Manteur and the Female students of Lycee du General Leclerc(part 2)

The girls were all in support of Manteur and they wondered why on earth their friend(Melima) could, be so stupid to the point of disclosing his name to her parents and now because of the claimed stupidity of Melima, Manteur was now in trouble with the administration. As the investigation was driving toward it end, during school breaks, students clubbed themselves in various groups at strategic points of the school yard. Their conversations were no longer about their forthcoming exams nor was it even concerning Football. Their conversation was about the fate of Manteur.

While some male students just as some section of their male teachers were jubilant, female students, especially those Manteur had promised to get married to and take them to France at the end of his contract, were not happy. For they feared that, the indictment of Manteur will ruin their dream of going to France. What they did not know was that, Manteur had made the same promises to them all. In a group of girls who had all gone to bed with Manteur, but ignoring each other, one asked: why Melima did not accused her formal boy. He continued: “especially that, he is fair skin and logically, their child will have the skin complexion of the father”. Then another one retorted: “there is no guaranty that, the child that, Melima will give birth to will have the complexion of his father, if he were Tuna, (name of the formal boy friend of Melima).” There was an instant retaliation from another girl: “why are you sounding as though, you are putting in doubt the innocence of Manteur?”

Then another one asked: “whether Zambo has doubt on the innocence of Manteur or not, it is not a great deal, but, the question is this: if Melima had accused Tuna of being the father of the child she is carrying and when she gives birth, the hair of the child will deliver the truth”. She continued: “this is so, because, even though there are Negroes who have the same skin pigmentation as those of some White Europeans, there are three things that makes them Negroes: a) their thick lips, b) flat or round nose and c) their curly log of hairs. So think about those elements before advancing your speculative conclusions”. These reasoning which had some logic, sparked mutual suspicions, for one of the girls wondered load why her friends are going onto such petty details. She said: “one of my younger brothers has the curly hairs of Negroes born of out interracial marriage, yet none of us have ever gotten married to a non black”.

Then Mvele, whose final expose irritated and forced Bakala to accuse her friends of getting involved into petty details said: “Bakala, I now understand that, all your time spend in the biology class of Manteur was a simple waste of time”. She added: “How far you are so sure that, in your families, that is, that of your mother and your father, there wasn’t some one at a point, who was married to a White person? So, I think your connections or claims about your younger brother’s hair are baseless and unfounded. In addiction, there are many blacks or Negroes, who have the sort of hair you are talking about and know that, black is black. It doesn’t matter how light or fair skin he/she may be”. The girls at Lycee du General Leclerc truly loved Manteur, whereas a section of male students and even some male colleagues of Manteur in the teaching Corp were jealous of him. As for the girls, even though they were showing concern for Manteur publicly and collectively, but individually and secretly, they were competing against each other.

But as they were competing individually and secretly, their lover boy was being transferred to another French-speaking black African country, because the case of Melima was becoming a diplomatic problem between Cameroon and France. Then one day, one girl in the group made up of Zambo, Bakala and Mvele, brought out the address of Manteur in France and showed it with pride to her friends. “I have won the jackpot!” she cried. For she thought that, she was the chosen one. But the claimed chosen one was shocked, when Bakala, also thrust her hand into the pocket of her skirt and came out with another address, also given to her by Manteur. They now understood that, none of them was the chosen one of Manteur and also that, Manteur has abused of their ignorance and naivety.

Manteur and the Female students of Lycee du General Leclerc

The parents of Melima wanted Mr Manteur to be arrested. But since he was a White man and an expatriate send by France to Cameroon, in order to educate young French-speaking Cameroonians, he managed as usual, to get off the hook. While the parents of Melima were furious and wanted the biology teacher arrested, Risdoh in her tend was falling in love with the pariah. She was in love with the same man who has become the staple of the local print media. And the allegations made against Mr Manteur became almost a national matter, the ministries of internal affairs or territorial administration and that of internal security took over the issue. The internal security is the ministry that Cameroon’s Police Force is attached to. This last ministry decided that, a special investigation should be open, in order to find out whether it was true that, the French biology teacher had gone to bed not only with Melima, but with many other girls who were his students and who were also minors.

At this stage, some colleagues of Manteur knew that, with such an investigation opened, Mr Manteur will be arrested, even though he is of French nationality. They also knew that, even if Manteur was found guilty, he won’t be prosecuted in Cameroon, but will be deported back to France, where he will spend a long time in jail. But Mr Manteur was a brilliant tactician, for he had gone ahead and assured all the girls he had gone to bed with that, he will married them. He told the girls individually to keep for themselves the secret of their marriage. For Manteur knew better than any body that, most girls that he went to bed with, won’t have accepted if he were not a White from France. This is so because, France remains a country that, most Cameroonians associate with prosperity. And he took time off to dissipate any line of doubts in the minds of his female students. To be sure of their loyalty, he gave them all false addresses of his home address in France. The black colleagues of Manteur were very happy, when they got news that, an investigation on the behaviour of their White colleague has been open and also that, all female students presumed to have had an affair with him will be privately interviewed by a judge and two Police officers.

They knew that, the time of Manteur was up. The motive of their annoyance and jealousy toward Manteur, was not because he was White or more competent than them, nor was it even that, they were against him having affairs with his female students. The black African colleagues of Manteur were angry because, they too were doing the same thing, but since Manteur was sent to Lycee du General Leclerc, girls were snubbing them and were instead focusing only on Manteur. The female students at Lycee du General Leclerc acted like bees on their hive with Manteur. But the hopes of some black African colleagues of Mr Manteur to see him prosecuted were mere hopes. For all the girls who had seen France via the TV set of the French biology teacher and also saw the ease with which Manteur was leading his life in Yaoundé, could not afford to spoil their opportunity of going to France, as their biology teacher had promised them. And in conversations, the female students usually said: “if Manteur was leading such a prince-like life here in difficult Yaoundé, therefore, in France, he must be a king.

And when they were invited by the investigation team, and asked whether they had had an affair with their biology teacher, they all said, their teacher never had any affair with them other than studies. On the contrary, they told the investigating team that, “Manteur was a sort of Jesus Christ, who was occasionally helping them financially and also helping them to understand their subject accurately”. There was even one who took extra time to explain to the investigating team how humane was Manteur, while another one added: “recently, my father hadn’t monies to buy me some text books and it was Manteur who gave me CFA 2500, to buy the text books that I needed”. And she asked: who elsewhere in the teaching Corp of Lycee Leclerc could have acted that way or give me such an amount of money”?

Risdoh & Mr Manteur :the White biology teacher at Lycee du General Leclerc (part 2)

Mr Manteur, the name of the White French biology teacher at Lycee du General Leclerc was treated like a king and he was adored by female students. He was loved not only because he was a white man, it was also because of all the electronic appliances that he had at his home and the easy way of life that he led. Mr Manteur, who was 40 years old and still a bachelor, went to bed with all the girls of Lycee bilingual and even with some of his female colleagues who were married as well as those who were unmarried. Mr Manteur did not succeed to have sexual intercourse with all his female students simply because, he was White or because he had many electronic appliances at his house , but more because, he promised them all that, he was to get married to them and also take them to France at the end of his contract. But amongst all the female students that Manteur was practising his reproductive biology lessons on, one unluckily fell pregnant.

But Manteur did not know and in his usual fashion after a stint, he jilted the girl (Melima) and his new trophy was Risdoh. But by the time, the end of year exams were approaching, news started making rounds that, one of the many girls that Manteur was going out with was pregnant. It was like an atomic bomb. It ran riot in Lycee du General Leclerc. Even though there were no proves that, Manteur was the one who made Melima pregnant, some members of teaching Corp, in chief, the males, who never liked or were jealous of the familiarity that Manteur, had with students, especially those of the female sex, started accusing him. Though they did not only suspect him to be the father of the child that Melima was carrying, they had already made up their minds, but without providing evidence.

The battle lines were now drawn within the teaching Corp of Lycee du General Leclerc. On one hand were those who were neck deep sure that, Manteur was the one who had made Melima pregnant and wanted him arrested and send to jail and on the other hand ,there were those who were in support of Mr Manteur and amongst them, many Female member of the teaching Corp. There was a third Camp, which was neither for the first nor for the second. This last camp said the reason why Melima became pregnant was because of the advent of television, which has been of assistance in the break down of moral order. They wanted that television broadcast, if not suspended, it must be thoroughly supervised and they also advocated the reintroduction of religious knowledge in schools. And there was a fourth group. They were mostly anti-colonialists or sons of those who fought France via the Union of the Population of Cameroon (UPC) in a bid to gain the independence of French-speaking Cameroon between 1958 and 1970.

They were always looking for an opportunity to make political capital. They wanted an investigation and took the matter to the principal of the college with their proposal. But the Principal of Lycee du General Leclerc, a devoted Roman catholic Christian, refused the proposals made by the nationalist fringe of the teaching Corp and said: “how on earth can they even think that, a teacher will stoop so low to have an affair with a student?” And he added: “remember Mr Manteur is a French man and French people have etiquettes”. But as nothing under the sun can be hidden for too long, the parents of Melima also got waves (news) that, their daughter was pregnant and their informant told them that, the author was Mr Manteur, the French White biology teacher. The Parents of Melima brought the accusation to the Principal Mr Rene Timay, who rejected it again as he had done when the nationalist teachers of his school made similar accusations.

Risdoh & Mr Manteur: the White French biology teacher at Lycee Leclerc.

Risdoh held the key to the paradise of prosperity of her family. And she did not disappoint. She was committed to her studies, until she reached form 4 at Lycee du General Leclerc and she was preparing to write the BEPC, the French equivalent of the General Certificate of Education (GCE Ordinary level). Then she came across a native White French biology teacher at Lycee Leclerc. This White French man, who was a biology teacher, was about 40 years old and knows French-speaking Africa very well. Even though he was a staff of Lycee du General Leclerc, he was not paid by Cameroon’s ministry of National Education. He was paid by the French ministry of Cooperation and he was attached to the French ministry of National education. He was the French answer to the American Peace corp. And the French called their own expatriates sent to French-speaking Africa and some times to none French-speaking Africa: “cooperant”.

The French cooperants were very different from the American Peace Corps, who even though well paid than their Cameroonian counter parts, if they were attached to the sector of education, they led a very simple life style. But the French cooperant showed that, they were White people and rich. Hence while French cooperants especially the males were not appreciated by their Cameroonian colleagues because of their insolence, they were appreciated and adored by school girls and other women. And at the Lycee Leclerc, besides the college principal, the French White cooperant was the only member of the teaching Corp who had a brand new car. Furthermore, he was not living in the populous neighbourhoods where his colleagues were living. He was living in a residential area and his home was exuding wealth.

He had a parabolic antenna and a colour television set, both appliances that were at that time, out of reach to the majority. In addition, in his house, since he had a parabolic antenna, he received images of French television stations and never cared to watch programmes or even local news from Cameroon’s own state television station: Cameroon Radio and Television Corporation (CRTVC). More, regularly, after his lessons of biology, he invited students to his home to come and watch scientific television programmes, which were in connection with biology. And in some occasions, lucky students were asked to spend the week end. Those who were lucky to spend the week end, spent it eating French cheese, testing and even drinking French wine and all other French goodies, that only the rich and powerful in Cameroon who had the opportunity to travel to France had the privilege.

The openness or kindness of the French biology teacher transformed the students of his class at Lycee du General Leclerc. It drove them mad. And some began murmuring amongst them that, if Manteur, an ordinary secondary school teacher could lead such a prince-like life here in this difficult Cameroon, then in his native France, he must be a king who lacks nothing.

How Armed robbers & thieves are handled in Cameroons (final part)

Around the Bastos neighbourhood of Yaoundé , which is a neighbourhood inhabited mostly by top government officials and diplomats, those dictating the rules on how thieves or Armed Robbers have to be handled, whenever they are arrested are not the inhabitants of Bastos proper. But the poor who are living in the valleys of the posh neighbourhood, for the poor who live in the valley don’t want their employers who live at the summit to be robbed, for it will cut or deny them their life line. The valley around Bastos neighbourhood in Yaoundé is the place of the poor. It is a part where torrential rains often carry away the habitats of its occupants and also where when people are at sleep, they can easily be observed by those passing by because, their houses are built with poor materials.

None native thieves or armed robbers, arrested in any neighbourhood in Yaoundé are never well treated. But if the non native thief or armed robber apprehended was of Bamileke nationality or tribe, he or they will be killed instantly. Why? Simply because, the other nationalities or tribes are jealous of Bamilekes who are often rich business men and women, hence it is beyond comprehension that one Bamileke should be a thief. Some even think, Bamileke thieves or armed robbers do carryout their act to increase their wealth and also an attempt to deny others of prosperity. I don’t need to tell you that it is wrong, for just as there are bad people in all Cameroonian nations or tribes, so also must Bamilekes, no matter how good, humble, friendly and hard working they are. Risdoh’s brother who was a thief was lucky.

He was lucky because, he was neither Bamileke nor Bassa, so his life was often spared whenever he was arrested. His life was always spared and he was always handed over to the Police after having been paraded naked. Shame had deserted the man. For he had no dignity, no matter how many times that he was paraded naked and made news paper, radio and television headlines, he still went back to his profession: thief. His life was always spared because he was Ewondo. In the English-speaking regions of Cameroon, unknown thieves or thieves that are not from the region are always arrested and handed to the Police. But native thieves, that had the ill luck to be apprehended by the vigilante groups that patrol streets of various neighbourhoods. They will be tied with ropes on a vertical rod and car wheels thrown around him or them, from their feet to their heads. After which, fuel is poured on him or them, then set alight.

The reasons why there is mob justice in Cameroon’s two regions is because, the public doesn’t have any iota of confidence in the Police or the judicial system, for they are too corrupt. While one of Risdoh’s brother was a thief and his life was always spared because he was Ewondo and also because he choose to still around his neighbourhood, her other brother by name Messamena, was a footballer. But he was playing with a division two football team in Yaoundé called Diamond Football Club, but her glorious days in Cameroonian soccer had long gone, since its chairman became a born again Christians and invested his finances in heaven rather than on earth.

And because Diamond Football club’s chair was relying on Jesus Christ to take his team to the premier league rather than monies as he used to do, the club was at the bottom of division two and was ready to dive into the hell of the Centre provincial division three championships. This made the prospects of Messamena , Risdoh’s other brother, to ever play with elite division one or Premier league teams such as Canon of Yaoundé, Tonnerre of Yaoundé, Union of Douala or PWD Bamenda elusive. For playing with those top flight Cameroonian division one teams opens the prospects of going to play in Europe, the paradise of Cameroonian footballers. In regard to the condition of Risdoh’s brothers, one being an armed robber and the other an unpromising footballer, the family of Risdoh and their mother Noako had no hopes on them.

How Armed robbers & thieves are handled in Cameroons

At the Bepanda neighbourhood of Douala, if a thief or an armed robber is intercepted by the population, who now run vigilante groups, he/ they, are not molested or beaten, nor do they sustain any form of denigration. However, the thief or thieves will be submitted to interrogations. Such as; how many times have you stolen? Naïve ones or those motivated by fear, often give the number of times they have stolen and should it exceed three times, the thief or thieves will be tied to a rod and beaten with varieties of materials such as: electric cables, large sticks and any other weapons found around. And this, until dead comes because of the pain and the bleeding such maltreatments orchestrates. However, if the arrested thief was just a beginner, he won’t be beaten, but will be given two options on how he/they wishes to die. One propositions generally submitted to the intercepted thief/thieves is this: he will be given “gari”. Gari is a dry powdery substance generated from cassava tubas. The preparation of Gari goes thus: cassava tubas are put in a jut or fertilizer bags, then submerged in water for three or more days...

After which the tubas are removed from the bags, mashed and grind. The grind substance which becomes a white paste is then dried on a flat metallic surface, or on corrugated sheets or zincs. In order for the cassava paste to become gari, the flat corrugated sheet or zinc is heated beneath with firewood. Gari is widely consumed in the coastal parts of West Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. Especially by people of black West African ancestry and native Andeans and others. This gari option offered to the thief or armed robber or any thief, caught with or without weapon or arms is a vicious and cruel punishment. For the arrested thief will be asked to consume six or eight tumblers of Gari, and given that, gari or tapioca swells when in contact with water, the thief knows that, he will die. After he or they have consumed under pressure from the crowd or excited vigilante groups, the six or eight glasses of Gari, the thieves or thief will be given a litre of water to drink.

The effect is immediate death. However, some lucky thieves or thief might survive, if a sympathetic and respected elderly woman or man passing by, demands the excited crowd to spare his or their lives and then takes them (thieves or armed robbers) to the hospital. But it seldom happens. For people have an implacable hatred for thieves in Cameroon and do not trust the Police or the authority to render justice, hence, they have taken the law into their own hands. The second option usually offered to thieves or armed robbers whenever, they have been apprehended by the people in the above mentioned neighbourhood, is to choose steamed water as their form of punishment. Water will be boiled and poured into a bottle and the bottle contenting the hot water will be used to massage the thief or thieves at strategic places such as the ankle, the writs, elbows and shoulders.

Why? It is claimed that, hot water put in a bottle and used to massage the latter mentioned parts of the body, can cause blood to stop it normal circulation. And will make the persons who have been massaged to loose parts or all of it members. But the ultimate goal is dead. But in other neighbourhoods of Douala, punishments granted to thieves are meted according to their nationality or tribal orgines. None native thieves are killed instantly, whereas native thieves are handed to the Police after public humiliations, such as conducting him around the neighbourhood, naked. While in Yaoundé her different neighbourhoods have their different rules that they apply in order to treat thieves or armed robbers of all categories.

Risdoh & the creation of modern Cameroon ( final part )

Perhaps late General Leclerc is loved and admired by French-speaking Cameroonians, because, he showed a courage not known to be the hallmark of French soldiers. For he gathered a rag tag army from Fort Lamy now N’djamena, Chad located in French-speaking West Africa and fought his way to Europe and in the process, daring the formidable German Afrika Corp, commended by the excellent General Rommell aka desert fox. As for late General Charles De Gaulle, the other French hero, French-speaking Cameroonians don’t love him.

The only French-speaking Cameroonians, who love him, are the politicians that he gave them political power in 1960. Another reason why De Gaulle is not loved by French-speaking Cameroonians is that, he was too arrogant and more, none of them can really recall his military pedigree, as they do with those of Marshal Leclerc. At Lycee du General Leclerc in Yaoundé, where Risdoh was attending her secondary school via a scholarship that she obtained as she was graduating from primary school, she maintained the brilliance which was hers, when she began attending nursery and primary schools. At those times, at the end of every academic year, Risdoh was certain to come home with a prize for her academic distinction. She was the pride of her family and her mother was convinced that, she was on the path of Mrs Tsanga Delphine.

While Risdoh was a star, her two brothers were the shame and headaches to their family. Risdoh’s eldest brother Tabala was a well known armed robber, who began stealing when he was just 5 years old. And since then, he has spent various periods of incarceration at the Kondengui Maximum Security Prison of Yaoundé. The last reason which took Tabala to prison was his arrest by Police men, after their gang of armed robbers failed, when they wanted to bugle a residence at the highbrow Bastos neighbourhood in Yaoundé.

In the operation, the owner of the house was killed. Normally Tabala, the armed robber and also the elder brother of Risdoh, would have been killed. But since he was a national or native of Yaoundé, which means is an Ewondo; his life was spared by the irate crowd. In Cameroon, whenever a thief, even the thief of an egg, not to say an armed robber, is arrested in action by the crowd, he or they are lynched by the crowd. But the mob or jungle justice applied in Cameroon to thieves varies from one town to the other and from one region to the other. There is no standard form of punishment for thieves in Cameroon. For example, in Douala, the commercial capital and also the most populated city in Cameroon, the way an arrested thief is treated in the neighbourhoods of Deido or Makape/Bonamosadi and Ndogbong, is diametrically different from the neighbourhood of Bepanda and elsewhere in the same city of Douala.

Risdoh & the creation of modern Cameroon ( part 3)

In setting such rules, I think the ancestors of Ewondos and the Bulu nations were genius in proactive problem solving. And since most Ewondo girls are physically stronger than their males or eventual husbands, the act of their husbands to beat them, was and is still today meant to ascertain the natural masculine authority at home. The beaten woman must cry out loud and strip herself naked in the public and neighbours will race to cover her nakedness and beg her husband to take her back. He will be proud and happy because, in most cases, it is the Ewondo girls who beat up their husbands. Hence, when an Ewondo male is lucky to fall in love with a weak female, and he succeeds to beat her up, he will throw a party to fete his victory. The Ewondo woman is always happy to be married to real males, in all senses of interpretations. And that culture is still going on today in the Centre, South and part of the East provinces of French-speaking Cameroon.

The White men and their Christianity have tried to stop the ancestral traditions of the Ewondos, but they have failed. Another thing with the Ewondos is that, since they are intelligent and love the White men and their ways of life, they are today one of the best crops of civil servants in French-speaking Cameroon. Third: Risdoh, unlike many other girls, she was well educated and had parents who could send her to school and at any level, provided she wanted to study. Risdoh began her nursery education at a Nursery school located in the neighbourhood of Nlongkak in Yaoundé and she was a promising star. And her mother, Mrs Noako, who was a civil servant in strict respect of Ewondo tradition, wanted her daughter to become another Mrs Tsanga Delphine. Who was Tsanga Delphine? She was a female minister and a currently a novelist, who served as minister under the government of Ahmadou Ahidjo for close to 10 years and briefly under the government of Paul Biya.

Mrs Tsanga Delphine was born in the village of Lomie, French-speaking Cameroon in 1935 and attended the College Modern of Douala, until 1955 and afterwards, left for Toulouse in France, where she attended a medical school[1]. Mrs Tsanga was of Ewondo nationality, hence all Ewondo women who had little girls, wanted their daughters to become like the minister who was the long serving female minister in Ahidjo’s government. In fact, the Mrs Tsanga was not only a beacon or role model to the Ewondos and their greater nation, the Betis nation; she was a role model to all women from French-speaking to English-speaking Cameroons. And Cameroonian mothers knew that, the only way for daughters to realise what Mrs Tsanga had done in a predominantly masculine society that Cameroon is, was through education. Risdoh’s mother encouraged her to study and she finished her nursery education in brilliant fashion and began her primary education and graduated with a scholarship to attend the prestigious Lycee du General Leclerc in Yaoundé. Who was General Leclerc?

He was one of the only real Gaullist soldier. He was born on the 22^nd of November 1902 in Belloy-Saint Léonard, Somme region, France and died on the 28^th of November 1947 in Colomb-Bechar, Algeria. His real names are Philippe Francois Marie count de Hauteclocque, but he decided to change his name in order to adopt his nom de guerre: Jacques-Philippe Leclerc. In France, he is popularly known as Marshal Leclerc, a posthumous rank, he was bestowed in 1952[2]. Late General Leclerc is the only French military General venerated in French-speaking Cameroon. Furthermore, he seems to be the only French man that, French-speaking Cameroonians seem to admire. He has several edifices in French-speaking Cameroon named after him and he even has a statue in front of the Douala Central Post Office erected in his honour.

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[1] http://aflit.arts.uwa.edu.au/ZangaTsogoDelphineEng.html

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippe_Leclerc_de_Hauteclocque

Risdoh & the creation of modern Cameroon (part 2)

For they (France) granted independence to the French-speaking part of Cameroon on the 1^st of January 1960 and to the English-speaking parts, they (Britain) granted them a funny type of independence, that is, by asking part of British Cameroons to integrate Northern Nigeria and the other part to reunifying with French-speaking Cameroon. That expensive jokes of the British toward British Cameroonians, was called independence. In reality, it was another form of new colonialism took place on the 1^st of October 1961. The British and the United Nations decided what was best for us. For how a country can get her independence by reunifying or integrating with another one, is a mystery. But, is the logic of the White men. Just understand that, even though the White men cheated English-speaking Cameroonians, by denying them the right to have their own country, Cameroon is still currently made up of two countries, packaged as one.

And some Cameroonians, in particular, those who speak French, and act the same way as White French men do, call their country with pride and affection: miniature Africa. Why? According to those who coined that phrase, Cameroon is a sample of all the people and the races that exist on the African continent. Well, that is just for propaganda, because, personally, I Brogota, I have travelled through out the breadth and length of the continent of Africa and I have not seen any justification for Cameroon to be called miniature Africa. But what is true, on the other hand is that, Cameroon is made up of about 240 nationalities with the same number of languages plus three: English, French and Pidgin English. While I think and call the 240 nationalities and their languages that make up Cameroon their rightful appellations, some White men and even some educated Cameroonians still call the people who make up Cameroon, tribes and their languages: dialects.

Well, it is their problem and not mine. The official capital of Cameroon is Yaoundé and the unofficial capital or that which would have been the capital of Anglophone Cameroon, is and will remain Buea. Yaoundé is a modern city like many others on the continent. It is also a place where, extraordinarily rich people meet extremely poor people, and ignoring each other. Second: Risdoh, as I have already told you, is a very beautiful girl and above all, she is a native of Yaoundé. This simply means that, her native tongue is Ewondo, a language spoken by the natives of Yaoundé and its environs. The Ewondos, the nation and language of Risdoh are also one of the people in French-speaking Cameroon, who admires education, hence even in remote villages of Ewondoland, there are old men and women, who do not only know how to speak French, they are also capable of writing it fluently. And since the Ewondos are well educated people, they also like to behave like White men. They like putting on ties, dress in three piece suits and also enjoy office jobs.

Another thing with the Ewondos is that, they like to drink, but in their love for alcohol, they prefer Red wine to beer. And finally, even though Ewondos like to drink and fight, they are nice and welcoming people, who seldom get angry for longer than necessary. Although Ewondos are well educated and are mostly Roman Catholic Christians and highly Westernised, they have not thrown away their traditions. One traditional culture of the Ewondos, that which their ancestors were practising and which has been perpetuated , requires that, men must beat up their wives to show his love and also show that, he can defend his wife in case of external attack. And concerning Ewondo girls, they too are required by tradition to have a child, before getting married. It is a proof that, she is not sterile and the child she has given birth will be an attachment or a deposit, which will always bring her back to visit her parents. The other reason why Ewondo girls, who are very independent minded are required by their ancestral tradition to give birth out of wedlock, it is to put a lock and a key on the mouths of some men who can’t procreate, but always tend to accuse their wives.

Risdoh & the creation of modern Cameroon

My great grand parents, who came from far away land were also called Brogota. As I have promised you long ago, this is now the story of Risdoh. She is a black African girl, from a predominantly black African country called Cameroon. Risdoh carried on her all the signs that, Satan is strong and also that, the bible is the word of God. It is from the day that I, Brogota, I set my eyes on the angelic figure, but devilishly malicious in her thoughts and intentions, that, I had to beg God to forgive me for all the doubts that, I used to have about him and his real existence. I also want to beg God to forgive me about the first short stories and the revelations on the behaviours of my ancestors toward him. God, that is, the God of those of us who are Christians, know that, we human beings, do sin regularly because, we are the descendants of Adam and Eve. I have also asked God in prayers to forgive my great grand parents, but I don’t know whether he will have the kindness to forgive them.

Well, it is from Risdoh’s mouth that I heard these words: A white man or nothing. But before I narrate to you the story of Risdoh, I first want to present Cameroon to you. It is a black African country located in West Africa. It is a black African country because, most people who live there are blacks and also because, on the continent of Africa, not every one is black. Cameroon is not the creation of Cameroonians because, there is no such thing like Cameroonian. For as I have been explaining to you, Cameroon means prawns and it is the creation of Europeans, before the White men came, there existed many nations living in what is called today, Cameroon. The only place in what is today known as Cameroon that had the same appellation of a country as White people have or think, was in the northern part. That between the 12 and 16^th centuries and several nations existed in the north of what is Cameroon and Nigeria, amongst them were the Sokoto, Borno and Adamawa empires.

Modern Cameroon was founded by the Germans, who had first e signed a treaty with the King of the Douala people by name Rudolph Douala Manga Bell and in 1884, at a Conference in Berlin, Germany, where Europeans sat to share Africa amongst themselves, the German ownership of Cameroon was confirmed. But since Europeans are envious, rapacious and greedy people, they started fighting each other again and in 1916, the Germans were driven away from Cameroon and in all other countries that they had in Africa. And therefore, Cameroon created by the Germans, went under the control of another set of White men. This time around, the French and the British and this made Cameroon to become two nations. One which speak English and the other that speaks French and the White men being what they are, they promised the two Cameroonians that, they will have their independence. For once, they (Europeans) respected their words, but in part.

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.

The Head ( part 6)

Instead, they held their heads in their hands and started begging their gods, by making sacrifices and other rituals. The gods of my great grand parents were nothing but animals, bird or trees in the forest. And in spite all the many gods that my great grand parents had, they (those gods) were unable to come to the aide of my great grand parents, when they (my great grand parents) needed them and this was very pathetic and disappointing. However, since the God of Christians is always so kind and forgiving, he nevertheless came to the aide of my great grand parents, especially when he saw that, their problems was crumbling them down. In fact, my great grand parents were worshipping Satan the devil, for he has this great unrivalled capacity to disguise himself and make people think that, he is the true God. Satan attracted my great grand parents because; in some occasions, he selected a few people amongst them and bestowed them with powerful super natural or mystical powers. These selected few, had the demonic power to transform things and other objects. It was such powers that, Nyoglifanda had, for he could transform himself into a leopard.

Some selected few could even transform themselves into crocodiles or perform some positive as well as negative things. During my great grand parents period, people or some selected few, chosen by Satan and bestowed with mystical powers could performs things that, today, many people will not believe. But since I know that, this world is governed by Satan, I am equally aware that, he can operate many things. But when the White men came, they brought with them the bible, which is a book that has the teachings of God. But it was first written by men with God’s inspirations and secondly via the teachings of God’s son Jesus Christ. In fact, the book called the bible is divided into two parts: the old and new testaments. As the White men came with their book, which thought us the teachings of God. It was discovered by my great grand parents that, many things written in bible resembled what they already knew and it may explain why, even though they liked to hear the teachings about God’s son called Jesus Christ, they never wanted to abandon their own practices.

My great grand parents continued to have their amulets and continued to practise their rituals, because, they were gods that they could see and speak to directly. My great grand parent’s own gods were not an abstract God, as it is with that of the White men. But as time when by and the White men who came were not leaving but developing tap roots, my great grand parents had a revelation and in that, revelation, the spirits of the great grand parents of my great grand parents informed them that, the strangers who had come into their land won’t leave any more. It also informed them that, the world has changed and their own world was about to change. Hence, it instructed them to follow the teachings of the White men. But the spirit added that, they (my great grand parents) should follow the new teachings of the White men intelligently, for the spirit asked my great grand parents not to make the new teachings which is Christianity, brought by White men act on them like rain water does to palm wine in a calabash. My great grand parents followed to the letter the instructions of the spirits, which were in reality recommendations from their ancestors.

Hence, while they converted into Christianity, they never abandoned their ancestral worship. But my grand parents were not as intelligent as their parents, for they fell into the trap of the White men and abandon their ancestral god and took the new teachings of the White men as theirs. Some became even more zealous than White men. And since they became more zealous, they threw away their amulets, they stopped having shrines and they got baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. As a consequence of my grand parents’ abandonment of their ancestral traditions and worships, they were instantly punished. Some were kidnapped by foreigners and taken to foreign lands.
They could not do any thing because, they had no protections, for they could not transform themselves into trees, snakes, crocodiles to escape or frighten off their aggressors. They were vulnerable since they had become Christians, for they had to pray to the God of the White men not directly as before, but through the son of the God of White men called Jesus Christ. And my grand parents recalled in pains that, although, their parents and great grand parents were not Christians and were therefore not worshipping the God of Christians, brought to us via the White men, they had a far better life. Their country which was Bassa and Bassa Badem land was peaceful. It was not called Cameroon, because Cameroon is the name given to the assemblage of countries that existed on this part of the world by White men. What is Cameroon? It the name of a river call river Wouri.

But since the White men came many raining seasons ago or according to their own counting, in the year 1472. They had large canoes, which were 100 times bigger than that we have always fabricated, and one White man, leading others by name: Fernao do Po from Portugal, decided to call our river, the river of prawns. And from that name, came the name of what is called today Cameroon. But even the White men in all their intelligence, don’t still agree on who discovered and decided to change the way we were living. Some say the year when our river Wouri became known as the river of prawn was in 1440 and those who gave her that sort of name was still a Portuguese. Well, they are arguing on the exact year, but what I can’t understand is that, they are also disputing on whom first reached on our land. Some claim that, it was a Portuguese by name Fernao do Po, while others claim it was another Portuguese with a strange name: Henry the Navigator.

Perhaps his mother knew that, he will like to go to other peoples land, hence she gave him such a name. But the real name of the other man disputing the discovery of Cameroon was: Henrique, Duke of Viseu. It appears Henry the Navigator was just the sponsor of the expeditions or the father. But Henrique, Duke of Viseu was born on March 4th 1394 in Oporto, Portugal. He was a Prince and the third son of King John I, the founder of the Aviz dynasty and of Philippa of Lancaster, the daughter of John of Gaunt. Henry encouraged his father to conquer Ceuta in 1415, the Muslim port on the North African coast across the strait of Gibraltar from the Iberian peninsular . Rio dos Camaroes or the river of prawns is a funny name, for how is it possible that a county be named after food stuff? And prawns are even small foodstuffs that are eaten by crocodiles and fish in water. Our country was called Bassa and Bassa-badem land and we even allowed the Doualas to stay on our land and we decided to go in land because, the Doualas had no place to go. But I suspect the Doualas brought us these White men, for it appears they liked and followed them like a fly follows rotten beef.

All this 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 of Bassa-Badem land, as also told them by their own parents. Because I can’t understand how people who did not fear God, the God of those of us who are Christians, can be better than us today, where Christianity has brought civilisation and hope for eternal life. 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 birds and other objects they considered as their god.

The Head ( part 5)

I will start my story all over. Why? Simply because, I have gone astray, but I think it was worth it, and you won’t get angry or even get lost. Look, within some nationalities in Cameroon, women are heads or command a lot of power and males or the husbands have limited roles. Their roles are confined to working hard and feed their respective families and defend their families from human and animal attacks. Hence I think that, even though we are Christians and are living in the world ruled by the style of White men, whenever there was a problem in our family; my father directed his anger not at us, but toward my or our mother. As far as we were concern, things had not changed as our ancestors had decided. We were walking on the tightrope that needed us to be excellent Christians, while also doing all we could not to renege on our ancestral traditions, especially as concerns the roles of males in the family structure. My or our father, also had another problem, he never knew our ages and whenever he took us to the hospital and whenever the nurse or the medical doctor asked him our ages, he told the nurse or the medical doctor that, if he/she could permit him, he can go home and ask our ages to our mother.

That was why, our mother made us to study by heart, the day, time, month and year that we were born, all this in an effort to spare my father of the regular disgrace. My mother considered that, it was a disgrace for a man not to know when his children were born. But my father did not take it that way, for he thought that, the knowing of ages and date/year of birth, were one of those things that, only women had the responsibility to know. My mother or our mother considered my father’s inability to know when we were born a disgrace. I like and love my father because; he is honest and very proud of my mother. My father always told me and my younger brothers and sisters or any other person, he saw or met that; my or our mother was behind his success. And it was true, for our mother was the accountant general and adviser of our father. Our mother was an extraordinary woman, a rare bird or the kind of women that Cameroon has almost lost today. My or our mother did everything with love and put us at the centre of her life.

I had always and will continue to love my or our mother because; she showed extraordinary love and affection toward us and toward our father. The strong affection and love that I have for my mother, I don’t think I can have same toward my wife. But I also think that, the love of a son toward her mother is a mathematical equation that is constant, for your mother will never in any circumstances let you down, but your wife can. There are many reasons why I love our mother besides the little I have mentioned above. But the first reason is that, the love that I have for my mother was nursed and fashioned out by my father. For how can’t I love my mother when my father or our father, spends time singing her praise? Because my or our father was full of praise toward our mother, some of his friends claimed that, our father must have been charmed mythically by our mother.

They said this because, there is a widely held notion in Cameroon and that, some people from the Nkam division and from Yabassi sub division in particular have help cultivate and nurse, which holds that, people from the Nkam were excellent mystics. It was a baseless claim and also a ruse sustained by people from the Nkam division, in order to gain influence wherever they go in Cameroon. Our mother’s only secret in the influence that she wielded over our father was that, she was honest and was also an excellent Christian. And because our father knew the secret, he confided to me that, I should pray God to give me an extraordinary woman who will be in the mould of our mother. The second thing and advice that our father put in my head was that, as a Christian, I must also married a God fearing Christian girl and the third recommendation from my father or our father was that, I must not hurry up in life.

I must observe the way any Christian girl I love dresses up and the kind of papers she read. My father also warned me not to read popular left leaning newspapers, for they are vehicles of immoralities. And all the advice I got from my or our father, made me to be different from my friends and I also think, it will also create me problems in our current world, where Christians and Christian values are not accepted. The way my father fashioned me out, made my relationship with girls frosty, for they considered me to be arrogant and insensitive.

And my male friends, especially those of my age, considered me boring and some even called me names. As I grew up, I also found out that, things were difficult with my colleagues at my work place and the only places, were I found solace and comfort were in my house, the Christian congregation or through writing, blogging, reading newspapers and the bible. Some times, my comfort came from Tennis courts and when I had my children, they became my other sources of comforts.

I considered all the difficulties that I went through as persecution and the price that, Christians had to pay in order to live in this devilish world of ours. More so, deep in my mind, I knew I was the first born and had the immense responsibility to be exemplary. I never wanted to give any opportunity to any of my younger ones to err under the guise that they copied of my wrong steps. Anyway, the rigid and conservative way that I was brought up and the code of conduct that my father gave me made me to have the kind of woman that, I have always wanted. She responded word for word to my father’s recommendations for a good wife and above all, she was at the image of my mother. This is too much already, I have presented myself to you and I am yet to tell you the story of Risdoh. In fact all what I am telling was not what I wanted to. But as you already know, and I am repeating it, this is all about the story of Risdoh. But before I bring you the story of Risdoh proper, I want to tell you a different short story again. I promise that, after this short story is over, I will narrate the life of Risdoh. As you now know, I am a Christian.

I was born a Christian and will die a Christian and my family are Christians. My grand parents were also Christians, but my great grand parents were not Christians. And I really do pity them, for I don’t how their own fate with God is. Are they in the good books of God? Where are they? Are they in hell or in heaven? But does hell or heaven do even exist? Will they be resurrected when God’s kingdom comes? I don’t really have any answers to all those or these questions. But one thing is certain, even though I don’t know my great grand parents, I love them and since God is a loving God, he must certainly have a plan for my late great grand parents. My Great grand parents were god’s worshippers, but most painful of all is that, their god was a false one. Their God I am very sure was made up out of a cocktail of several objects and completed with the inevitable works of carvings called mask.

And saddest of all was that, those things and objects that my great grand parents’ worshiped could not even help them in case they confronted problems, as they abound in the world. Most often, it is certain that, it was our own God, that is, the God of those us who Christians, who came to the aide of my late great grand parents. And worst, after our Christian God has helped my great grand parents, instead of thanking him, they will thank their gods made out of objects, courtesy ritualistic sacrifices. Because of the ungratefulness of my great grand parents, our God, that is the God of those of us who are Christians but who reside in heaven, will be very angry. And to manifest his anger, our Christian God will allow many bad things to happen to my great grand parents. But since my great grand parents could not understand the source of the entire malediction which befell on them, they never knew what to do to right their wrongs.

The Head ( part 4)

If I am not exemplary or act in an exemplary manner, that is, by waking up to read the bible and pray with my parents, my younger brothers and sisters won’t and my father in particular, will be sad to read the bible all alone. And that day, he will go to work without singing or whistling as he always does, whenever he is happy. I will be sad, my father, my brothers and sisters will also be sad. Why? The reason is simply because, we all love our parents. And whenever we fail to wake up, my father accuses my mother of spoiling us. I have always questioned why my father felt that, if we were refusing to wake up, it was the fault of my or our mother. But as I grew up, I began to understand that, as Bassa-badems, mothers are the central shaft of the family. This did not or has not changed even though we are Christians.

And Christianity puts the man as head of the family and prime law maker. In the Cameroons, or in parts of it, mothers are the owners of children and they are also the ones who control the family. But it is a sacrilege in other parts of Cameroon, for women, to wield the kind of power they have in the Bassa and Bassa-Badem lands. Even in these lands, the powers of women are stronger in the Nkam division and within Nkam division, amongst the Bassa-Badem land, than all over Cameroon. First, before elaborating on the story that, I want to tell you, because I made the promise, I will like to tell you a little bit more about the Bassa-Badem nationalities, that some Cameroonians and their White friends who have read a lot of books, still call tribe. The people of Bassa-Badem are in fact part of the Greater Bassa nation. And in the Bassa nation, there are many other nationalities who speak different languages from the real Bassas and the reason is because, since the Bassas left Israel, and started wandering down south, they have settled in many places that had other nationalities with their own languages.

This has influence the way Bassa is being spoken currently. And because some Bassas also wanted to create their own countries, they decided to change the way they spoke in order to appear different. And some times, it was a subterfuge to escape capture from stronger nations. Bassas are found in most parts of Africa. I understand that, they are also located in Liberia and in Nigeria, in the plateau state, and there, there is even a local government called Bassa local government. Capitals of two Caribbean nations namely: Guadeloupe and Saint Kit & Nevis are called Basse-Terre. Why? Simply because, most slaves taken from West Africa and settled there, were of Bassa nationality, thus the slavers decided to call those two capitals Basse-Terre. But most can’t speak the Bassa language any more because, the slavers vicious and malicious as they were, decided to mix up black Africans, in order to avoid slaves from the same region to foment trouble as a group of Congolese slaves attempted ones in the United States. I am going to stop here because; I have gone too far out of topic. But I want you all to know that, nationals of the Greater Bassa nations were not the only nationalities taken to slavery.

The other ones were the Igbos, the Yorubas and people of the interior Grass field, who are now referred to in Cameroon as the Bamilekes. But you have to understand that, all the latter nationalities had had their own nations and considered others who could not speak their language as foreigners. It explains why slavery was a success. But it was another group of foreigners who came and decided to create what is called today Cameroon or Nigeria. And in what is today called Cameroon, those who caught and sold the Bassas and the Grass field people known today as the Bamilekes, and who now speak either English or French, where the Doualas and Efiks nationals. The Doualas caught too many Bassas during wars and sold them to White people and when the Bassas started running into the forest, the Doualas followed them and discovered that, in the forest, there existed other nations known as the Betis and beyond them, was the Bamilekes. The Bamilekes live in an intermediate land called Grass field, but how they began being called Bamileke is a mystery to me.

But all I know is that, people who live in that intermediate region between the forest and savannah are called Grass field people. The Douala caught a lot of Bamilekes, because, their numbers were large, they were hard working and never wanted to fight or run away. The Doualas are a nationality who came from the former Congo kingdom. They ran away because, their former kingdom was at war. And as they came in their canoes, they decided to settle around the sea, mostly because, they were strangers and fishermen. Their friends were the Efiks who also were water people. They like fishing and because these two nations were near water, they had constant contacts with White people and got guns and other weapons that those in the interior never had. They were superior and malicious than indigenous nations such as the Bassas, the Bamilekes, the Betis and the Igbos. But in the Grass field, there existed other slaving nations; they were the Balis and the Bamous and Nso nations. The last two are in fact the same nations with different names. But the three are Tikary people.

While the Doualas were operating in Bassa and Bamileke lands, the Efik were operating in both Igbo and Bamileke lands and helping the Doualas to conquer as many Betis, Bassas and Bamilekes as possible in order to sell to their White friends. Today, the Efiks are found in Cameroon and in Nigeria, while the Doualas are only found in Cameroon and their cousins are found in the two Congos. Look, this story is too complicated. I will please want to stop. I wanted to tell you about the Bassa-Badem. As I was telling you, they are in reality Bassas, but since they left Israel when the Roman Empire destroyed Jerusalem, they have been wandering, and their languages have in the process been modified. That is why; you will discover that, there are some fundamental differences between the Bassa and the Bassa-Badem languages. The Bassa-Badem language also has own variances. Remember, if I have not told you before, the Bassa-Badem nationality is the largest in the Nkam division.

They are present in the three sub divisions that make up the Nkam division, namely: Yabassi, Yingui and Nkongdjock (route of the elephant). And as I have already told you, the Bassa-Badem language is different from Bassa-Bassa and within the Bassa –Badem language, there are variances. The way the Bassa-Badem language is spoken in Yabassi sub division, is a little bit different from the way she is spoken in the Yingui sub division, while the way she is spoken in Yingui is also a little bit different from the way she is spoken in the Nkongdjock sub division. The first Bassa-badem language or that spoken in Yabassi sub division, is closer to Bassa and Douala languages, while the second or that spoken in Yingui sub division, is closer to the Banen language and the third Bassa-Badem or that spoken in Nkongdjock sub division, is closer to Bang language and some Bamileke languages, such as Bafang.

It must also be made clear that, while the Bassas or the Bassa-Badem were caught by the Doualas and the Efiks and sold to White people as slaves, most Bassas and Bassa-Badems also began doing the same thing and that is why today in Cameroon, the Doualas (the master slavers), the Bassas, the Bassa-Badems and the Betis, who were first victims of slavery, consider the Bamilekes or people of the Grass field of Cameroon as slaves. In fact, all coastal nationalities of Cameroon think that, people from the Grass field are inferior, but while they are thinking of the past, the people of the Grass field have grown stronger economically and intellectually than people of the coast.

The Head (part 3)

Ndockpoh is a smaller village while Yabassi is bigger and she (Yabassi) is the capital of the Nkam division. Even though I am a Southern Cameroons and I speak and write English, and I am equally proud to be a citizen of the Commonwealth with the Queen of England as Head of state, I know where both parts of my families originated. It is very important for me. Now, in the village of Ndockpoh, people speak various languages. The dominant ones are Bassa, Bassa-Badem, Bang, Nyokonne and Bodiman. The people of Ndockpoh and the whole of the Nkam division have three religions: Protestant, Roman Catholic and traditional believes. And unlike other nationalities (tribes in greater Cameroons if you wish), in Ndockpoh and also in Yabassi, women are the ones who control the family. Their family structure is matrilineal or matriarchal. It is the same case with some Bassa nationalities in the Nyong and Kelle, Sanaga maritime and Wouri divisions located in the Centre and Littoral provinces of French-speaking Cameroon.

While the people of Bassa and Bassa-Badem nationalities in both Southern Cameroons and French-speaking Cameroon are matriarchal, most nationalities constituting the twin Cameroonian nations are patriarchal. In matriarchal nations, Children belong to the women as it is the case with the Bassa-badems or Bassas. Children whose mothers are from one of those two nationalities know that, they are Bassa-badems or Bassas. But it is not the same case with other nationalities in the region. The people of Ndockpoh and Yabassi claim that, women were the ones who served them and also that, only a woman knows the true father of the child she carry’s, hence, they own the child they bring forth, in order not to create disputes and conflicts in the village, in case the woman cheated, and also to maintain good family bond.

Nyoglifanda as I promised to tell you about, was a great hunter and famous. It was even rumoured that, the man claimed to be his father was not his real father or biological father. But he was fathered by the friend of his father because, Nyoglifanda’s real father could not bring forth children and in order to assure his ancestry and make sure that, the name of his ancestors does not disappear from the surface of the earth, when he dies, he asked his friend to help him out. Nyoglifanda grew up and assured his father by getting married and had children and his father died with his mind at peace. But he was hunter and was nicknamed the killer of Tigers and had a number of rings round his ears, indicating the number of felines he has killed. Nyoglifanda was a real male and he was needed in the village at a time when, felines strode into huts which were constructed with palm fronds and devoured people willy-nilly.

But felines ran away just as the sensed or perceived the scent of Nyoglifanda. He was so strong that, he killed some felines with his own hands. It was also rumoured that, the reasons why Nyoglifanda was that strong was because, he had inherited the totems of his two fathers: official and unofficial one. The official one had the totem of a crocodile while the unofficial had the totem of a leopard, for Tigers are not found in Cameroon or in the entire African continent. But some specialists of such science also claimed that, it was impossible for Nyoglifanda to be so powerful, if he was initiated into the supernatural sphere only by his two fathers. They claim that, children initiated by their father into the world of the spirits are not very powerful, because only women are tied to the child or children they carry, courtesy the umbilical cord. The specialists of supernatural science added that, only those initiated by their mothers grew up to become as powerful as Nyoglifanda was. Thus they argued that, the mother of Nyoglifanda must have had both totems or even had her own special one, which she passed onto her son at birth.

Some explained or justified their claims by pointing out that, because Ndibe (water), the name of the mother of Nyoglifanda, wanted to initiate her son, hence she gave birth alone in the bush and stayed there, for seven long days. The way Nyoglifanda put on his ear rings was not according to the abusive ways that some very weak males or some who are referred to as males don them today. But Nyoglifanda was born at a time when the White men came and most of what he wanted to do was banned by White men and White men also brought their own new styles. Hence when he discovered that any sort of male was putting on ear rings, he decided to remove his. For he felt it was an insult to him, his clan and his ancestors. Here, I will stop; I do not want to tell the story of Nyoglifanda, the famous Tiger killer of Ndockpoh and Yabassi any longer. Nyoglifanda was not only a famous hunter, he could transform into a crocodile and cross the Nkam river from bank to the other and even sail down to Douala, via the river Wouri. No, I have exposed a lot and I will truly stop here.

The story I want to tell you about is that of Risdoh. And before I could continue, the head of this story about Risdoh is: A White man or nothing. The other thing that I will want you all to know is that, I have suffered very much in my life and I have seen many things equally. What made me to suffer was that, I had long left my home, my parents, my village and my totems. I am therefore naked and vulnerable like Adam and Eve, when God created them in the Garden of Eden before they sinned and discovered their nakedness. And every night when I am sleeping, I keep on dreaming about my father, my mother and my totems keep on troubling me. The worst part in all these is that, I don’t know when I will take my eyes to see all those precious things I have lost. Now you all know why I said I have suffered and I am still suffering. Now get ready for the story of Risdoh. I have already told you that, the head or if you wish, the title of this story is a white man or nothing. I will repeat it, for that is how I have decided to call this story and you will understand why very soon. I am not drunk so please don’t even try to laugh. But before the story of Risdoh, this last little story before the big one.

You all know very fine or very well that, I don’t drink alcohol, because, alcohol and I, is like fire and water. The second always triumphs over the first. Should I take just a glass alcohol, music starts playing in my brain, even if there is no music playing. And when it starts, I must mange to go home and sleep and while going home, I make two requests to God via prayers. The first not to vomit in the taxi that will taxi me home and when home, I should not meet my mother by the door side or in the living room, waiting for me like a bouncer. For my mother’s nose is very sharp, the least pint alcohol in you, she scents it. And if God accepts my requests that day, I won’t confront my two greatest fears, when I reach home. I will therefore go straight to my room and dive on my bed without removing my shoes or my shirt or trouser.

In case God decides to play prolongation or decides to honour other pressing requests, as he receives them round the clock, after passing my two primary fears, my mother will come into my and starts talking and I hate that very much. But that is not good behaviour from me, but what can I do? I am tired. I will wake up in the morning not by own will, but that of my father. He will wake us up by 5:30 AM to read the bible and pray before preparing to go to school, for my father doesn’t worry getting us up that early because, he knows or thinks that, we went to bed by 7:30 am. At times, when I hear the marching feet of my father in the lobby, I get very angry and pretend to be deeply sleeping. But since I love and respect my parents and don’t want my father to start quarreling with mother that early morning, I will wake up. For if I don’t, my brothers and sisters won’t and the other reason why I woke up early to read the bible and pray with my parents was because, since I am the first son , I must be exemplary.

The Head (part 2)

But talented as stories tellers were, they were not popular with every one, for they stole fame from people who deserve fame such as hunters and soldiers. Another thing that created anger and jealousy toward story tellers was that; they created a new profession. For there were some people who after farm work, instead of staying at home with their wives and children, they start roving around from village to village in search of story tellers. Whenever the sighted one, they club around and listen to the story teller until he or she finishes and they will give their verdict as though they were very intelligent. These groups of errant men and women became popular to a point, where famous story tellers won’t offer a word, if they don’t see them around. One thing that particularly angers the others with those errant men and women who have arrogated to themselves the right to rule on the beauty, honesty and originality of stories was that, after deciding that, a story teller has respected the tripartite points needed for a good story, they will cheer or boo the story teller and worst ask for Palm wine.

Naturally they were so bright to ask for Palm wine not for themselves, but to others. They hide behind the crowd and claim that, those who have laboured to seat and listen will want to wash down their throats, a polite way of asking to be rewarded for having wondered around like the devil in search for some one to deceive. But whenever I think at those wanderers who wandered from one village to the other in search of those who have stories to tell, and also take upon themselves the responsibility or right to judge whether the stories were good or not, I compare them with the modern literary critics of the world the White men brought to us. In fact, I suspect that, even though we could not write or never had the trappings of White people, we nonetheless had the same things like the White men. The famous judge of story tellers in my village which is not located in Southern Cameroon’s was by name: Look-at-the-bush. Look-at-the-bush was a hard working man who had a small portion to farm on.

He was not married and had no child, many reasons to be regarded by others with suspicions. But he was not liked by the famous hunters and soldiers. Why? Because immediately he came back from the farm, he took to his heels and started roving or some famous story tellers came in search of him, because , Look-at-the-bush or in my language: Bonnkwaha had become an authority. He was even consulted by the king of Ndockpoh whenever he wanted to select a story teller to thrill his guests. Bonnkwaha is the one who added innovations in Ndockpoh and Yabassi even as far as Douala and Nsonglolo to story telling. In fact in the entire Bassa and Bassa-Badem land. He said a good story teller must also know how to sing and know the ancestral linage of the Royal family. That is from Jacobo to King Laban, the king of Ndockpoh. For Bonnkwaha always said a good descendant of Logyuda (as must tribes around Ndockpoh consider themselves), must not know only how to tell stories, he/she must know where he/she/they originated. His innovations sent most story tellers out of business and allowed most those of his clan. Well, I will stop here and focus on the story that, I want to share with you. But before stopping to give you the real story, this is another. In our village called Ndockpoh which is near a bigger village called Yabassi, there existed a famous hunter called Nyoglifanda.

Before telling you the brief story of Nyoglifanda, I want to situate where Ndockpoh and Yabassi are located on earth. These two localities are located in a West African country called Cameroon. But in Cameroon, besides the 240 nationalities or tribes as White people and other educated people like to call the aboriginals who live in Cameroon and in other parts of Africa, there exist two regions that speak two different languages: English and French. Ndockpoh and Yabassi are located in the French-speaking part of Cameroon in a province called Littoral and in a division called Nkam. Ndockpoh is a smaller village while Yabassi is bigger and it is the capital of the Nkam division.

The head

After a lot of contemplations on how to start this story of mine, that, most of all, I want to share with you; I still didn’t have a head for it. What is a head? Or what has a head got to do with a story? Some of you may have asked. And if you have asked such a question, then, I will conclude that, you are not a Southern Cameroonian. Ah, Southern Cameroon doesn’t exist, for the wise men and women at Turtle bay New York, which is the seat of the monster called the United Nations Organisation (UN), albeit with the complicities of Southern Cameroonian leaders and the British, decided to deny us an independent homeland. Now, I don’t want to write about politics, for when you start it never ends. But just know that, Southern Cameroons doesn’t exist. She died on the 1^st of October 1961. But since she was very important to our fathers and now to some us, I will tell you about it at some point.

In our Southern Cameroonian English, well, in our English-speaking Cameroonian English region, since Southern Cameroons in now part of greater Cameroons, whenever one wants to tell a story, the story must be complete. That is, it must have a head, body and the feet. In your Standard English or that which was brought and taught to our parents, who in turn pass it down to us, a story is ruled complete only if it has the introduction, the body and the conclusion. But since we are independent, I don’t always want to speak English or write it according to the British instructions; I received from my father then at school. But are we really independent? When in 1961, we or British Cameroon’s was to gain her independence by either reunifying with French Cameroon or integrating with Nigeria? Well, it is beyond me, I promised not to come to this political stuff at this stage of this story.

Why was I mentioning about the absence of a head to my story that I want to share with you? It is simply because in my country, Cameroon, when you want to tell a story, it must have all the three important parts of a human being. That is the head, the body and the feet. But we are not rigid, with story tellers in English-speaking Cameroon. That is, your story must not always start from the head to the foot. It can start as you want or have only one part. But you must know that, a human being that is not complete must have either committed a crime or his parents did not respect the traditions, hence God decided to strike them and their offspring. This simply means that, in case a story teller has a story that is incomplete and still wants by all courses to share it, the people will accept, but the story teller will have to pay. He/she, yes, women, always have nice stories to tell, especially when they are happy or if she is in love.

I was talking about payment for an incomplete story. The payment is at least 10 litres of palm wine. Our Palm wine is like your Red wine gotten from grapes planted in your vineyards. But ours in Cameroon is gotten from palm trees that grow in the wild in bushes. Palm wine is white and sugary, when young or newly harvested or newly tapped by a man called a Palm wine taper. But Palm wine turns sour or bitter as it gets older. Some people like it when it is bitter because it has fermented and the level of alcohol has grown or developed. Well palm wine is just like human beings. When we are young, we are always sweet and happy, but as we grow older, we become wicked and always find faults in everything we see.

The litre of palm wine is not a punishment but a reward to all those who laboured to listen to your incomplete story. However, if your story is complete. That is, it had the head, the body and the feet, you become an instant hero. He/she will get drunk of all the palm wine he/she will be given by the audience. If the story teller is a man, he will have many parents proposing their daughters for marriage and some married women making advances. And if the story teller is a woman, she will have many boys and men trooping to her like bees on the hive.

Introducing: A White Man or nothing.

Originally, I wanted to name this new blog of mine : A White Man or nothing. But it appears blogger doesn't accept the characters I wanted to use. This is not a stunt to annoy sensitive souls. Well the motto that I have chosen won't help matters, I know. But, I will make it known all the same. The motto of this blog is: The truth , bluntly exposed. Even though I enjoy provoking,presently , I was not.I simply wanted to give this new blog her afore mentioned name because, names have great significance and hence, I tend to be meticulous when it comes to naming ceremonies. This blog will be light but not frivolous, that is, as far as the topics to be handled there in will be concerned. More, this blog will reveal a part of me not known .. But why did I desire to give this my new medium of communications such a name mentioned above?

It is because, this blog will focus on a true story that, I have decided to serialize here on. The story is about the obsession of a French-speaking Cameroonian girl to get married to a White man. It is also about political corruption and the abuse of power. But getting married to a White Western European or North American, is a dream I formerly thought was the panacea of African girls, and in some occasions, with the tacit support of their parents. But in the course of my job, I have traveled the length and breadth of the world: developed as well as developing or refusing to developed regions. Strangely, I have come to discover with shock, I must confess that, the dreams of most French-speaking Cameroonians girls with their African sisters : black or white and as I said earlier and I must insist, that, in some occasions, with the support of their parents, is to get married to a White Westerner, that dream, is a dream or desire, also shared by most parents and their daughters in most third world countries around the globe. Why? Read the unfolding story to get your answer. But I will conclude this new post by adding that, traveling is truly learning. I have learned and discovered many things in the course of my traveling.