Mola Mbua Ndoko: Wisdom and Ways of the Bakweri People

42. “Nama koowa li-kowa; nase-mba-neya lemba-neya”.

I have been ordained and inducted. I am not a quack.

This is one of the citations that a traditional doctor makes at the commencement of treatment.

The citation services as notice to a patient to rest assured that the Doctor has received professional training; has graduated; has been ordained and commissioned to treat and heal; and that the doctor is not a quack.

Nama koowa  li-kowa; nase-mba-neya  lemba-neya.

Literally:

"I have been ordained and inducted.
I am not a quack;
I have the competence to safely handle this matter.

Oma Nanu

Imba

Mola Mbua Ndoko
P.o Box 38 Buea, South West Province
Cameroon, West/Africa

41. “ Gbwasu-gbwasu ase-nji foni wooli; Wooli gbwasu ase-nje wooli”.

You should acknowledge the distinction between personal property and community property

Maito, maito kaii: Fables of the Animal World.

Yasi  nanu:  During a dry season the Supreme National Council of Wolinyama decided to replace ownership of private farms with one large community farm in which they would plant all crops. Access into the farm would be free, and individuals would harvest freely.

Opposing the decision Ikula  Nyame explained:
Do not be deceived in believing in the slogans:
“This is our property.

That which belongs to me belongs to you”.
Be businesslike and endeavour to acquire your own personal property.  It therefore devolves upon every citizen to acquire his own possessions and control his possessions himself”.

(“gbwasu-gbwasu  ase-nje  foni  wooli;
wooli  gbwasu  ase-nje  foni  wooli”).

270. Introduction of Immigrant Plantation labourers in Victoria Division.

Source:  Oral History.

The aboriginal inhabitants of Victoria (Fako) Division were the pioneer labourers in the plantations that German nationals established in the Division, 1890-1914. 

As plantations continued to expand aboriginal habitants continued to die in hundreds as a consequence of forced labour in the plantations and in other assignments that the Colonial Administration in Buea forced them to do. 

When it became evident that what remained of the active aboriginal population could no longer provide enough labour force for the plantations and Government Services the German Colonial Administration in Buea and owners of plantations recruited several hundred labourers from various Cameroon ethnic groups and then also brought in some technicians from Togo , Dahomey and Monrovia .

It is worthy of note that since more that one hundred years ago when plantations were established in Fako Division and the populations of the indigenous inhabitants forcefully displaced Bakweri villages are either Surrounded  by plantations or situated at the edges of plantations

Oma Nanu
Imba Thomas Mbua Ndoko
Chicago ILL, USA

40. “Wheni Ekale emuka o-Wojuwa oma ema sambowa” !

Any Ekale that arrives in the area known as “Wojuwa” is doomed to failure and disgrace.

Wojuwa = Villages within Buea customary court area and parts of Muea customary court area.

Yasi nanu: It became a matter of concern that vekale that performed very well in other parts in the lands of the Bakweri failed to do so within the area known as Wojuwa. For instance, Vekale collapsed in the course of performance in Wojuwa villages. 

Furthermore, the sorcery of Ngala Ewolo that was renowned for identifying witches and members of Nyongo societies and for referring victims of evil witch craft to appropriate clinics suffered failure and disgrace in Wojuwa villages. And, for that reason Wojuwa was labeled as the area in Bakweri land where vekale are doomed to suffer failure as well as disgrace. Hence the idiom:

"wheni  Ekale  emuka  o-Wojuwa  oma  ema  sambowa” !
(Any Ekale that arrives in Bakweri land in the area known as Wojuwa is doomed to failure disgrace).

Alarmed by the frequent disgrace that vekale suffered in Wojuwa land elderly and eminent traditional doctors in Wojuwa wanted to know the cause of failures of vekale in Wojuwa area.