The Head ( Final part )

This entire story that I am telling you, are what my grand parents told me. But since I am a Christian, I tend to doubt my grand parent’s story, about the peacefulness that existed in Bassa-Badem land before, as also told them by their own parents. The reasons of my doubts are because, I can’t understand how people who did not fear God, that is, the God of those of us who are Christians, could have led a better life than those of us today are Christians. Remember, Christianity has brought civilisation and hope for eternal life to us all today. Perhaps my country which I must insist was Bassa and Bassa-badem was best before it was amalgamated by those I have mentioned above and others from Europe, to produce what is today called Cameroon. Perhaps it was best because my great grand parents were receiving the help of our God, the God of Christians and also the help of their god, Satan via the woods and wood carvings, birds and other objects they considered as their gods.

Thus, whenever my great grand parents prayed to their god, who was in reality Satan, he (Satan), never hesitated to deliver whatever they wished. And this made our God, that is, the God of those of us who are Christians, to get angry and jealous at the same time. But instead of punishing my great grand parents, our God, the God of those of us were Christians and are still Christians today, provided them double, what Satan had given them. It was the beginning of the battles for the hearts and souls fought by Satan and God. The winners were my great grand parents, for they were winning on both sides. But my father, who is a very good practising Christians, when he got the news on how my great grand parents were operating, he was extraordinarily livid. And that is why, whenever my father is preaching or trying to win over people on the side of our God, that is, the God of Christians, he tells them that: “a good Christian, must be neck deep with God”. And he always adds that: “people of today are lucky and hence, they must not behave like his ancestors who are also mine”.

That is, by worshipping God and Satan at the same time. The attitude of my great grand parents my father always said: “it was not good”. Why? According to my father, there is only one God, and it is the God of those of us who are Christians. And since the God of Christians is a very kind God, and show it by making rain and sun to shine on the head of every one, my father therefore thinks that, our God deserves respect and not mockery and betrayals. My father adds that, my great grand parents wanted to gain both ways. That is, with Satan and with God, hence he considers my great grand parents conduct as appalling, for they wanted to put God to test. Anyway, that is what my father thinks. My father who will be referred to today, by people who do not know God, as a fanatical Christian, was not joking when he was criticising his ancestors, who are also mine. My father got angry because, his father, who is my grand father, told him that, his own parents who are my great grand parents, who told him that, it was best to worship two gods.

For my great grand parents compared the worshipping of two gods to a man who had two wives. Men who have two wives know that, there is always a competition amongst the women to satisfy their husband and if humans also have two gods, then those gods will also be competing to satisfy them. It explains why, when the White men came, my great grand parents did not throw away their own ancestral gods, they decided to follow the White men and their new God, while keeping and worshipping their own ancestral gods. My father can’t stand to hear such logics and hence, rejects the ancestral worships of our collective ancestors and says, only Gods words obtain from the bible is correct and worth following. And since I don’t have any right to choose, I do follow what my father says, but I have also strong respect for my ancestors, for I think that, they had a much better life than those of us who are today Christians.

But whenever I am told or reminded how best our country was before my grand father, fell into the trap of the White men and became a Christian, which I am also a part of today, I am worried and I ask these questions. Was Bassa and Bassa-badem land the name of my country, truly better before the White men came and decided to merge it with a bigger entity made up of foreigners and called it Cameroon? Has our ancestors cursed us? Did we need money and all the trappings of the White man’s world, as it is the situation today? Anyway, I think that, while I was born a Christian and I am still a Christian and will die a Christian and while still alive, I am obeying only the rules that guide Christians, I am nonetheless loosing something. Satan who used to help my great grand parents to have many children and children who respected them, but nowadays Satan has decided to attack us, because, we don’t obey him any more.
But I am moreover aware that, our God, that is, the God of those of us who are Christians, he is a strong and powerful God, but in front of the attack that, we are daily receiving from Satan, he seem not to be in a hurry to help us. When will he? Perhaps only when in the beaks of cocks and other birds, teeth start to grow. It is why, I think that, today, those of us who are Christians, are loosing. For if we had the brilliance of our ancestors to be Christians while preserving our ancestral gods, both (Satan & God) would have been helping us today, as they did before us. That was my story and it is the end. I am now hungry and perhaps if you can complete the meal with a calabash of sweet fresh palm wine, I will appreciate that very much. But before I go, this is the last and real story and the one that made you all to seat here. I hope you liked the other stories and God will certainly have mercy over us all and he will protect us from the thieves and other criminals that his rival, Satan has placed at strategic places. My name is Brogota and my father’s name is also Brogota.