Mola Mbua Ndoko: Wisdom and Ways of the Bakweri People

73. “Moseke ! mosa-lala ngomo, timba o-mooka”.

73.  “Moseke  ! 
mosa-lala  ngomo, 
timba  o-mooka”.

Moseke, elegant/renowned dancer, leave the stage now and retire to the camp/sanctuary)

Moseke is a renowned dancer in Maale Society.

mosa-lala  ngomo = an elegant/renowned dancer

mooka = the camp/the sanctuary.

mooka  mo  Maale = a sanctuary for members of Maale Society.

Yasi nanu:  At a Maale ceremony as usual Moseke danced elegantly, spinning very fast.  His performances were punctuated with deafening cheers from spectators. 

Soon, and to the surprise and disappointment of the youths who formed the largest group of fervent admirers of Moseke, members of Maale Society started to sing a song that in effect gave Moseke notice to leave the pitch without delay and return to the sanctuary (to the mooka  mo  Maale)

“Moseke !
mosa-lala  ngomo,
timba  o-mooka".

72. “Liyali la Ngowa ! na nya, vafafa” !

72.  “Liyali  la  Ngowa !
na  nya, vafafa” !

The unique plight of Mother Ngowa 

Tales of the Animal World.

liya/liyali = giving birth to children.

ngowa/ngowe = a swine; a pig.

vafafa = they hit; they strike; they kill.

fafa  e-ngowa – strike the pig and kill it.

mofufe, na  liyeli mbiti = I am the lone survivor.

Yasi nanu:  In her first delivery, Ngowe had eleven babies, seven females and four males. Within a space of six months Elive the owner of the Ngowa disposed of all the babies. He ate some, sold some, and used some in settling his debts. 

71. “Mwaana Mboli, nwa ! e-Mwaana Moto ao-nge” !

71.  “Mwaana  Mboli, nwa !
e-Mwaana  Moto  ao-nge” !

Child of a Goat you must suffer death now so that the child of Man will survive

This is an extract from one of the citations of Traditional Doctors.

mosoko = a song.

elongi = a choir.

mosoko  mwe  elongi = a song sang by a choir.

Yasi nanu:  It is alleged that when a witch does not intend to immediately kill through an illness a victim of evil witchcraft, the witch ordains that the victim’s life will be saved if the victim offers a specific domestic animal such as a goat, a sheep, a dog, a fowl as a sacrifice for ritual killing. The animal when slain replaces the imminent death of the sick person.

70. “Malingo ma Mbaamba Kooova !

70.  “Malingo  ma  Mbaamba  Kooova !

owa  oma  ono  lingani, nange  o-wo-wa  wano  koko  meyondo” !
(You proclaim that you love me, yet you drum the back of your fingers on my head)

 

Note:  e-Mokpwe believes that normal growth and development of a teenager is retarded when his head is drummed with the fingers of an adult.
 
Maito, maito kaii  !  It’s time to narrate Fables of the Plants and Animals Kingdom.

Mwengele is a person who extracts wine from live palm trees.

meyondo (plural) = to drum the back of fingers on the head of a person; singular, moondo

Yasi nanu:  Mwengele used to address his employees “comrade” and tell them that he loved them very much and had their welfare at heart. Some of the employees particularly Yaa-ngo, Njambi, Mwe-ngo, and Tina Liye, grumbled that Mwengele did not match his words with deeds. In the course of a meeting the employees enumerated their complaints as follows:

285. Bakweri Traditional Instruments of Entertainment and Communication.

Bakweri Traditional Instruments of Entertainment and Communication.

   

The traditional instruments of entertainment and communication are:

Foley.
Jimbi.
Seeva.
Molomba.
Mondo-ndi.
Ndinga. 
 
Foley. Hold your hands together firmly leaving a small hollow between the thumbs and the fingers next to the thumbs. Sound is produced when using your mouth air is blown into the hollow. The sound is known as “foley”. The sound can be heard at a distance of about half a mile away from the foley.

Jimbi.  A log of about three feet long with a man created hollow. Sound is produced when pieces of sticks are repeatedly struck on the log. Sound from a Jimbi can be heard about 2-3 miles away as the crow flies.

283. Mbando.

283.  Mbando.

Lexicon.

Mbando = a village community shrine.
Soongo = a grave.
Moonda = farm. 
Moonda  mo  Soongo (literally a farm of graves) = cemetery.
Melima  me  Songo = a graveyard for a particular family.
Mokova – stump of a tree.  Some mekova remain about 50-100 years without decay. 
 
Mbando is a knowledge that e-Mokpwe acquired hundreds of years ago. A Mbando is a shrine. It is expected to take good care of the welfare of a village community. A Mbando is generally located close to

(a) a stone that will not roll or

(b) close to the trunk of a tree that has long life span or

(c) close to a mokova within the environs of a village wrestling field or play ground.

282. Bakweri Traditional First Aid Treatments.

282.  Bakweri Traditional First Aid Treatments.

The elder brother of my maternal grandmother, Mbamba Kwaonge Etone of the village of Likombe situated about 2-3 kilo metres north of Sachenhofen Plantation had good knowledge of several medicinal plants.  He was NOT a traditional Doctor. 

Nonetheless he used his vast knowledge of medicinal herbs and medicinal barks of trees in treating and effectively curing certain diseases. I remember how he used to distribute medicinal barks of trees to members of his family at Sasse, Great Soppo, Wonduma, Wokpwae and at Wonyavio where my maternal grandmother lived.