HUMAN SACRIFICES

Dear Moses,

I never read comments twice in the forum but I did this for your reply per human sacrifices. Many travelogues on Africa in the past were written with exaggerations out of all proportion so as to cause sensations and woo naive readers to buy those books. Also some men of God did that when they wanted to gain sympathy and supports for their adventures in Africa.  That was how they raised cash for their missions. Today some NGOs and even Unesco Unicef.. still do this to play on the sentiment of humankind and raise the needed cash. Remember the 'Dark Continent' of Henry Stanley the British born naturalized American journalist in central Africa employed then to work for King Leopold of the Belgian peoples? He popularized the phrase.  Was the continent really 'dark' literary? His dark stood for lack of information about Africa (see my work: http://vibanflagbooksinternatinal.blogspot.ca/2013/05/origins-of-africa-place-names-newly.html.) 

Remember the Dark Ages of Europe? It was too dark because there was no information about Europe to the rest of the world. 'Dark' had nothing to do with the color of African population, soil, flora or fauna as applied in the past to some parts of Africa. (Also, read my work entitled Origins of African Place Names (2009). Now we know but some jejune journalists still use that term today as their way to derogate Africa [as to some, what is light colored is better than what is black]. I will cite from Morel's Black Man's Burden (1923: 9) to further elucidate this point:

"The figure on my canvas [he meant his frontispiece with Africans carrying rocks on their heads-my italic] is the African, the man of sorrows in the human family....And the reason he alone is represented there is that the question of 'native races' and their treatment by the white races, centres henceforth upon the Black man, as the African is called, although few Africans are wholly black. The statement needs amplifying, perhaps." I have succinctly done this for you (supra). 

I would like to tell you that there is not a single community on earth that never practiced human sacrifices at one stage of their existence. It is even happening as you are reading this commentary! If you dig into the etymology of 'Britain' you will see that the Greek gave that name because of their savage sacrifices of humans. It was bloody, brutal, and merciless in those days. 

You will also see that in the past when some anthropologists or ethnographers were not putting sand in skulls of Africans and measuring the sizes of their craniums to determine their idiocies, they were coming forward with all sorts of bogus theories to substantiate their primitiveness. This is not fiction but go to their old journals and you will be shocked reading their 'scientific' findings. That was racism of naivety.  Do you know the reason? It was because they were neurotic and ever wanted to get something to prove that they were on top when everybody was the same. It was a common practice in the past when looking for reasons to  substantiate racial superiority of one group of persons over another that never was and will never be. 

If you are white it is because nature so loved you that it gave you that color to survive in the cold or temperate zones. If you are black it is also the love of Mother Nature, call it God that gave you that to enable you to survive in the very hot open air climes of the tropics. Your color or your shape has nothing to do with your intellectual vivacity or status as a biological being. We will be awry to confine this to these our brothers, some of whom have no clue as to the origin of man on earth and how all of us are related to one another and emanated from Mother Africa. 

When it comes to economy and survival, some persons on earth could put others down so as to have the lion's share of the cake. There are men who have put women down in the past and even as your are reading this so as to ride them like donkeys,lackeys. Many still do at the time of writing in the Middle East, Africa and in other communities even in North America. Why do women not get the same salaries as men even when some of them work harder than men? It is sexual discrimination just for some men to sit on top as they had done before. 

Do you know that apartheid masters preached that you blacks were so inferior and cannot even govern yourselves. I remember Mr. Ian Smith the UDI Prime Minister of Rhodesia, now Dzimbabwe (correct spelling) called Zimbabwe said that in a 1000 years no African would rule that country. It might have been his attitude that framed the mind of old President Robert Mugabe to have the feeling that if he gives up power the Northerners will return to dominate Africans, Southerners again as in the past.  To Mr. Smith, they were not fit as they were inferior. Are you all that inferior? How long did it take the Greeks to figure out the democratic government? Who were the first teachers of Greek philosophers whose doctrine influenced the Western thinking? Africans! How long did it take Europe to wipe out imperial dictatorship vestiges of which are still extant?

Some sacrifices still take place today we call mercy killing, euthanasia. It is sometimes sacrifices as the offering of people on gods' alters in the past some of which we read in the Holy Bible. Many of you did not long ago when tasting the first yams harvested in SE Nigeria and there are still isolated killing of albinos or others for their parts to be sacrificed to gods to achieve certain things in life in Tanzania, East Africa. These peoples have made the earth their heaven and are not convinced by any counselling or religious doctrines as Thou shall not kill of the Ten Commandments. 

I once read a story of mercy killing that most of you do today called euthanasia or abortion. It was the killing of a sick aged Indian, you now call "First Nation People". The father of these two Indians in Hudson Bay was ill and the men dug his grave and put him in it and strangled him to death with the use of rawhide pulled from opposite directions. When he died they covered his dead body with dirt. Past stories of this genre from SE Asia, Africa and South America will make you consider the killing today of those they consider as not sympathetic with them by the infamous ISIS, Boko Haram, Al Shabaab, Al Qaeda as a child's play. What of your Nazi killing during the Second World War in attempt to weed the world of inferior peoples: Jews, homosexuals, the intellectuals, the physically and mentally impaired, etc.. and have a super Aryan race. Many were gazed or destroyed by other conceivable ways many of you know if not read the well researched and Britten work of Roberts Weistrich: Hitler and the Holocaust (2001) with the only critique being that he did not compare the sacrifices of the Jewry with those of  Africans during the Slave Trade and Slavery. Those were human sacrificed

In the modern killing we euphemistically call euthanasia, injections or tablets are given to accelerate the death of a person who rather than commit suicide themselves, die naturally opt for a rotten medical person to perform that act for them. In another case that happens every minute on earth a live fetus is killed as weed or parasite from parents, women who do not want to bring such children up for all sorts of reasons. We call this abortion. Literally millions are killed that way year in year out for economic, health, family planning and other reasons beyond the scope of this missive. The defenseless fetus is sacrificed so that the mother can be free from economic hardship or responsibilities or remain youthful and still have dalliance, voluptuous bliss. She is applauded by some family planners who defend her that her body belongs to her and she could do anything she wants with it. That is their definition of human right. Others applaud as abortion helps to reduce what they see as overpopulation of the world with less food, water and wealth to go round, an archaic doctrine of Malthus when technology of food production and others were still at their infancy. To them, reduction of global population by such vice which they do not accept as vice, evil gives man quality life. Remember that to them, the world is Heaven and after life on earth there is nothing else but worthless speculations. Agnostics even subscribe money to trumpet this message on your ears on international media. That is freedom, human sacrifice of those who believe that after their death life ends and that there is no Heaven or even God. They are soulless peoples, they believe.

Still in the case of the Hudson Bay tribe referred to above, they would  also eat their babies rather than to starve to death as reported in a book called Le Voyageur Francais in 1748. Let me not go far, in 1884, two sailors Dudley and Stephens were shipwrecked off the British coast because their ship was blown away from their trajectory and were away for 24 days and they ran short of provision. They were eventually rescued by another passing boat. They had had with them a little skipper boy whom they decided to kill him to eat rather than to starve to death. When they were rescued they gave their account of the missing chap and were arrested and prosecuted to be hung. There were outcries from the British public to release the men. The case landed on the desk of  Sir William Vernon Harcourt Esq, a Cambridge trained no-nonsense public lawyer who was then the Home Secretary of the UK Government. He would not yield but owing to formidable pressure the men were not hung and lived to die a normal death but in prison. To kill another innocent persons so as to save your life is what the two sailors did and what many do today to fetuses they do not consider as living things. Are we allowed to kill others so as to live? That my 'amicus' was and is human sacrifice. 

You will see that biologically a rat is the same as a man and an elephant but would a man stand on a rostrum to tell those creatures that he is better than them? That is what some Caucasians  did in the past. Remember before they actually believed that if you were fair-skinned you were more of a human and better off than a dark-skinned person. Were they right? It did help them to exploit mercilessly dark-skinned peoples as slaves who gave some the wealth they are luxuriating in today. It is now history and we do not want to exhume the bitter past if not when the dark-skinned person would have their turn no one would be safe on earth. The hatchet has been buried and sealed with concrete.  Now that we know that color of the skin is nature's way of protecting us based on the latitude we are in, do we still believe that our color is superior to that of the person next door or in the other continent? Hope you have been reading Dr. Thomas Ozoji's write ups, you will learn more particularly the piece he wrote to refute Dr. Watson's allegation that Africans' (black people's) IQ was low. Such a person will say that President Barack Obama's IQ is that of a maverick. Thanks for the good piece.
 Viban Viban Ngo.



Date: Friday, 23 January 2009
From: Moses Ebe Ochonu


I am a little confused. Are we discussing human sacrifice as actual acts of ritual or power or as a discursive category of othering? I fear that we are not approaching the issue methodologically and raising questions about how and why human sacrifice was/is an appealing rhetoric of othering--operationalized by both Europeans and Africans. Does the fact that human sacrifice make cameo appearances in art, colonial discourse, and local legend answer our inquiries on the subject or should it raise new methodological concerns about how this rhetoric is deployed and why and for whom discourses of human sacrifice function.

I am not suggesting that human sacrifice qua human sacrifice is not a historical or anthropological reality. But how do we separate the prevalent discourses on it, found everywhere in the colonial library and in colonized African legends, from actual acts of ritual sacrifice that perhaps deserve a separate analytical examination.

I have encountered several colonial accounts and claims of head hunting and its supposed association with certain African groups. But on close examination, most of these tales emerge as familiar, convenient ethnographic renderings of that mysterious, unsearchable zone of African symbolic life, the aim of which is to simplify African universes and render them in a lexicon that suits European cultural palates and legitimizes colonial social actions. Indeed, the colonial ethnographic desire to "know" everything about African colonial peoples produced and helped fabricate social practices and universes that would appear strange even to Africans that are purportedly associated with them.

At the same time, I have confronted African tales and legends--collected, of course, by the etymologically hegemonic colonial ethnographer--that advance fantastic tales of head hunting and human sacrifice. The Africans who told these stories were often using them to curry favor from colonial anthropologists by confirming prepackaged Eurocentric perspectives on them and their group. They also advanced these legends to pad and burnish their masculine resumes, hoping that that would position them well in a colonial system obsessed about working with strong African men. For their part, the colonial ethnographers they had what they wanted--a reaffirmation of standard narratives of African otherness.

Everyone went home happy, so to say, and we contemporary scholars are left to clean up and sort out the methodological mess, trying to sift through strategic colonial social communications and the realities that they purport to describe or analyze.

I urge that we guard against being seduced by the mere existence or prevalence of sources--secondary or primary--on human sacrifice in Africa so that we can ask the right methodological questions of this corpus of human sacrifice writings.

Are you as thrilled as I was listening with open mouth President Barack Obama's inaugural speech. I have appended it here for you dear friends and readers.

OBAMA: My fellow citizens:

I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because we the people have remained faithful to the ideals of our forebears, and true to our founding documents.

So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land — a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America — they will be met.

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted — for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things — some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.

For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.

For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.

Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.

This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions — that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act — not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions — who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them — that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works — whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account — to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day — because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control — and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart — not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our founding fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort — even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus — and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West — know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment — a moment that will define a generation — it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter’s courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends — hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism — these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility — a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence — the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed — why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

"Let it be told to the future world ... that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet (it)."

America, in the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

4 of 5 A Comprehensive Review of AMERICA THE RACIST? by H Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Viban Ngo, PhD

AMERICAN THE RACIST? Vol. I. By Herbert J. Harris, Wilmington: New Paradigm Publishing, 2008, 168 pages, ISBN 0-9748362-5-7 For other details of this book: where to purchase it, etc, visit www.americantherracist.com.

A Review by Viban Ngo, PhD, FRGS. Today when I come across incidents of racism, call it racial segregation, my back is spin-chilled and my memory races to one infamous racist leader known to most of us. His rhetoric dominated by racist attitude and doctrine of hate of the so-called inferior races triggered the Second World War (WWII). The war caused untold lost of millions of lives, damages to property and hitherto many are still paying in cash and kind. There is no end in sight. He was an Austrian called Adolph Hitler. After the First World War in which he was badly injured, he became obsessed over the domination of Jews who had permeated all walks of life in his native Austria and Germany. He attributed the defeat of the Germans in that war partly to the Jews. Consequently, he concocted all sorts of bogus theories against them as substandard vagrants whose miscegenation with the native Germans, folkish ways, and philosophies they called religion (Judaism which he disputed) and control of Teutonic economy for their selfish benefits. He advanced that if Jews were left unchecked they could prostitute and debase the blue-eyed Aryans who were the chosen people and bearers of culture. In his personal account Mein Kampf, he heaved all sorts of vituperations against the Jews and other non-Aryan races. As such, he poisoned psyches of decent Germans thus preparing the way for the eventual pogrom of the Jews, gypsies, homosexuals and others by the Nazis and their cohorts during the Second World War. Hitler remarked that South America could not be productive and advance intellectually as North America because the Spanish conquistadors had engaged in sexual debasement of their own race by engaging in intercourse with native Americans the outcome of which was an inferior class of people we now call the Latinos. He continued that North America then predominantly peopled by pure Anglo-Saxon and Teutonic races was ideal and for that reason were to maintain their dominance over other races, in inventions, productivity and retain their intellectual vivacity in all fields and walks of life. Let us purse and ask this question: Who is a racist? A person who discriminates against another based on his or her race (sex and color), who a rational-thinking man will consider as myopic or impromentis. Racism is the false belief that ones own race is inherently superior to others. The departing point is that no one has ever created him or her, not to talk of deciding which race, color or gender he would like to have. All are created by God in His image be they Caucasians, Africans or Mongoloids, the three prototypes of man on earth. Therefore in a levelheaded world, there is no podium where one can stand to proclaim that his race, color or sex is better than that of others. He or she cannot be loved, disdained or punished for his or her race for it is not his or her creation. How can these racial attributes concern Harriss newly released book, America the Racist? and the reader? Harris is talking of racial discrimination in the USA that was instituted by Caucasians some 500 years ago as a tool in the exploitation of African Americans and peoples of African descent for their economic benefits. This is still negatively affecting the vast majority of African Americans of all walks of life in the USA. Hitler we earlier saw, without any shred of scientific underpinning was naively glamorizing that racial segregation in North America and by insinuation the maltreatment of native African Americans who to him and other Christian Caucasians were inferior barbaric people vis vis Aryans, Caucasians. As in Germany during the Second World War (1939-1945), in North America, the clamp down of native African Americans in their places by the whites, and their stoic stance to maintain that status quo led to a bloody civil war (1861-65) whose wounds still rankle today in nearly all fabric of the USA. The history of racism that had been eating the heart of America thin is clearly elucidated in this timely book America the Racist. Herbert J. Harris is of the opinion that so long as racism remains in the psyche of America, her claims of moral authority will be hollow and disingenuous. Knowing the evil and harm racism could do to any society, any work that positively discusses racism and how it could be resolved, should be digested by all to know the raison dtre. Racism has caused so much pains and death in the world and should be stamped out from all decent societies at all cost. If one reads between the lines Hitlers open animosity of the Jews, and people of color, after the German lost of the First World War (WWI) [1914-1918], he attributed to the lack of patriotism of vagrant Jews and others, one could have inferred and even prognosticated the gross outcome, the purification of the Teutonic races that was to follow. If one had read too between the lines the hate that was coming from the mouths of the Hutus in Rwanda against the Tutsis since the 1930s one could have predicted too precisely the massacre of the Tutsis by the Hutus that took place in 1994. Harris takes the recent event, Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans (2005) where the vast majority of African Americans were victims and the government was sort of apathetic, lackadaisical in coming to their rescue as evidence of racism that was still rife in the USA. The author then questioned where there was that liberty for all in one nation under God. He had forgotten that the founding fathers in 1776 had not included the black man that was then considered just up to four-fifth white and could not reason like them. Should they now be considered as equal to other races when that the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments had been promulgated? People rarely change as the leopard will never change its spots even when it grows old. The Caucasians of Southern USA, particularly those of erstwhile Confederacy who were predominantly Christians strongly believed that Africans who were captured and brought in chains from Africa in galleons to work for the Christian whites Americans were just not real human beings and were very close to animals. Some nearly believed that they had no souls. Consequently, they were treated as uncouth horses that had to be domesticated by their white owners employing drastic methods that were used to handle captured wild horses. It was believed that the domestication was to be thorough if not the partially domesticated as any wild animals African Americans were to be dangerous to their property owners. Therefore, the untamed African and his family had to be broken down to submission using all available physically and psychological tools at their disposal. On this project, Harris vividly analyzed, a Briton slave owner was invited from the West Indies to instruct the whites in Southern USA on how to subjugate their African slaves, property. This man was called James Lynch from which is derived the infamous cognomen or five-dollar word, lynching. Herbert J. Harris put verbatim the homily of this infamous racist Briton that was used as the regulations by all whites in their maltreatment of African-American slaves, niggers. Readers have to be warned that any sensitive person reading this citation that struck terror in their heartsput new thoughts into their wooly heads is likely to burst into tears and ponder upon what on earth African Americans did so wrong to the Caucasians to have undergone such torture not only for one year but also for over four hundred years. Among many others, they did not allow families to be built; men and women were branded and bandied as goods, sodomized and raped. They could be bullwhipped to nearly the point of death to exercise

BBH VISITED

BBH: Visited

(Banzso [Panso/Banso] Baptist Hospital or Bui Baptist Hospital)

Dr. Viban Ngo's Digest Vol. 1, No. 1.

"The Native Administration Cottage Hospital which was situated at the present site of the C.B.C. Primary school in Kimbo’, was purchased, for a token amount, and taken over by the Cameroon Baptist Mission in April 1949."

This quotation is from William Banboye’s book details of which I have copied below for review purposes only.

A statement was made stemming from a private letter I sent to Tav Martin Jumbam, one of our key contributors. I was not refuting anyone’s version concerning the BBH. Every contribution is welcome however great, however small and however beautiful and ugly. What I was querying was that it was not substantiated as most oral tradition, hence my citation of sources that could clarify the matter.

Did it clear doubts? Yes as confirmed by sundry including my learned Blaisius and particularly Baa Simon Tar who have clarified the involvement of Nkambe in their write ups. By virtue of this, I cited the works of Dr. Dieter Lemke MD, a Canadian physician cum pastor who worked at the same hospital and wrote a splendid memoir on his achievement upon his retirement. If our netters have forgotten it, let me reiterate: The title of that work is Man No Be God published in 2001 at New York. My conjecture is that one can have a copy at the Press Book Shop, Bamfem ward of Kumbo, Limbe (Victoria) or Bamenda. If you want to see the illustrations that accompany this book, Google this book title but there is no e-copy. The hardcopy can be bought or borrowed.

The issue here is that the hospital could have gone to Ndu or Nkambe. I did not query that but let what I have added throw light on the origin of the BBH at Kumbo.

Prior to Lemke’s work, must of us still remember him for his love of football and motorcycling, I had also read a well-researched biography of Fon Mbinglo by Shufaai woo Bastos, Prof. Dr. Dan Lantum: Fon Nso’ Sehm Ataar (1947-1972) in which this particular establishment is mentioned (p. 41). He had previously discussed this with me and I also had a smattering of another confab with Dr. Bernard Fonlon. Dr. Fonlon’s version to me is interesting He mentioned to a Dr. Johnson, a Briton then working at Nkavkeng who paid a visit to King Mbinglo and stated that he was lonely and was peremptorily given a wife by the Fon of Nso’. That is interesting but I don’t want it to be a digression. Interested persons can dig it out for it will tell of the other doctors who served prior to Dr. Chaffee.

Further more, there is oral tradition as Tangka’s rendering. However, we are privileged to have a better version intended for elementary pupils by Mr. William Banboye with dates and names and what Baa Simon Tar added today December 22, 2008. If the Viya or Wimbum people (Not Nsungli as that means chatterer and does not augur well with them) have their version, which is still good we need underpinning. But I will hate to feel that we took what would have been rightfully theirs according to the oral tradition that launched this debate. We can look at all the versions and see which is authentic. It does not necessarily mean that the reporter or the message is wrong. However, I will complete my citation for those who cannot get this book of Banboye at the end.

I met Mr. Banboye, a kind educationist in 2003 whose passion was then the preservation of Nso history and language in their pristine forms prior to his death at his residence, Tobin Tourist Home with two other colleagues. This man with a wealth of Nso’ knowledge discussed a lot with me particularly the crowning of Mbinglo as Seem III and the Ndzendzev debacle that Fai Woo Lii Wong documented as an eye witness in his booklet: The Ndzeendzev Dispute: From its beginning to its ending published in 1999. Banboye’s book Introduction to Nso’ History is a must-read for all of us and interested readers. Although it was geared for elementary and general readers, it provides the basis for Nso history and this can be confirmed by members of the Nso History Society and experts like Paul Mdzeka. I am not saying that Nso and its Neighbours by Langhee, Prof. Fanso and Yaa wo Nso’ Goheen are not useful. It is of another genre. All articles there must be read too if one is interested in writing the stuff as written by Prof. Dr. Claude Tardit on the history of Bamum. If we do not write it aliens will do so and we will start grumbling that they had distorted our stories.

BaNso Baptist Hospital (BBH) entrance today (2015). The love of God and that of American Baptist Christians brought this hospital to Kumbo, then British Southern Cameroons. 

I wish all of us could read Banboye’s book so as not to be distracted from crucial planning issues in which many of you have been making substantial contributions and we are grateful. By emphasizing on this, I am not trivializing this subject matter and the fact that the hospital could have gone to Ndu or Nkambe. If documented, we need not repeat it over and over unless we have stumbled on some vital material that we want to add. What should occupy our minds now are the planning and development projects that are badly needed in our Kingdom. Nso’ must advance with time and people should not retire at Bamenda or other coastal cities because they would not return home for lack of basic amenities.

I would start with the brainstorming over the establishment of Kumbo University and the standardization of Lamnso orthography and its teaching at university level. People have PhDs in Hausa Bakwai, Ndebele, Shona and Kiswahili to mention just a few. What is wrong with Lamnso that Banboye called for its teaching a long time ago and had a well-led out grammar such as A Guide to Lam nso Orthography (1981); Basic Lam Nso Vocabulary (1992); and Lamnso’ in Diagrams to mention just a few for those who want to learn to speak and write it? Lamnso’ is so simple that mastering 2,000 words of it and its grammer, similar to Germanic languages you can speak it fluently. I will tell you that no non-Lamnso speaker can pass through St. Augustine’s College without speaking it.  It is not crowded with definitive articles but by simply altering the prefix of a word gives it a plural or singular formation. It is simple and sonorous as non-native speakers often tell me. Some of you have lately added other characteristics that it sounds like Russian or Polish. I will tell you that those two languages sound like Lamnso’ because the Nso were the first on earth before those peoples. Remember this when you look at the emigration from Africa of homo sapiens. 

· Still on university, the Americans recently started the American University at Yola that is attracting plenty of Nigerian students. Why can’t there be another American University at Kumbo blessed with its temperate climate, staffed by Americans and Nso intelligentsias? What of asking the Canadian Government to set up one there too at Tadu. That government gave the man of Kumbo its first pipe-borne water. There is an American University  in Lebanon that used to be so hostile to the Americans and even hitherto, one in the UK, Egypt and one in Geneva, Switzerland. I am not dismissing the Himalayan…Mouamar Ghadaffi Univ, usw. They could be there for the balance portfolio of education of Nso’ Kingdom and their neighbors. In my previous missive, I urged for caution over the euphoria of Mohammed Gadaffi’s university. I sympathized with Fr. Tatah Mbuy as it could be a Trojan horse or another Wanyeto in our fable to come and get the siblings of monkeys and fool their parents that they were playing yonder.

Truly we are desperate but Gadaffi cannot give us a university without getting some thing in return. On that note, I cited the case of the Yola University, (see my write up cited by Tav Martin Jumbam) that it was founded at Yola as a means of promoting Islam, short and simple. Mouamar Ghaddaffi is simply a smart Baranyam. He had scanned and found out the dynamism of the Wira Nso’ and their growing population as other missionaries did in the past and it could be a good base for leapfrogging to other localities. It is true that our King took that initiative to make a personal request but if he was from a tiny ethnic community, we do not think that Libya would have looked at him. It is because our King wields power in the region as Ngonso had done in the past.

· Then we have rural electrification using hydro and I was amazed at people converting motor starters and channeling tiny creeks to generate power which they stored in batteries or use directly at homes in Nso’ to preserve their perishable food, prolong their evenings, watch TVs and so on. Many are reporting one at Kingomen and it should be encouraging http://kudoc.org/projects/hydroproject.htm. I would like to personally thank Hon Joseph Banadzem, MP for putting his hand on that project.

· Nso’ is windy and this natural resource could be tapped too. A lot had been written on this on intermediate technology. Also solar cell energy that can generate several megawatts of electricity is an old operation in Southern Africa and vigorously promoted now in rural Nigeria where power supplies are not there or are intermittent.

Kumbo Water Association's water tank is outlived its initial capacity. The population of Kumbo Central is approx. 150,000 inhabitants and this is not enough 

· What am I still missing; the OK Kumbo Water supply that is helping rural area with pipe-borne water and is presently at the two Mbokams in the south of the Kingdom. Special thanks to the Rev. Sisters of Kiyan who go to North America each year to raise funds for this project. It is the way forward in a state of a state where waiting for the government to develop amenities is interminable. It has taken 50 years since Southern Cameroons independence for part of its road to be tarred. Well, it will take another 50 years before there is rural electrification or have a solid university. That is a waste a human rights abuse if we do not know. The Kumbo water supply is still using asbestos pipes originally from Canada, thanks to Dr. Bernard Fonlon. The old pipes could be a time bomb if the network is not upgraded with plastic or still pipes. We have toyed on this before and I do not want to at the moment. All boils down to lack of funding. I am forgetting the improvement of roads to the market and other issues that we have to take one at a time. You could see it from the broad smiles on readers’ faces when Major Njong and his co-workers brought in road graders that started work on the Squares to Tobin road. More streets need to be built and old ones widened. In fact Kumbo should have a ring road around it and where possible a recreational parks and a buffer surrounding it where there are not houses, but vegetation. These will be good for the environment and orderliness of Kumbo City which us perhaps one of the cleanest in the former West Cameroon apart form Victoria-Limbe,  Wum, Bali and Muyuka. 

Again on what stirred this comment, the BBH has its archives but I am not sure that they will be proud exhuming documents to show the Viya-Wimbum (not Nsungli) were the prime candidates for the BBH before it was taken away. Tar’s write up states this clearly. Why do we provoke the Wimbum people when they do not interfere in our affairs? Bila ngiri ngwaa boo wu nuu bve’ king? The Nso did not mourn when the Divisional Office first went to Nkambe instead of the populous Nso. They are not regretting it. Peter Wame who accompanied Fr. Emonts to Nso in 1912 would have been mourning that the first Christian church should have been established at Babungo. The priest had already made up their minds from their head office in Germany. Would the Bungos blame Wira Nso’? No.

St. Elizabeth Hospital Shisong whose foundation goes back to the days of the German Priest of the Sacred Heart in 1913 has got archives too for those who are interested. We have got so much in the pipe line and the way it is going as lengle-er, we will soon run out of steam before the foundation is laid. We do not have shortage of sources but that of researchers. It takes more than commitments for scholars like Dr. Goheen, Yaa Nso’ to make their contributions and support of Nso’. We can emulate her and a lot will be done.

Also, some of the eye witnesses of the establishment of the BBH are still extant as Shuu Fai Prof. Dr. Lantum, Yaa woo Vikiiy Elizabeth O’Kelly, the Second Education Officer at Bambui in Nso’ in south England, Papa John Bah of Bamfem, the council documents (NA), as musty files are languishing there for people to read and take notes that could be digested and summarized into papers or books for all of us to read. 

For those interested in planning of Kumbo, the thesis of Mr. Lawrence Jumbam lying at the University of Yaoundé is a must as it set precedent as the works of Dr. Phyllis. Kaberry and Mrs. E. M. Chilver.

I believe that we are not turning down anyone’s contributions. It is a democratic forum and we need to say what we heard or know for posterity. If one rectifies what had been tabled or states it through another member for other reasons, be it that he or she is coy as alleged, it does not mean that his or her valid point cannot be taken or corrected if it is deem wrong or shoddy. If I have said what is tabooed let the seers tell me and ask me for check-able references.

If one asked for the sources of information, one is not challenging the veracity of the speaker or his or her freedom to speak but merely ensuring that all is correct for documentation. It must be categorically stated that what is made on this forum is recorded for eternity. Therefore, there should be no philandering unless it is intended as a joke then state so, as Ms Ann Ngong whom we are glad is back and will soon open her arsenal of jokes.

You will be amazed at how many persons read our messages particularly foreign ethnographers and social historians who are hungry for information about our magnetic Kingdom and its uniqueness in West Africa. Indian, Chinese and Japanese scholars for their countries are soon going to be the new wave of colonialists in Africa. They are coming our strongly and are devouring anything African as never before. So watch out.

Let me go to my source as I promised at the very beginning cited verbatim from Mr. Banboye in that his introductory history of Nso’:

“Rev. Gebauer was the brain behind the coming of the Baptists to Nso’. The history of the Baptist Mission in Nso’ is tied up with that of Banso’ Baptist Hospital and Rev. Gebauer was influential in establishing both.

“The Baptist church in Kumbo was established by Rev. Paul Gebauer as Cameroon Baptist Mission Field Secretary and Dr. Leslie Martin Chafee the first Doctor of Banso’ Baptist Hospital who was the first missionary in charge of Kimbo Baptist church.

The Native Administration Cottage Hospital which was situated at the present site of the C.B.C. Primary school in Kimbo’, was purchased, for a token amount, and taken over by the Cameroon Baptist Mission in April 1949. The take over of the Cottage Hospital logically gave birth to the Banso’ Baptist Church. There was dire need for the Doctor’ family, missionaries, nurses and other workers and patients, to have a place for worship. There was no Baptist church in Kumbo’ then.

Banboye continues, “Prior to the purchase of the Cottage Hospital, it had been partially closed and only one nurse was left to function with one Pa John Bah. The doctor from Bamenda came once a month for two days to conduct clinics.”

Again Banboye elucidates:

“But when the newly bought Banso’ Baptist Hospital started functioning, the medical needs were so great that the Fon of Nso’, Seem III (Mbinglo) who was barely two years as Fon, sent word to the North American Baptist leadership that his people needed a doctor, that does not sleep. The request met with a favourable reply and Doctor Leslie Chaffee arrived as the first Baptist missionary doctor. Both Rev. Gebauer and Dr. Chaffee were enthusiastic about the founding of the first Baptist church in Nso’.”

I would be grateful if one could point out to me where I have minced my words by stating that the BBH was initially bought. I would also be grateful if members of the audience could tell us where in this world the Nsungli (my Viya to be politically correct) is mentioned by this methodical writer, Mr. William Banboye. Did they offer to buy the cottage hospital and take to the then Nkambe division? No!!! Where do we fit in this? It is true that most of the staff were Baptist from Ndu area that would not make us assume that it was initially intended for Nkambe. The administrators were not biased. They employed Papa Bah a protestant and some Catholic christians that I know.

PS: We hope that this topic is belayed. Now, did you know that Dr.Gebauer was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by our then Queen Elizabeth II in 1960 for his hard work at the BBH? Lastly, I am urging "Banso Baptist Hospital" place name to be changed to Bui Baptist Hospital to move with abreast with time since we do not like the colonial “ba” prefix to our Kingdom for reasons I have in my private missives discussed with some Shundzevites. You will agree that we no longer write West Cameroon State since our apparent surrender to Cameroon Republic. Banso is anachronistic, outlived its usefulness with the chasing out of the Germans after their defeat during the First World War (1915-1918) who imposed that prefix with the help of other tribes. It should be scrapped. Also, you always correct someone when they misspell or pronounce your name. You do not discard your correct name and the way it is pronounced for what foreigners likes to call you. You correct them. We rather be called Ngonso, the name of the Foundress of the Kingdom rather than the imposed BANSO. That is what the proponents of BANSO, BANZSO, PANSO as variously rendered, imply.

Viban Ngo, PhD. FRGS, MLA, (Shey Ngwerong)

Addenda

Dear Martin,
I have been thrilled by the excitement generated by the supposed Kumbo University, President Moumar Ghaddaffi is alleged to be offering to Kumbo. Prior to this, I was researching on a similar topic that was intended for the city of Kano , Northern Nigeria in 2000. I looked at the intentions not long ago and asked a close friend at Kano to take pictures of the said university under construction that surfaced in some Nigerian fora. That was three months ago. Till now, I have received nothing. I think he wanted me to look it up in Google World. Then I did not know that such a thing could knock at the doors of impoverished Kumbo. As one netter commented, it could be a Trojan horse in the Greek mythology. Now I am reading such variegated versions and I think that it is a cry for a special www site for the Wir Nso' (my Nsonites). If such were to be, as that of www
Foumban, the moderator would ensure that news of this caliber is obtained from our Fon's secretary who accompanied our sovereign right to Tripoli and not based on rumours. It could then be publish on that site. Also, it is the place of the Libyan Embassy at Yaunde (Jaunde) to put the records right. It does not take long for someone to pick up a receiver and phone up the press secretary of that mission to know the truth. We are just wallowing in conjectures and this is not good for us. [NB: the politically correct version is non-Christian believer (others call it disbelievers) and NOT pagan. That term is outmoded. On those frowning and being apprehensive, I saw last year a newly completed walled-varsity at the southern suburb of Yaoundé not far from the Yaounde-Duala bus terminus built by a Bamileke. If such could be allowed, why not a KU provided it has not strings attached? It does from what you will read below. Then the rider comes. Did the Nso not allowed the Koran to be buried in Nso Palace in spite of objections from Father Arnold Kerkvliet]. However, if the intention is to be as outlined in the appended article of the Post Express of May 6, 2000 concerning Kano University, then Fr. Mbuy et al. may have reasons to fear. Do we have to replicate Jos at Kumbo? Thanks for listening. You may share this with our Profs at YU.
Viban

#1

Post Express
Category: News
Date of Article: 06/05/2000
Topic: Libya to Build Islamic Varsity in Kano ...
Signs N30b contract
Author: Bassey Inyang, Kano
Full Text of Article:
To further promote Islamic education in the country,
the Libyan government, over the weekend in Kano,
signed a contract of $300m (N30 billion) for the
construction of an Islamic university in the city.
The $300 million school is to be known as Moumar
Gaddafi Islamic University, Kano, a name borrowed from
the Libyan strongman Col. Moumar Gaddafi. Addressing
newsmen in Kano over the development, the Director

 of
the World Islamic Call Society (WICS), Mr. Mohammed
Ali, said his organization is handling the project on
behalf of the Libyan government, adding that the
school project would be financed from the "Jihad Tax"
paid by Libyans.

Ali disclosed that the decision to set up an Islamic
university for the propagation of the faith in Nigeria
was informed by one of the five pillars of the faith
which provides for the prosecution of a Jihad (holy
war) to spread the religion, first championed by Holy
Prophet Mohammed."Whatever we are spending is from the
pocket of the Libyan people called "Jihad Tax" it is
one of the Islamic pillars that you have to do it with
your money or through any other means" Ali, who spoke
through an interpreter stated.
According to Ali, the idea behind the university was
to ensure that the Islamic knowledge was preached
throughout Nigeria and other sub?Sahara

 African
countries.
He stated that the idea behind the university was also
aimed at checkmating the influence of European
imperialists in Nigeria and Africa at large, adding
that at the fullness of time, the project will
facilitate the formation of the United States of
Africa (USA).
Ali said the move by Gaddafi to propagate the teaching
and learning of Islam in Nigeria was not new as the
leader of the Jamahariah was only following the
footsteps of his forefathers who helped in bringing
Islam to Western Sudan. Ali, who also spoke on the
conflicts in parts of Nigeria as a result of the
introduction of the Sharia said the conflicts were not
borne out of the Sharia but external forces from
outside the country who were bent on splitting
Nigeria. He asked Nigeria to resist foreign powers
with all resources at their disposal so as to keep the
country united.
Ali disclosed that the WICS was enjoying

 every amount
of support from the Kano State government and the
Federal Government as well, saying "President Olusegun
Obasanjo and Gaddafi are very good friends."
The Gaddafi University which is to be cited along
Gwarzo road in Kano city, will be constructed by
Messrs AG. Ferrario Ltd.
The school will cover all landscape of 137 hectres,
and will teach all conventional subjects ranging from
medicine, sciences, agriculture, engineering, arts and
a host of others.
The contract papers were signed on behalf of the
construction firm by Mr. Constantino Ferrario while
Mohammed Ali signed on behalf of the Libyan
government.

Viban Ngo, PhD is the writer of Before You Leave For Europe and North America: A Rough Companion Guide for African Students (2007) and Shadows of Fire (2007) a novel that examines the clashes of Nso’ traditional and Western values; the works of traditional doctors, the role of the royal families in a love saga with settings at Kumbo and Dzekwa. Recommended for won Ngonso, the 'foundress' of Ngonso (Nso') Kingdom, as there are expressions in it that vimbang find difficult to comprehend. 

Reaction to IF YOU WRITE BANSO', YOU MUST WRITE MUNSO

Dear Dr Viban,

I read with great pleasure your delighted reflection. I found it very interesting and scientifically important. I learn many things from it not only linguistically, but also historically and anthropologically. If you are to publish it in a review, please keep a copy of this review for me. I will quote the text with references in my future assignments, because it inspires me some ideas to develop later especially as what regards the conquest of the Nso’s land by the Germans.

Coming to the content, the analysis you did to come to the conclusion of the preservation of minority values are relevant. How do people continue to think that they have the right to subject others and reduce them to silence under the pretext that they are the most civilized? I agree that we are still being colonized and I wish another phase of decolonization to start. We are in the illusion when we think that we got our independence. I think that you know the books of Fr Jean-Marc Ela who just died there at Vancouver or Montreal last 25^th December. He withdrew himself from the country into exile flying the assassinated power of Yaoundé after Fr Mveng’s dead in 1995. He is the father of African liberation theology. He wrote many books to defend the right of African Churches and African people to develop their own values without harassment in Le Cri de l’homme African (African Cry) , Ma foi d’African (My faith as an African) and other sociological books. I’m thinking that I will continue on his steps of finding solutions for our liberation because God created us for our salvation that is not only eschatological but also actual. The Gospel is the Good News for the oppressed people. Our Lord defends them against crushing powers (Cf Lk 4: 18-19). His mission was to give them hope and means to reach it. Everywhere the Church is, it makes effort to teach people in their home language and the theology of inculturation which is in vogue today in African Churches seeks the way to exploit as far as possible our cultural values to announce the Good News. You are going on the same way and I think that the effort to sensitize the scientists to precipitate the step for the lifesaving of our cultural inheritances must be intensified. We are not only to claim the right but we must start to produce in our home languages fascinated things able to attract our people combining our school’s knowledge in different domains with our traditional tools. School should no more be the cemetery of our cultures as colonizers thought long ago. They are to be transformed as tools to toil the soil for the development of our cultures. I wish governments or associations like the UNESCO to award scholarships to young generation for studies in the purpose of promoting our home languages, our cultures and values. They can also organize prizes to promote fascinated traditional literature, plays and films that can challenge the foreigner’s ones which aim to alienate our youth and deform their mentality.

But the effect of colonization continue to affect us deeply so much so that people will call the person who thinks like us crazy. You know that up to the name of the capital of our country Yaoundé is found nowhere in the Beti’s language. Prior to the colonization the place where our capital occupies today was called Ongolo. Some people thought that maybe Yaoundé would have been the misunderstanding of Ewondo by the white man, Marchand, the French or his wife, who wrote it for the first time. But the gap between the two words is very great.

As for the using of BA before the name of tribe or people I would bring a little correction. The prefix BA is the plural form of MU. Some Bantu languages have vocabularies that are formed of classes which are like declinations in Latin, Greek, or German BA is like French form les or des. Kiswahili has 6 classes, Kikongo and Lingala 5. They are also found in many of our dialects in Cameroon but unfortunately I have studies my linguistic in Congo. Three classes are commonly used in many bantu languages.

Class Mu (sing) and BA or PA (plural) this is commonly used for animated beings. For ex. in Swahili Muntu (sing) – Bantu (plural) = Man - Men; L’homme – les hommes

Lingala and Kikongo- Moto – Banto

Europeans heard many Bantu people using it and they thought that all Bantu used Ba to design people of. For example in my village they would have asked, which people are your neighbors and my people would have answered Pa Fussap that means The= (plural mark or les in French) Fussap= and they would have understood Bafoussam. They mistook twice by using it for the land and the inhabitants of this land. But they used the same form for singular and plural while in Bandjoun the singular is Mue Fussap, Bafoussam’s child (man) and plural Poa Fussap = people of Bafoussam.

Mu in the Bantu linguistic is the diminutive form or the singular of. It comes from two words muana that means child, or moko (Lingala, Kikongo) or modja (Swahili) that means one. Lamb for example is muanakondoo (Swahili), Muapata (Kik. Ling.) Mudjudju in Bandjoun. It’s different from mwasi that means woman or feminine.

So the Bantu languages are not concern with the gender, Masculine –feminine. So we have nothing to do linguistically with the fighting of the feminism, because only our family name gives distinctions between masculine and feminine. We use the same word to say brothers and sister with few exceptions of some languages which underwent for a long time Arabic influence like Kiswahili. Kaka (brother), Dada (sister). They are forged words.

Another common class is KI or LI the plural remains the same. They are used to differentiate the language from the people or the territory. People of Kongo are Bakongo while the language is Kikongo. Bainglesa (English people), Kinglesa (English language)

Thank you very much to have given me this opportunity to reflect a bit.

See you soon

PS. I add to this one text I wrote upon the origin of the word Bamileke.

Le nom « Bamiléké » est d’origine récente et ne figure pas dans le vocabulaire des peuples dont il est question. D’ailleurs, ces peuples n’avaient pas idée d’une quelconque unité qu’ils formaient. Les Allemands les désignaient par « Grasland » et les Anglais, par « Grassfield ». Autrement dit, le territoire herbeux, car c’est la haute savane qui recouvre la région. Le terme anglais va s’imposer dans les dialectes petit à petit, « Ngelafis » en Ewondo, « Glafi », dans les patois de l’ouest du pays, tandis que dans les langues européennes, il va être abandonné au profit du terme Bamiléké, que les Européens sans doute croient plus original. D’où vient alors ce nom Bamiléké ?

Plusieurs hypothèses ont été émises depuis le temps de la colonisation. Nous allons nous référer à quelques trois empruntés du professeur Emmanuel Ghomsi.

Il reporte premièrement la version du chef de Foreke (Dschang), Matthias Djoumessi, mort en 1966. Il fait venir le terme de la langue Dschang où MBAT signifie montagne et LIKU, savane. Ce qui revient à dire qu’étymologiquement, Bamiléké signifierait « montagne herbeuse », terme qu’auraient employé les habitants de Dschang. M. Ghomsi trouve inadéquate, car MBA chez les Bamiléké et les Dschang compris, veut dire « les gens de » et LIKU en Dschang signifie plutôt trou, ravin et non savane.[1]

L’hypothèse la mieux partagée est celle qui raconte que le mot Bamiléké serait né de l’interprète Muyenga (originaire de Bayon, esclave du chef Manga Bell) qui accompagna le premier Allemand, Zintgraff arrivé à Dschang en 1889[2] en provenance de Bamenda ou de Bali selon les auteurs. Des chercheurs comme le R. P. Stoll et A. Raymond cité par Delarozière, la partagent.

Selon le R. P. Stoll, linguiste spécialiste des langues Bamiléké, le nom dérive du Dschang, MBALIKU qui signifie les gens du ravin, du trou. L’Allemand ou son interprète n’avait pas au départ remarqué le M devant le BA. Sans le M, le Dschang dirait BA ou PA, préfixe pluriel. LIKU, substantif de la troisième classe signifie, ravin, trou, cuvette, gorge, dépression. Le pluriel est MELIKU. L’interprète a bien noté ME, mais a corrompu la fin en confondant les voyelles. LI est devenu LE et KU est devenu KE.[3]

Quant à Lucien Geay, dans une lettre qu’il écrit à Mme Dugast en France le 29 mars 1944, il pense avoir déterminé avec exactitude l’origine de la parole Bamiléké à partir de la position géographique de Dschang. Le mot d’après lui dérive du Dschang « MBULEKE » qui indique la position géographique du pays compris entre les Monts Bamboutos au nord, Fongdera à l’ouest, Fontso-Fomopea au sud, Bafoussam à l’est. Cette cuvette appelé LEKE se montra au premier Allemand qui venait de Bali par la montagne et à l’interprète qui l’accompagna de la désigner sous l’appellation MBAM’LEKE qui signifie les gens du trou.[4]

Bamiléké, dans ce début, aurait donc désigné seulement les gens de Dschang. Puis, le terme s’est étendu à tout un ensemble de peuples des hautes terres de l’ouest Cameroun qui gardent un trait culturel et une organisation socio-politique identiques. Le terme au fil des ans ne fait que s’amplifier pour englober les peuples environnants. A partir de la décennie 1980-1990, apparaissent les termes « anglo-Bamiléké » et « Bamiléké pur sang » d’une connotation plus politique que socio-culturelle. Par ailleurs, dans certains milieu au Cameroun, tous ceux qui descendent de la chaîne montagneuse de l’ouest sont appelés Bamiléké. Ainsi, l’appellation est étendue au Bamoun et à tous les anglophones du Nord-Ouest et les Mbo du sud-ouest. Qui ne sut se borner ne sut jamais écrire, disait Boileau. Nous allons nous borner ici aux Bamiléké Francophones qui ont les premiers bénéficié de cette appellation dont les limites géographiques de leur territoire sont circonscrites par la rivière Noun au nord-est, la plaine de Mbo et le Nkam au sud –ouest, la zone anglophone à l’ouest, le département du Mbam à l’est et celui du Nkam et la dépression du Diboum au sud.

Ce territoire est divisé en chefferies indépendantes les unes des autres, le contraire de ce que nous avons vu chez les Bamoun. Il n’y a pas de langue commune, chaque village ayant sa langue. La culture est la même partout ainsi que l’organisation politico-sociale. C’est tout cela qui rend la réalité Bamiléké complexe, une cohésion sociale et une organisation rare à l’époque sous les tropiques mais qui montrent en même temps une diversité de singularités. Leurs origines ne sont pas très bien connues. L’archéologie révèle que déjà à l’âge de la pierre taillée les hommes ont habités le territoire qu’ils occupent. Toutefois des historiens s’accordent avec la tradition orale que le grand flot des populations est venu du Noun repoussé par les Bamoun vers les 16^e -17^e et même les 18^e et 19^e siècles. Par vagues elles se sont installées les unes après les autres commençant par les Baleng, puis les Bafoussam, les Bandeng, les Bapi… et par détachements, certains groupements ont donné naissance à d’autres villages. C’est le cas de Bandjoun et Balengou qui seraient fondés par les Baleng. Si les migrants ont rencontré sur place d’autres populations, ils les ont aussitôt absorbés sans conflit et probablement ont même adopté leurs langues selon le professeur Ghomsi.

Chaque chefferie a à sa tête un chef tout-puissant qui jouit du respect de sa population. Toutefois, il est loin d’être considéré comme un dieu même s’il a des droits sur les hommes, la terre et les biens à en croire Bernard Maillard :

Initié aux arcanes mystiques et politiques, il (le chef) devient de par son être et par son agir une puissance à laquelle nul ne peut prétendre. Toutefois, fort de cette reconnaissance, il sait combien il est important pour lui de négocier avec ses conseillers et tous ceux qui de par leur fonction, lui sont proches.[5]

Le chef donc ne décide pas seul la plupart de temps. Il a un conseil de 9 notables et deux ministres plénipotentiaires (mwala’a) dit ministres d’en haut et ministre d’en bas. On peut adjoindre aussi les sociétés secrètes dont il est considéré comme membre de toutes. Parfois ce sont ces sociétés qui recueillent les doléances de la base pour faire parvenir à la chefferie et servent aussi de canaux qui véhiculent les décrets et les messages du chef à la population. La succession est dynastique et chaque nouveau chef est initié aux arcanes mystiques et politiques appelés « La’a kam » où il est investi de force de volonté.

L’habitat est dispersé, chaque famille vit dans son champ qu’elle exploite. Le Père Héberlé note : « Le Bamiléké aime sa terre, s’y accroche, la cultivant jusque sur les pentes abrupts… Cette terre qu’il chérit, l’homme la protège des convoitises étrangères par des fossés, des haies et des clôtures ».[6] La famille est étendue et inclut les oncles, les tantes, les belles-sœurs, leurs enfants ; non seulement les vivants mais aussi les morts. Les défunts sont considérés comme des protecteurs des vivants. Le système matrimonial présente des traits patrilinéaires et matrilinéaires. Ainsi, « la femme est toute puissante quand elle est héritière dans la famille nobles, souveraine absolue si elle est reine-mère … ».[7] Mais cela ne voudrait pas dire que toute jouissent des prérogatives. Certaines sont des simples objets d’échange. Le mariage est dotal mais la femme n’est pas la propriété absolue du mari. La polygamie prévalait dans ces années 1920 parce qu’objet de prestige et besoin d’une main d’œuvre abondante. Beaucoup de missionnaires vont mal voir le traitement réservé aux femmes. A en croire le P. Héberlé :

C’est la femme, véritable bête de somme, qui cultive avec la houe ancestrale et rapporte la récolte en hottes ou en paniers. L’homme se contente de construire les maisons, d’édifier les clôtures, de bricoler, de palabrer et de courir le marché tous les jours de la semaine… Il est le Seigneur qui trafique et boit le vin de bambou et de palme.[8]

Dans ces années 1920 où les missionnaires SCJ vont sillonner le Grassfield, à peine la colonisation avait à peine touché la surface des traditions comme nous le verront par la suite. Mais il faut noter aussi qu’elles jouissaient d’une structuration qui leur a permis de s’enraciner dans l’homme Bamiléké, raison pour laquelle elles résisteront à toute tabula-rasa. Les Allemands venus de Bali avaient commencé à explorer la région en 1889 comme nous avons vu. Peu de villages ont résisté à leur pénétration. Ceux-là ont appris à leur dépens ce qu’était la brutalité des Allemands, car ils furent sauvagement détruits. On peut citer entre autres, Batcham, Bazou, Foréké-Dschang. Par contre ils sympathisèrent plus avec les populations ou les chefs qui ne leur furent pas hostiles : Bandjoun, Bangangté et Bana.

Le 15 février 1910, les Allemands créèrent deux circonscriptions dans le Grasland : celle de Bamenda et celle de Dschang avec un district qui a le siège à Bana. L’administration allemande fut rigoureuse avec les travaux forcés qui faisaient parfois périr plus de la moitié d’ouvriers surtout pour la construction du chemin de fer et les plantations, mais ils laissèrent des infrastructures florissantes. Ils prévoyaient acheminer le chemin de fer jusqu’à Foumban en 1920 transitant par Dschang. Des axes routiers que vont emprunter les missionnaires existaient déjà au pays Bamiléké. Ils avaient découvert l’importance du commerce dans cette région peuplée et l’habileté de ses habitants en la matière.

Le Bamiléké a l’amour du travail et du gain, chose qui étonnait les européens parce que rare sous les tropiques. L’explosion démographiques va les pousser aux flots migratoires à partir des années 20-30 dans le Moungo, Douala et progressivement Yaoundé et ses environs où ils vont se mettre à même concurrencer les européens dans le commerce et les plantations. Voici comment le Père Héberlé décrit ces migrants du Grassfields :

Sorti de chez lui, le Bamiléké, d’abord manœuvre ou camelot, grâce à son opiniâtreté, à son sens inné de l’économie et du trafic, à la solidarité absolue de ses congénères, s’élève rapidement. Il fait crédit aux Mbo et devient possesseur de leurs meilleurs terrains. Un paquet de cigarettes, une boîte de sel ou d’arachides, quelques noix de kola : il s’installe commerçant avec un capital. Bien vite, il évince les concurrents même Haoussa ; son activité menace les Syriens et les Grecs, inquiète les Européens…il réalise de grosses fortunes, ouvre des factoreries avec succursales, accapare le transport et le marché aux bestiaux. Bientôt, il sera exportateur et importateur.[9]

Le Bamiléké est foncièrement religieux même si cet aspect va échapper à l’œil des premiers missionnaires. Le nom de Dieu, « Si » « Se », « Nse », est florissant dans ses expressions. Des noms théophores aussi abondent chez eux et expriment soit la reconnaissance à Dieu ( Ghom-Si – paroles de Dieu, Puo-Si –don de Dieu …), soit l’abandon à Dieu (Getschwe-Si – je pleure à Dieu, Nu(e)-bi-Si –tout est à Dieu). Il croit à l’Etre Suprême au-dessus de tout ; Cye-po (le dépassant des hommes ou le « au dessus des hommes », c’est-à-dire, le trancendant) qu’il vénère dans les sanctuaires et les bosquets. Bernard Maillard écrit : « L’être suprême « Si » est omniprésent en tant qu’horizon ultime de toute expérience religieuse et mystique. Par le fait même, il se démarque de toutes les entités définies ou indéfinies qui peuplent le cosmos ».[10] Mais le Bamiléké est plus versé dans le culte des ancêtres, « Mfessi », qu’ils considèrent comme plus près de lui dont jouissant de leur protection. Il conserve dans sa case les crânes des ancêtres sur lesquels il fait des libations pour demander protection.

---

[1] Cf E. Ghomsi, Les Bamiléké du Cameroun. Essai d’étude historique des origines à 1920, (Thèse de Doctorat de 3^e cycle), Paris 1972, p. 9

[2] Le professeur E. Ghomsi parle de 1910, mais nous pensons que c’est une erreur, car en 1905 presque toute la contrée était soumise à la colonisation allemande. Nous tenons la date de 1889 et les noms des protagonistes d’un fascicule titré, La cathédrale de Bafoussam 1925-1975, sous la direction du Père Albert Geissler, P. 12-13.

[3] Cf E. Ghomsi, Op. cit , p. 9-10

[4] Ibidem, p. 10

[5] B. Maillard, Pouvoir et religion. Les structures socio-religieuses de la chefferie de Bandjoun, Peter Land, Bern / New-York, 1984, p. 50.

[6] G. Héberlé, Op. cit. p. 4

[7] E. Mveng, Op. cit, p. 240

[8] G. Héberlé, Op. cit., p. 4

[9] G. Héberlé, Op. cit., p. 3

[10] B. Maillard, Op. cit., P. 172