A Weekend in Foumban

I’m sorry it has taken me so long to put this update up, but as my time with GHAPE is coming to a close, we are working really hard to get everything done. This week has been another exhausting and fulfilling week. But you’ll have to wait till the next post to hear about all that.

Last weekend, a bunch of us went to Foumban, a town about 3 hours from Bamenda in the Francophone West Province. As soon as we got to Bafoussam, a larger town near Foumban where we were staying, there were bakeries, croissants and baguettes everywhere. Even if they weren’t speaking French you would know you had crossed into a new province. I will not get into all the details about the difficulties I faced getting a bus, or the lovely new American friends we met who really seemed to be trying to make a difference here, as those negative stories detract from the excitement and interesting cultural festival we experienced in Foumban.

Here is a short history of Foumban and the surrounding area of Bamoun (stolen from Wikipedia)

History of Foumban and Bamoun:

During the 18th century, the kingdom faced the threat of invasion from the north by Fulani and Chamba warriors. By the end of the century, Bamum had perhaps 10,000-12,000 within its domain. The History and Customs of the Bamum list ten kings between the founder and Kuotu. The nine kings that followed Nchare are not remembered for anything special. They were not conquerors, and territorial expansion did not occur until the reign of the tenth Mbum in the early 19th century. Mbum Mbuembue. King Mbuembue was the first ruler to expand the Bamun Kingdom. He was also famous for repelling an attack by the Fulani in the early 19th century. Mfon Mbuembue also took steps to fortify the capital with the construction of a trench. He was the founder of the amblem of the Bamun people, characteristic of their capabilities to fight in two fronts and win both at the same time. He represented the Bamun people by a snake with two heads also known as “Ngnwe peh tu”.

German Colonization

The Bamun kingdom voluntarily became part of German Kamerun in 1884 during the reign of Mfon Nsangou. During his reign, Bamum fought a war with the Nso. By the end of the conflict, the king was killed, and his head was carried off by the Nso. Immediately after, one of the king’s wives, Njapdunke, took over the kingdom’s government with her lover Gbetnkom Ndo`mbue. We have to remember that this Gbetnkom above was not the Mfon as there was another Gbetnkom who was the son of Mfon Mbuembue the great conqueror. In fact after the death of Mfon Mbuembue, there was no male heir to inherit his trone; so Njapdunke took over for sometime, but fail to represent the king. She was then removed and it was thought that one of the king’s son Mbetnkom was at a village called “Massagham” for treatment. he was then brought back and became Mfon Mbetnkom. Mbetnkom was a short man, a dictator and use to order to shop off the legs of those who were taller than him. A practice that finally cost his life during a hunting training session. After his death, his little son, Mbienkuo succeded him yet was too young to rule. It became a habit for him to wanting to know who was his father amongst the people who were taking guards behind him. His court led by Ngouoh became doubful and thought the boy may eventually learn that they are the people who killed his father. Mfon Mbienkuo was carried away and killed in a place called nowadays “Mfe shut Mfon mbwere”. Now the trone remained vacant for sometime and Ngouoh, the leader of the court ultimately became Mfon, but unfortunately was not a decendant of king Mbuembue. He was a Bamileke slave. Ngouoh was not welcome by his subjects and decided to move the palace to his own location. Mfon Ngouoh was later chased away after a fierce fight between him and the followers of Mbuembue. Nsangou, a grand son of Mbuembue became king.

Njoya the Great

Eventually King Njoya, son of the slain king, came to power. He was one of Bamum’s most prolific rulers and ruled from approximately 1883 to 1931. He voluntarily put his kingdom under the protection of German colonial power and was responsible for modernizing certain elements of Mbum society. In 1897, Njoya and his court converted to Islam, a decision that would affect Bamun culture long after Njoyua’s death. He invented the Shumom script so that his people would be able to record Bamum’s history. In 1910, Njoya had a school constructed where the script was taught. Germans were allowed to set up the Basel Mission at the capital of and construction was undertaken to build a temple. A school was also built, staffed by missionaries whom taught in German and the native language. The Germans also introduced new housing construction techniques while settling among the kingdom’s inhabitants as farmers, traders and educators. King Njoya remained loyal to his German overlords who in turn respected his rights as king and consulted him on colonial business. Another important element in the kingdom’s history during the period under German protection was the introduction of sweet potatoes, macabo and other new foods, which helped the kingdom become more prosperous than ever. The Mbum were able to trade outside their traditional borders, and the income greatly improved the standard of living. King Njoya was greatly influenced by the missionaries who denounced idols, human sacrifice and polygamy. In response, Njoya cut back on royal excesses. Nobles were allowed to marry slaves and those of the non-landed servile class. The king, however, remained unconverted to Christianity. In fact, he merged some of the tenents of Christianity and Islam with traditional beliefs to create an altogether new religion more palatable to his subjects. In 1906, Germany sent an expeditionary force against the Nso backed up by King Njoya’s warriors. After the victory, the force was able to reclaim the head of Njoya’s father, which was crucial for legitimizing the king. From then on, the bond between Bamum and Germany was unbreakable. When Germany was besieged on all sides during the first World War, Bamun steadfastly supported them until the bitter end when they came under the more repressive rule of the French.

French Colonization

In 1918, Germany’s colonial possessions were divided up between France and Great Britain. The kingdom of Bamoun thus fell under repressive French rule. In 1923, Njoya was deposed, and his script was banned by the French

My blog continues here:

After arriving in Foumban, we were unsure where to go exactly, so we followed the crowds of hundreds of people walking up and down the main street. Along the side of the main road were small craft shops and meeting huts for different tribes and groups. Once we arrived at the top of the road, we saw the stadium was off to the right of us; there was a walkway blocked off—presumably for the sultan (which apparently is different from the Fon), and the parade of people to come through. We tried to make our way to the front on one side of the blocked off walkway. As we pushed further up we began to realize we weren’t going to get too far. People around us started telling us to go around and seemed to be pointing to the other side of the walkway. We decided to walk around, but when we went to cross the walkway, we were ushered through the blocked off area.

They must have thought we were important for some reason, because we were gradually ushered towards the front and finally reached the entrance into the stadium where guards and security blocked the gates and held people back. After a great deal of confusion, we realised the security was ushering us into the stadium to sit on the ground in front to watch the ceremony. There were five of us and we tried to casually and quietly sneak in while the sultan/fon was speaking without too much disturbance. As soon as we sat down, the group behind us started yelling at us in French and other languages. So we got up and began to move further into the stadium center, attempting again to sit in front of a group that this time was much further back. I am quite sure that we were not blocking their view; however, within seconds we were being chased by a tribal wacko that had a whip and a stick. He was whipping Kat and hitting me with his stick. At first I was scared and was on my feet rushing Heather and everyone away, but as soon as I realized what was going on, I couldn’t stop laughing. Kat and I were giggling so hard when we sat down in front of some German tourist looking group. They yelled at us too, but they didn’t have whips or sticks, so we decided to just stay low there.

The Sultan was giving his speech on what he had done in the last two years and what people could expect to see in the next two. None of us were really listening or following, but we did catch the Obama reference as he shouted “Yes We Can!” haha. After his speech we were able to see some of the performances. I will try to get the videos up soon. Some of the tribes, like one with large baskets on their backs, just walked and sang solemnly through the crowd. Others were a bit more vibrant. One such tribe put on a short fight with machetes followed by guns. After seeing the small lead bullets they use for Cry Dies, I was somewhat worried being twenty feet away from all these shots going off. I started getting a little worried about the bullets coming down just as a man right in front of us fell to the ground and began rolling while still shooting his gun. I jumped, through my hands over my head and even closed my eyes I think. The video I was making at the time is quite funny, it really looks like a BBC correspondent film from some war zone—no, just a cultural celebration where some white girl freaked out. It was pretty funny though.

We spent the remainder of the day searching for deals on masks and other handicrafts. At one point we were in this handicraft center with all these small little shops. There was a boy standing in the center of the courtyard and whenever someone came out and couldn’t find the others we would just ask him “ou est les blanches?” and he would point to a shop where the whitemen were attempting to strike a deal. As Marcy and I were waiting for Kat and Heather, we started talking to a couple of the shop workers. One of them was willing to trade his sweet hat with random little beaded braids coming out of it for Marcy’s sunglasses—would have been a great trade in my eyes. Haha. For Marcy of course. Another guy was trying to buy my glasses off of me and using all the whitemen tactics to lower prices as I used all his phrases to keep them up—telling him I had to travel, myself, to the village to get these items. He thought it was pretty funny.

We came back to Bafoussam that night and had a cosy sleep with 4 of us in one bed (again, pictures and videos to come soon). Even though we were all exhausted, Marcy and I didn’t sleep too well. It may have had something to do with the fact that there was a nightclub across the street playing music till past 5 am. The trip back from Bafoussam was quite quick and we stopped at a waterfall on the way to take some photos.

Once we arrived back in Bamenda, Kat, Heather and I went to their place to hang out and eat some lunch. We went with their professor Lynn to visit the home of a woman whose mother had just suffered a stroke. Kat and Heather work as Occupational Therapists at the hospital in Bafut. After that, we went to a “Born House”—essentially a baby shower. The father was blind, as were many of the guests. We tried to leave early so we could meet Loveline, who was preparing achu for dinner for us. Unfortunately, the wife would not allow us to leave without eating. She literally shook her finger at us and gave us a guilt/death stare. So we asked if we could share a plate (which as expected was enough food for a family of 5). We attempted to eat as much as we could while drinking our orange fantas. After finishing eating and presenting our gift to the household (a weird little pack of plastic bottles and bib—Heather is to blame for that one…), we rushed to catch a bike to get to my house to meet Loveline.

We were late for dinner, but food was about the last thing I wanted. We three hopped on a bike, receiving more attention than usual. There were bikes lined up along the road at the junction, and we randomly chose one guy who seemed overly eager and ready to go. He cleaned his bike for us and we all hopped on with me on the back. After I was on, one of his friends decided he should clean my feet and legs for some reason as well. So, I had a nice brush down on my legs and we were off.

He was driving ridiculously fast and we were all doing the nervous giggle you do when you just aren’t sure what to say. So Kat started asking him to slow down, but since she was laughing at the time, I think he thought she was joking. Then she started asking him if he has any children, and how old they are. Turns out he has a six year old daughter. So Kat asked if he ever drives with her on the bike, the response was of course, yes. So she then asked while all of continued to laugh, if he drives this fast with her on the bike. “Of course”, he responded and sped up down my dirt road. I was hanging on for dear life on the metal grate at the back of the bike. We were all quite out of it when we got off the bike and ran down the path to my house.

Loveline was already waiting with her achu and yellow soup. Achu is made from pounded cocoyams (taro root), and other fun things like limestone and ash. The soup is made from oil, spices, and limestone. About half way through eating your mouth starts to go a bit numb and water from the limestone in it; it’s quite strange. Definitely not my favourite Cameroonian dish, but everyone here loves it.

After the three of us ate as much as we could without offending Loveline—we were all still so full, we chatted for a bit about the weekend and showed her some videos. After she left, Heather and I started talking about how ill we felt. I was sick all night and Monday, and they were both sick till Tuesday. Couldn’t bring myself to tell Loveline, I told her they had drank my water and gotten sick and pretended I was fine. The worst was she kept asking me how much we liked her achu and I had to keep telling her it was the best achu I had ever had. Ah well, made her happy to hear it.

Ok, will add photos and videos soon.