exhibitions, NY Times

Videos:
Afo-A-kom (Cameroon)
AFOAKOM-USA National Convention, Washington, DC

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My Town Monday: Life in West Africa

Here are two very different stories from Mr. Boh about the rituals for the deceased in Cameroon. One is an interesting piece on a tribal custom that is in danger of fading out of existence from a southwestern village. The other is a lighthearted look at the superstitious beliefs that haunt the living. I've included a couple of pictures of Mr. Boh and me in Cameroon (2004-05). For those of you who aren't from NY (my home state), you might not be so thrilled that I introduced my Cameroonian friend to the NY Yankees with a baseball cap.

Mr. Boh writes:

The skull ceremony in the Bamileke Land
The skull ceremony in the Bamileke land has become a famous event that most tourists have developed a growing interest in. Invited or not, most of them prefer to hang around during this ceremony with cameras to immortalise the event. Even Cameroonians who do not hail from this region witness this with a lot of curiosity.

In the Bamileke land, when the patriarch of a large family passes away and is buried, the rest of the family waits for a few years so that the head of the corpse should completely rot away so that they can have the skull. This skull stays where it was buried until problems begin to plague the family. This is to say that where there is no misfortune in the family, there is no cause for a skull ceremony. But when problems set in, there is a convocation of all the family members from far and near by the successor or the acting family head. When all are gathered in a fixed date, the notables and village elders stand around the grave and pour out libation to their forefathers and ask that they should forgive them for whatever they might have done wrong while the youths do the digging. When they get to the corpse, only a family member gets into the grave and detaches the skull from the rest of the corpse.
With the skull in hand,the designated person carries it to the family house where an elder will now anoint it with calm wood (reddish in color like blood clots). During this anointment, he makes requests on behalf of the entire family to the departed, for example, if a young person has been sick in that family (bed ridden) within this time -- since it is believed that illnesses of such magnitude are meant only for the old -- they would be asking for the skull's intervention. This is particularly where they really think that someone has a hand in the illness. In the situation where they think the illness has been inflicted by the departed family head in response to a wrong behaviour by the sick person or any member of the family,they will still seek mercy on the part of the skull. A mistake here can include the refusal of the successor to go to bed with one of the succeeded wives because here it is considered a taboo if you inherit someone and refuse to go to bed with his wife; it means the wife is nasty to you and therefore you need to be disinherited.

When all requests have been made, they embalm the skull with some cloths and burial again takes place just as before. It must be noted that during this ceremony, the women mourn just as the day the first burial took place.

After the burial, feasting and dancing continue the occasion because they assume their requests have been met.

In the Bamileke land, burials are not done following the normal day to day calendar. There is a traditional calendar that gives room for days like "country Sunday" -- as it is called -- which is the village's Sabbath day wherein no one is allowed to go to the farm or carryout intense work and equally no corpse is put into the ground (buried) on this day. Country Sundays are usually 02 per week.

In a situation where they make a burial program for a fresh funeral and it coincides with a country Sunday, they dig the grave and put in the casket in the evening of the day before the intended burial day but they don't fill the grave with soil. The next day, they do every other thing as programmed and only fill the grave now but no digging.

Certain traditional practices are still very much observed in the Bamileke region; meanwhile other parts of Cameroon are rushing in to modernism and leaving their valued tradition to fade out.

Mr Boh and I often exchange details about customs. I remember one time, he told me that when a child looses a tooth, the parent throws the tooth onto the roof, and if the child is fast enough to run around the house and catch it before it hits the ground, it is supposed to bring them good luck. Well, when I laughed, in good nature of course, he asked what we do in America. So with pride, I began telling him how the child puts the tooth under his/her pillow and while the child is sleeping at night, the 'magic' Tooth Fairy comes in and takes the tooth, leaving money in its place. Of course, this made Mr. Boh laugh as he said, "What a rich country you come from." I laughed some more when I realized our custom wasn't any less absurd! I reminded him that the Tooth Fairy was meant for children, but, nevertheless, it was still funny to think that we perpetuate something so silly. Anyway, here's another tale from Mr. Boh about some of his country's customs and superstitions involving the dead:

The Dead Still Feel Hungry
In the villages of Bakossi in the south west province of Cameroon, it is believed that the dead are omnipresent, here with us in every activity that we carryout. When someone dies, it is forbidden to say bad things about him or her for fear that he may strike back in anger. When someone dies, family and friends have up to three days to carry on with whatever ceremonies to pay the deceased the last respects and the fourth day the person can be laid to rest, i.e. leave the face of the earth and join his ancestors.

The story has been told of one chief in this village who died and his body was kept in a local mortuary for three days. Being a chief, it took some time to prepare for the burial ceremony as various delegations were to read out testimonies and eulogies. The night of the wake-keeping, with the corpse placed on bed at the middle of the sitting room, people started singing as they filed past around the coffin, some dancing to the music that came from the choir. Most of the space outside was taken up by different female groups and had prepared fire-sides to prepare various kinds of assorted dishes to feed the population with.

BEHOLD!! Something happened; there was a black-out in the neighborhood. Electricity went out just for about 03 minutes and within this time something really strange occurred.

The corpse that had been laid in state, well dressed and with a pair of white gloves in hands and white socks on feet had taken advantage of the sudden darkness and gotten up. The three days it had already spent without food were becoming unbearable. All the dancing, singing and preaching from men of God were only helping to make the night look much longer than chief had expected. He had expected to be gone a long time ago but here he was being preached upon etc. Once he got up from that bed, he hurriedly rushed out to one of the pots of soup the women were preparing outside and dug his hands into it pulling out most of the meat and eating it up. (The particular soup is called "Eru" and it is eaten with a paste called "water-fufu" and preparing it entails so much palm oil).

As soon as he had finished eating, he landed back on bed where he laid himself back in state. Soon power supply was reinstated but nobody could tell chief had made a move but for one old wise grandmother who came very close to the bed where chief laid and started exclaiming aloud; "Chief, so you couldn't be patient just for a few hours to await your burial before taking a bite? Now see what shame you have brought upon us". With such exclamations, people started looking critically only to discover that the white gloves chief was wearing were all stained with palm oil from the Eru chief had eaten. Isn't this funny?

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Translation for Malaah

I emailed Mr. Boh asking if he could translate the word Malaah (from yesterday's My Town Monday), and he wrote back:

"Malaah" in that particular context would mean something like (Great one -, goddess) but to give its translation from the Bameleke language, it means "Mother of mothers". Malaah is in the Bameleke language but to say mother of mothers sounds foolish; it could better go with 'goddess'.

He's appreciative for all the comments in response to his post.

My Town Monday: Life in West Africa

When I met Mr. Boh in Cameroon four years ago, a favorite topic of conversation was folklore and superstitions. In Mr. Boh's second guest MTM post, he discusses witchcraft which is still widely practiced in many parts of Cameroon. Boh Cyprain writes:

Malaah: Witchcraft

Witchcraft has been part of African society since time immemorial. When Christianity stepped in here, some Africans adopted it in full dose keeping aside their old traditional beliefs. They claimed that nothing associated with witchcraft could harm them if they stayed close to their Bibles. But, witchcraft practices have persisted and to the detriment of society. Those who are born with the gene, just like those who are initiated into it, practice purely evil. It has never been heard of a vampire who only defended the innocent from the ill-intentioned. In recent times, persons regarded as having the gift of being able to detect the truth in cases of witchcraft have been called to the BAR to help magistrates seek out the truth in cases where witchcraft have been presented before the law. This has been because magistrates have found it difficult to pass judgment against someone for lack of proof. The fact that the law now gives cognizance to this phenomenon is clear proof that witchcraft practices still exist in our society today.

There has been this Malaah phenomenon which most vampires have adopted nowadays. By this, they put on a DRACULA-LIKE attitude where they go out at night in search of human blood. As it is, they transform into very tiny human beings and they board what they call "Avion de Nuit" or the Night Plane. This night plane could be an empty tin of sardines or even an empty box of matches. Any of these planes can carry as many as 20 vampires and can fly out to great distances like neighbouring Gabon or Tchad with a common goal - to suck dry sleeping human beings. With the blood already gathered, they can now use it to perform their miracles all to their benefit. It is said that they could possibly transfer ones intelligence into some other person who was less intelligent at first and could render someone crippled if by so doing would halt his progress (e.g., a footballer). There are those who indulge in this to enable their kin achieve stardom in society. Worst is the fact that those involved tend to initiate their kids to ensure a successor regardless of their ages.


Last month a Cameroonian television channel "CANAL 2" broadcasted on its news 02 kids of ages of about 11and 07 who gave testimonies of how their grand mother has constantly sent them mystically at night to go and suck out blood from neighbours with the latest one being the sucking of blood from one of their cousins (just as young as they) rendering him crippled. There was contention shown in the family as the mother of the lad was shown pleading on camera with the grandmother to only help make the son walk again. These kids gave their confessions as to their innocence and pleaded with the public to forgive them as they never knew what they were doing. They said they had accepted to carryout these mal-practices because their aunt had promised they were going to be very rich in the future and were going to own their own cars.

The Malaah phenomenon presents itself as a church with its members dressed in immaculate white and go barefoot. One practice almost terminated the market of paper towels here as it was believed that they went around peoples dust-bins collecting already used napkins and getting the rubbish from it to get the owners hooked up; if you used it to wipe sweat from your face, they would in turn extract the sweat from the towel and use it against you the same way they do with the blood. This made almost everybody to either stay away from using paper tissue or dropping it beyond the reach of anyone.

In the neighbourhood of Mbankolo here in Yaoundé, there was this old lady who piloted a night plane all by herself and went around sucking blood from neighbours and the plane crash landed on someone's roof. Since it was almost morning (daylight), she was unable to take-off again (because this practice doesn't agree with day light) and gradually she started turning into her normal human body and started crying out for help. She was so old she couldn't get down from the roof by herself. The neighbours recognizing who she was sent for the son who by this time was struggling to write out an announcement for the radio concerning the missing mother whom they couldn't find in her room that morning. Arriving the scene the son felt so insulted to find the mother on the roof and to hear what she was saying in her confession. She said she usually follows a team but since she was too thirsty that night and the rest of the associates weren't going out, she had braved it to pilot the plane. The son in annoyance left before a ladder was brought to help bring down the mother and was promising to send out every belonging of the mother before her return to his house.

Recently, a bunch of Malaah church members were dispersed by the police at TSINGA (the main junction to the presidential palace in Yaoundé) on their way to the presidency. They claimed it had been prophesied that it's only their powerful prayers that could help make President Biya to flee the palace. On their way they met police men with instructions to beat mercilessly and arrest its leaders for motives of unauthorized demonstration and unpatriotic practices.

Next week -- The Dead Still Feel Hungry
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My Town Monday: Life in West Africa

From 2004-05, courtesy of the government, I had an enjoyable eleven month “vacation” in the capital of Cameroon, Africa. Part of what made my stay in Yaounde memorable was local resident Boh Cyprain, who started out as one of our team’s drivers and quickly became a close friend of mine.

I previously mentioned in my Hemingway post that I could identify with being away from home during the holidays but when Mr. Boh and his wife graciously opened their home to my wife and me, it was one of my more touching Christmases, sharing it with his family.

Mr. Boh and I have stayed in touch through email and he'd send me blog entries when I was posting news links and dispatches on (the now near-defunct) Axiom Report. If you have never used the Internet in certain parts of Africa, it can be frustrating with slower than slow connection speeds where it takes five minutes to load a page. But even so, Mr. Boh would go to the local Internet cafe and spend hours typing in bits of news and stories about local traditions from his country. And when others told me they were to busy to blog for the AR, I will always remember his selfless dedication, driving through a riot torn Cameroon last March to report to us on his country’s status.

I thought it would be interesting to share some experiences from Cameroon for this week's MTM. Mr. Boh writes:

Shopping In Cameroon

Cameroon, like many other African countries, is blessed with fertile land and a hard working people. Its markets are usually stuffed with all varieties of food stuff and very natural too. Every morning you find wagons carrying food from villages into town to help feed its hungry populations. Women carry their bags with varied food menus of the day hoping to satisfy their families.


Easy shopping in Cameroon warrants a broad knowledge of its market situation. A common market scene here is usually very noisy and busy and demands a lot of caution because you are taken away first by the freshness of its products and the anxiety with which the traders all rush into you to persuade you to buy. It is only normal if someone looses his temper because a trader pulled him or her brutally by the arm to persuade him to buy from her. In such confusing areas, do not be surprised after negotiating the price of your article not to find your wallet or let it not puzzle you when you get home to find that the machandise you bought has been changed and no one will be willing to listen to your complaint even when you go back to where you bought it.


Negotiating the prices requires a lot of talking because the prices are never fixed. They change with the person who shows up to buy. For instance, prices are high when the person buying has a car and the prices get higher yet if it is discovered that you are an expatriate and as if that wasn't enough, prices sky-rocket when you are of the white colour. Shopping with a Cameroonian alongside you makes things alot easier for you because they identify themselves by the common market language known as PIDGIN (this is just broken English at times mixed with some broken French). It is the business language in Cameroon (Cameroon is a bilingual country with French and English being the official languages). Usually, most business persons quickly get annoyed with Cameroonian escorts because they don't give the seller a chance to be able to dupe their clients. TIPS are a common phenomenon here because escorts expect to be given some tips as a sign of appreciation for a job well done and even waiters in a bar expect to find something in the little saucer from which your change was served after you have left the place.


It is important to recommend here that if someone wants to do shopping here, he or she should hand all the money he has to his escort because pick pockets will only go for the expatriate and not the Cameroonian. This is if the escort is a trusted one.

Street children are also another aspect to look out for when you shop here because you will find a bunch of them willing to carry everything you buy just to accompany you to the road side to pick a taxi. They do this genuinely just for a tip but keep your eyes away from him for 10 seconds and your bag is gone; handle your wallet carelessly too and you won't find it when need arises.

Next week -- Malaah: Witchcraft
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