Spiritual loss of the Oroko man's mind

Religiosity regardless of its specifics, has conditioned the Oroko man’s mind to always be dependent. The Oroko man has been conditioned to know his creator so that he will intend bless them for knowing and worshiping him.

But some loose ends still add up to tell the Oroko man that, God doesn't need his plea, begging and worshiping. This is because, it should be assumed that for what you want, God is purported to already know since God lives in you and not in the sky.

Most of these religious Oroko men seek religiosity not because they want to actually know God and be spiritually linked to the higher and innermost version of their self. According to Oroko traditional and cultural norms, this is the Spiritual embodiment of what God is a.

The modern day Oroko man seeks religiosity for the benefits they know will rain down on them. A phenomenon very common in our society today, which is indirectly the biggest fertilizer to ego and greed among the Oroko.

This phenomenon can be likened to marrying a woman or man for sexual or monetary gratification not actually because you deemed the utmost importance of engaging in such acts. These individuals have a preconditioned mindset to expect and satisfy their bodily desires rather than spirituality.

For this reason, over 90% of religious Oroko men are not spiritual but super religious. And these people readily tell the poor man he is poor because he hasn't satisfied God enough or prayed enough. And because the poor man needs affluence in his soul, he too becomes a die-hard religionist forgetting the sole purpose of his ancestral Oroko spirituality.

It will be easy to crack water out of a rock than convince such individuals that Spirituality is not attainable by being a religionist just like being a good person is not because you come from a particular tribe. It is IN YOU.

Ancestral Oroko worship is built on the premise that, being able to connect with your creator and higher version of yourself without expecting to be physically blessed and receiving a gift of affluence to your human body is the top most form of Spirituality. This is a level which a die-hard religionist will never reach. It is like loving and sticking to your wife or husband knowing that they can't add any material benefit to your life. And just like religionists, very few individuals will ever venture into such unions knowing fully well there may be no physical estimate of gratification and satisfaction.

Reasons why die-hard religionist Oroko men, will appear to be good in public because they expect their creator to award them for being that. In my opinion that's a false life.

Loving God without expecting him to bless you all the time and make you see another day, without expectations of gratification, satisfaction and blessings, is a level of Spirituality that actually explains Love and Spirituality in the Oroko. For the Oroko man, Love is what God is but nowadays, remove physical gratification, satisfaction, benefits and blessings from the picture almost 98% of Oroko men will not see reason to worship God or keep good deeds.

For the modern day Oroko men, remove religion and 99% will know nothing about God outside their religion. But we all know that God didn't create these religions.

This is the truth that many will not want to hear.

Therefore, the Oroko man should understand that, being a religionist or a spiritualist depends on your mind, not to please the world and how people see you but how your creator sees you.
The spiritual mind of the Oroko man has been lost.

May the Gods of our ancestors protect and bless you all, I'll be back.

Oroko Fathers running the Relay Race

As the world honoured and celebrated father’s day yesterday, my thoughts went out to the Oroko man as a father.

Oroko cultural display, a source of knowledge inherited from Oroko Fathers

Maybe am wrong or had wrong thoughts but I strongly believe that, the role of the Oroko father, is like no other father in the world. The Oroko father has developed the need to learn and educate himself enough so that he passes on the relay to his children. This relay is to ensure that the children have a better future, mindset and become responsible people.

The Oroko father has understood that he is in a relay race. This relay race is a fight of which he can't win solely by himself but must embrace it in a group with excess energy, dexterity, vigour and steam.

Therefore, for the Oroko man, being an Oroko father is not just to give birth. Rather, the real work is to bring up Oroko offspring being worthy of the Oroko name not only by culture and tradition but also mindset.

There are many Oroko men who have understood that the deal is not just to reproduce children but nurture and take care of their children in the ways of the Oroko land, Cameroon and the world at large.

Similarly, there are many Oroko adults and grown up men today not worthy of the name father. This group has been brainwashed for long thus lack the mindset to be a tangible source of important and necessary knowledge, inspiration to their children.

Happy Father's Day to all those Oroko men who have been and would be real Oroko fathers to their children not by simple reproduction but by the knowledge they pass on to their children.

OROKO Errand Boy Prime Minister

I am not being too harsh neither am I being disrespectful and impolite towards an elder as the OROKO custom demands. Rather, am simply penning-down the surrealistic happenings around me and to which many seem comfortable with. 

You may prefer to differ with me, I give a damn but all I know is that, the "flaming party" regime is still in power because of people like the hand-picked, errand boy and song-singing prime minister from the Oroko.

These people have reduced the Oroko to a loss of self-esteem and dignity, human denigration, pushed them into abject poverty and condemned to perpetual denial and apathy. For over half a century, they have consistently plundered Oroko resources without fear or favour and have instilled fear and indignity as a behavioural pattern in the physical and psychological makeup of the Oroko.

This has made the Oroko to accept the premise that, the only way to express patriotism, benefit and obtain recognition is to dance, cheer and clap to "fou fap". This condition has transposed the Oroko into a wedding cake solely available to those who care to prostrate before the "Flaming Party" and her immortal deity. Such people are not a representation of the Oroko for they incarnate none of our cultural values. They are physically and psychologically unhealthy, they are simply not fit to be Oroko people. 

Take it or leave it, this physical alienation and psychological sickness have spiraled into and become a daily norm even in friendships and love life of the Oroko. Hospitals and other public services within the Oroko have been transformed into market places, stock exchanges and public bazaars. Village and community properties have been consistently converted without remorse and with great impunity into private ownership simply because these people belong to the class of prostrates of the deity and are endorsed by a member of the inner cult.

Consequences are countless including absolute corruption, myriads of physical, verbal and psychological violence, chaos, impunity, moral decadence, religious profanation, cultural sacrilege and a desecration of decency. This is just a “scoop” of what the “flaming party” and her cronies have done to the Oroko and Cameroonians in general.

The flaming party and her cohorts for over half a century, have based their judgement on the basic principles of mathematical induction (It’s much easier to create a problem that no one can solve except you than solving the problem itself).

They have forgotten that, the duty of reshaping, rebuilding and formatting this nation while recovering from the socioeconomic quagmire and political quandary doesn’t lie in wearing traditional regalia and brandishing a “peace plant” but that the work has to commence from homes, schools, mosques, cathedrals, prisons and churches.

Wishing you goodluck Sango Chief

The Oroko Ghost Protocols

Aside the customized cries, weeping, agony, pain and coincidental but enormous collateral damage already inflicted upon or suffered by the Oroko people, we have again been caught in the crossfire and an unending wave of brutal north-east winds of change. 

Kwakwa village in Mbonge subdivision remains desolate and in ruins: Photo courtesy of kamerdiary.com

Unlike the protocols of the learned elders of Zion whose literary touch reveals the signals running through the minds and blood of the Jewish and Zionist forefathers, this crossfire and unending wave of brutal winds of change are ghost protocols to the Oroko people. The socio-cultural stagnation, politico-economic backwardness and purported though genocidal development within the Oroko land are just vivid reminders of the Germano-Duala brutal winds of change which were still ghost protocols to the peace loving and hardworking Oroko people.

In my greatest astonishment and it beats my normal human understanding why during such hard times or that when these tragedies set in, contemporary millennials jump into religious fables Oh lord have mercy, only God knows why, God please save us or God please answer our prayers. From the foregoing, it is absolutely more evident that this is childishness in its highest degree. It would therefore be quite sane to concur that our education has been entirely based on a dogmatic fanatical religious scheme and foundation in which we were taught how and what to believe but never taught how to think responsibly. The powers of responsible thinking and pro-activity in crisis times were removed from the deepest parts of our consciences and replaced with feelings of powerlessness and resignation.

Yes, a few Oroko people have this critical, powerful and thought provoking mindset. Just like me, they are asking themselves and seeking answers to numerous unanswered queries and questions like what are our individual and collective responsibilities or roles in these ghost protocols? Yes, these are ghost protocols because the literary touch doesn’t reveal the signals running through the minds and blood of the Oroko people. We therefore know not what we can do to avoid being caught-up and entangled in the claws of this game of thrones neither do we master the art of blocking it from happening over and over again.

You may prefer to differ from my stance but I am of the opinion that in this game of thrones, what matters most is the shift or balance of power. Therefore, it is this balance of power that dictates which side comes out victorious. This power equilibrium usually tends to shift should policy makers choose the other side of the team be it the losing or winning team. 

The Oroko people now have to become solution oriented, take the responsibility of finding effective and efficient strategies on how to curtail and divert this policy makers’ obstacle. The Oroko people have to create and impose their own version of these ghost protocols, what is good for them, vision and future of today’s Oroko.  

This Oroko generation of super degree holders mimicking democracy on radio, newspapers, internet and television without the least impact on the Oroko people should be aware that, anything that effectively and efficiently works quickly draws mass attention. Let this virtual nature become real such that it will certainly push the so called Oroko policy makers or political class to review their position or risk rejection. If we start thinking this way and change to normal brain-wracking Oroko  people, we will become solution oriented and stop acting like victims of a situation we can’t change or transform. The art of cooperation enshrined in our culture and tradition would be enhanced, this efficient and effective system will take root, with giant and very bold steps, it will work if implemented, moreso others will follow to take the challenge.
  

Betondi James-RUA (Tears of Disappointment)

LONG-LIVE THE OROKO MAN AMIDST THE BLOOD AND TEARS-RIDDEN VILLAGES. 

Doors of Perception of the Oroko

Painfully on a daily basis, I see that the dream of most of these domesticated Oroko Elites is limited to building a big house that impresses the entire street and keeping many mistresses. These go with an investment of surplus energy, a belief in these goals of vanity and which gives them the impression of being a successful Oroko man. These elites are ignorant of the contemporary Cameroonian realities and have self-indoctrinated themselves in a false moral superiority and misplaced humanism.

Surprisingly, this generation of Oroko elites had not been nurtured to understand that failure is inevitable, and that the road to anything great is paved with soul breaking failures, a lot of personal distress and social stigma. I have come to understand that, the present Oroko elites are unfortunately descendants of a breed of weak, absolutely obedient and fearfully inclined people. They can’t be leaders because they are all trained to fear and obey. Most if not all of them are slaves in suits, soaked in a sea of inferiority complexes, without grandiose and inspiring ambitions for their fellow Oroko kin. Take it or leave it, there is nothing we can really do with them for the renaissance of the Oroko man.

Warm tears of pain and sorrow always flow down my jolly cheeks when I see these Oroko elites. Each time I ponder why they can’t understand that intelligence and knowledge do not reside within an individual nor do they belong to an individual. Rather, that intelligence and knowledge all depend on whether the curtains between the individual and the outside world have been drawn or not. They have failed to understand that, if these gates and doors of perception remain closed, they would basically inherit an infantile life made of second hand experiences and knowledge reported by the people lucky enough to have the curtains drawn for them. The Oroko elites have failed to train their eyes, ears and mouths such as to be fully awake in modern day Cameroon. Our Oroko elites continuously think in the form of abstract and virtual concepts rather than in real images which is the proper door to deep knowledge.

From those parading the corridors of power in Ndian and Meme divisions or the so called representatives of the Oroko people in Yaoundé, Douala and Buea to the plantation workers of CDC and Pamol, they are constantly having money problems. Why is it that, these elites always claim to be reeling in poverty and having nothing to give-out to their kin despite working every day and living in a world of plenty?Why is it that these elites always claim that their hands are tied and tight or that their cups in Yaounde are full and empty?

Why is it that, they are the only people whose shouting and cries are never heard by their darling godfather of etoudi palace? Oroko elites are powerless and not creative but fighting with words in a deaf system while admiring and adoring the people who have handcuffed and shackled them. The present Oroko elites are always well-dressed to hide their misery, constantly smiling profusely not to hurt the Lord Almighty and always silent to avoid the death penalty handed-out by the wig-wearing enam boys and girls. The Oroko elites are always scrutinized, over-shadowed and given-out to rent to the highest bidder. They have turned the Oroko man into a patient always under prescriptions but never healed or maybe always studied but never understood.

One thing that lives me pondering is that, these elites always keep saying they have problems they are trying to solve. Meanwhile, most of them are too much focused on the solution they want to bring to the Kingdom of Oroko without demonstrating their deep knowledge of the problem they want to solve. In cases where they have an idea about a pertinent problem, it is more often than not presented in an obsolete, vague and uninspiring manner.

It’s time to revive the minds of this new generation of elites that, the true nature of a people lies in their breakthrough goals, the pride of its elites and clearly make them understand that the era of shame, fear, servitude and neglect must end with a new generation of Oroko Leaders and Builders! With a gamut of networks such as the Bana ba Oroko initiative, the Oroko man is gliding from total anonymity to stardom, automatically placing the Oroko within the top 10% of achievers in Cameroon. This plethora of initiatives is already catapulting the entire Oroko into a whole new world that we would never have imagined about a decade ago. The doors of perception are opening up for the Oroko presenting us with amazing new opportunities, and ushering in a new category of Oroko elites.

Academic Genocide of the OROKO

Each time I happen to calculate the amount of money invested on education by Oroko parents and the return obtained from these investments which are brought in by those who were educated, my heart sinks. I have thought about this for a longtime and each time, like many Oroko kids, I weep and sometimes shed warm tears of pain because the system has victimized us all. This academic genocide, has lasted for too long and it is time for the Oroko, to wake-up and reflect on their academic path, learning curve and professional career.

What most Oroko people do not understand is that, most students should be retained to study in Technical Schools or professionalize their skills, educate and develop their hands-at work knowledge. Those that go to study in general education or grammar schools should be the handful who failed to be bright and intelligent. On the contrary, these grammar people, are the ones the Oroko have been and are producing in the name of intellectuals; I hold a degree in this, in that or am studying that and that, only to come back after wasting all their youthful exuberance either studying, looking for “salaried jobs or writing “concours”

What really worries me most is that, this seems to be endemic for each Oroko village I try to assess from the little that is generated in that village. Most often than not, after a series of years, there is practically no return from what their hardworking parents invested on them. Maybe their parents wrongfully educated them or maybe due to the illusion sold to them by boisterous salaried workers from government-run professional schools in the City on Four Hills.

The burning truth is that, instead of training Oroko children in technical skills that permits them solve our everlasting problems, parents prefer the bureaucratic and certificate amassing system. This system which strives to instill hope in obtaining certificates with the pretext that, the more certificates the child obtains; the more his or her way is paved towards a highly paid job. Here, it matters not if you possess the skills necessary to build a house, mold blocks, wire a house, paint a house, multiply a plantain sucker or convert waste into renewable energy. In most of these villages especially in the Balue, Bakundu and Mbonge, what is taken into account, is the number of degrees you obtain; your certificate reflects your social status or portrays how much you will someday end as salary.

We, the Oroko, lack entrepreneurs, engineers, agronomists, foresters, plant breeders, geneticists yet, we cry everyday of lack of industrial development within Oroko land. This is academic genocide, mental redundancy and cultural servitude engulfing the Oroko land which has consequently reduced us to powerless noise-makers, complainers and materially poor in the midst of wealth. Furthermore, the Oroko are yet to contextualize and aspire breaking-out of the poverty trap through the education-development nexus, for over 49 years, we remain in a poverty trap. What is the necessity for all these certificates when we can’t use them to construct pipe borne water or teach modern farming and improve crop varieties that adapt to the changing climate in Oroko land? What added value do these certificates create or have created around Oroko villages? The indoctrination of children and sale of an illusionary paradise obtained from certificates, has not protected us from perpetual enslavement.

Over 49 years ago, we naively made a tragic error accepting a system of education that has repeatedly invaded Oroko land, looted its people and spiritually enslaved us. We can never refute the fact that, this system of education is some form of mental slavery. Why is this system not producing individuals capable of creating jobs, engines, banks, designs and Oroko companies? Honestly, this system solely produces employees not employers with generations upon generations of families enslaved towards salaried work. Oroko parents spend huge sums of money year in year out for an educational system where their children are taught how to manage banks but not how to create one; how to wear suits and jackets but not how to make one for themselves and how to become a doctor but not how to build a hospital or produce the drugs needed to run the hospital.

The Oroko have been kept at the bottom of the social ladder for too long, we need to stand up against this system and embrace one that serves our interest, one that creates wealth, excellent captains of industry armed with intelligence to play a leading rule in the key domain of wealth creation.  Most people will say that, the government is not doing enough to help the Oroko create its industries and become self-dependent. I don’t think that’s true because, we cannot study to the level of obtaining a university degree if it is valuable, and still talk like mentally dependent uncultivated people. On the other hand, our degree holders should stop complaining and accept the fact that, it is only through their initiative that they will break free from this poverty trap. Morso, free your minds from the notion that, everything must be free and that it is the responsibility of the state to take care for you.

Let the Oroko harmonize their efforts and stand on the foundation of social capital, creating internal cohesiveness and generating riches necessary for our collective advancement. Education does not mean learning to depend on government, becoming a liability but acquiring instruments necessary to go from nothing to something, create riches and become self-dependent. No Oroko man can do remarkably well while working for others because the main function of their existence rotates around creating wealth for others. This is because salaried workers from one generation simply pass-over poverty to the next generation. Their children will remain as servants to the children of the person who owns the company they work for. This is how total subordination is created and transmitted for generations.

The Oroko situation will be radically different if, one generation decides to break or walk-free from this tragic vicious cycle of poverty programmed in advance. If one generation accepts to crack their minds, coordinate effort, work intelligently, create and manage their own company and free themselves from perpetual slavery working for others. Therefore, the future generations, will grow up seeing their parents generating wealth for the family through their own initiative.

Oroko land is in dire need of potential job creators, able to take control of our youths, industrial wizards endowed with knowledge of the fact that, if they are poor materially today, it is because they have not done what they are supposed to do to become rich. The Oroko man must take total responsibility of his failure and understand that, we are not poor because of our government but because we don’t want to get mentally mature enough to outgrow the cage of mental dependence that permits us to act like owners of ourselves.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2016

Long Live OROKO!

I will be back!

Through My OROKO Eyes

     The Oroko nation is one of the few that, no person is considered a stranger or discriminated based on birth, creed, race, ethnicity, and political coloration or otherwise. Every child whether born out of wedlock or unknown parent is accepted as a member of the family and community with equal rights, privileges and even rights to succession and inheritance. In other tribes, children born out of wedlock and their mothers are treated like outcasts. This is a fact not fiction. The Oroko nation does not have the lexicon `bastard` as every child belongs to the mother. Reasons why over 20% of Oroko kids born in the last 20 years do not know their biological fathers but bear their grand father`s name and 100% accepted. Is that conservative or liberalism? We have witnessed in many and several regions, property, families and businesses of non –indigenes burnt, destroyed, targeted, maim or marked for demolition. In other areas, lands are not sold to non-indigenes. To wit, until maybe recently, land in Mamfe was not sold to non-indigenes. It is common knowledge how they refused to give land to both Pamol and CDC for agricultural development but were the first to people and colonise CDC and Pamol and the biggest land owners in Ndian. (Maybe our generosity has been mistaken for stupidity and laziness).
The Orokos are the most liberal and tolerant when it comes to issues on inter marriage. Testimonies and eye witness reports are abound on how our sisters, daughters and even brothers are being treated by their in laws or host families. (I don` t wish to get emotional here).These are facts not fiction. 90% of civil servants, worker, immigrants who had ventured to Oroko nation have children free of charge with Oroko women and none has been harassed. Some have even had children with the wives of our traditional chiefs. Where else will such despicable acts take place? A majority of the female students impregnated by teachers . These are some of the victims engaging in petty trading and farm work to survive. If the men and boys are not in the farms and markets, they should be elsewhere.

    The fundamental, principle and guide to any research, study, learning or experiment is to start from the KNOWN to the UNKNOWN. Our KNOWN is our history, tradition and culture. Our cosmogony, culture and tradition are what define us, identify us and form our common laws. That is what makes us unique and different from others. There is absolutely no way, we can divorce gender from creation and origin of species. 

     The Oroko cosmogony takes cognizance and recognizes that, Tata Obase created male and female and assigned them with different roles, responsibilities and functions. These belief and responsibilities are similar to those enshrined in Genesis in the Bible and Qur'an. The Oroko language have words or nomenclature to describe MALE AND FEMALE. There and distinct names for male and female, distinct names for male and female twins and distinct names for male and female gods, goddess and religious cults. The Oroko tradition and culture reserve and preserve everything associated with child birth to women. At death, women are responsible for washing of the corpses and men responsible for autopsy. Women are required to sit on the floor and mourn whilst the men take charge of other matters. moreka and ngondo are two distinct human beings. Male and female are a creation of God not MAN. Marriage is an institution created and sanctioned by God not Man. Animals, birds or plants did not go to Supreme Court before they start procreation. Adam and Eve did not go to any Supreme Court to seek permission to have a relationship. We cannot therefore be advocating for a genderless society. That will be challenging God and natural Laws governing the universe. If my dear brother friend wants to promote a genderless society, l will implore her to allow her male visitors to share the same room with either her daughters or sisters. (Hahaha!!!!)
The backwardness, underdevelopment and challenges faced by the people are a creation induced by the state against the Oroko nation for obvious political reasons based on results of 1961 Plebiscite. It is not as a result or borne out of the mental, intellectual or physical inability of the OROKO nation to transform and conquer her environment. To wit; 90% of the roads in Ndian were constructed by the people and developmental unions. Such a people could not be described as lazy or layback!!! The number of persons or genders present in markets or farms should not be used as a benchmark or barometer in measuring productivity, alertness, laziness or responsibilities. Farms and markets are just a segment of the economy. Even in more endowed nations, communities than the Orokos, trading is still gender bias. It would have been a concern if Oroko voice rhetorical conclusion, would have been ` where are the boys in our secondary , High schools , colleges, Polytechnics and Universities not farms and markets which do not require any professional or intellectual competence to get involved?
It is instrumental for us to know where we are actually coming from. The Oroko nation as a people have no history or records of any of their villages, hamlets being a commercial nerve centre in the ancient , past or present like we have in other regions and empires. The Orokos have been mainly engaged in farming and selling of cash crops to middle men or buyers. There are no known prominent families of Oroko descents that were engage in commercial trading. The few who were into commercial trading were associates or apprentices to either Igbos or other local tribes.
It is a truism that, education is the key that opens the second door to freedom. Nnamdi Azikiwe has posited that, the educated are always the leaders and pathfinders of their community or nations. Our cursory and comparative analysis of historic facts should give us an insight on our odyssey and our current position.
Recall that, from 1916 to 1961, the Oroko nation was a British colony and administered as part of Nigeria. CMS Grammar School, Lagos the oldest secondary school in Nigeria, founded on 6 June 1859 by the Church Missionary Society (156 years old)
2. Methodist Boys High School, Lagos (1878) (137 years old)
3. Methodist Girls High School, Lagos (1879) (136years old)
4. Baptist Academy, Lagos: 1885
5. Hope Waddell Training Institute, Calabar, 1895 (120 years old) Hon Mbile Alma mater.
6. Wesley college of science, Ibadan (1905),
7. Methodist Boys’ High School, Oron (1905).
8. Abeokuta Grammar School, Ogun (1908)
9. Kings College, Lagos (1909)
10. Alhuda College, Zaria (1910)
11. Ijebu-Ode Grammar School, Ogun (1913). (102 years old)
CAMEROON.
1. St Joseph College Sasse 1939 (77 years)
2. CPC Bali (1942) (73 years)
3. QRC Okoyong (1956) (59 years old) (My senior sister Bridget Alma mater 1972 BATCH)
4. PSS Kumba (1963) 52 years.
5. Saker Baptist College Limbe, 1962 (53 years)
6. GSS Mundemba (1975) (40 years).
In spite of our late head start and with few Junior primary schools and senior primary (standard 5 & 6) except in Ikassa, Dikome and Mbonge, no secondary schools or TTC our sons and daughters were able to mark present as foundation / pioneer students in GTC Kake( 1925), Hope Waddell Calabar, Govt College Umuahia, Kings college Lagos, St Joseph College Sasse, CPC Bali, Yaba College Lagos, University of Ibadan.
The Balues a forest tribe have more graduates and professionals than the Bafaws, Balongs ,Bassosi combined is a clear testimony of the resilience of the orokos . MERRY CHRISTMAS

   

   Written by Sango Atabong Albert Motale in response to my post (Where are the Orokomen?)

Where are the Oroko men?

Without being sarcastic, I know the Oroko land, its people, its dialects and its cultures to my fingertips as well as nails.  Notwithstanding all our problems and challenges, Orokoland is arguably the best place on earth to live and die. Many of you out there, will accept with me that, we need to fight to make our Oroko Kingdom a better place for the survival of the Oroko tribe!

But one of the greatest questions that I often ask myself and which continuously pops into my mind is, what is happening to the Oroko Men? Where are the Oroko Men?

I have spent most of my life immersed in the life of ordinary people, eating with them, dancing with them, working with them, walking the same paths as they do and taking the same okada, clando and hilux as they do, passionately engaged in understanding things. What is obvious and continuously baffles me is that, in all productive activities one only mainly sees Oroko women. From the farms to the markets, it seems like only women are working, doing something or producing something. Where are the men?

Almost all the food produced in Orokoland is done by women including all the agricultural workforce or small farmers, are mostly rural Oroko women.  Oroko women comprise the largest percentage of the workforce in the agricultural sector, almost all the traders in Fabe, Ibemi, Illoani, Ekombe Bonji, Sambalimba, Issangele, Mbonge, right up to Mokango infact, just visit any store or market and you’ll confirm that observation. It is very obvious that, agriculture and trade are in the hands of women, they still give birth to our kids through life while performing all household duties of the Oroko man from the kitchen to the bedroom.

In the Orokoland, women earn less than men while performing the same job sometimes more than 25% less than what their men folk would earn. Property wise, (lands, house, shares, stocks) women in the Orokoland own less than 5% though the government of Cameroon has been preaching the emancipation gospel. The issues of inheritance and marriage, remain an illusion for the Oroko woman. As a result of cultural norms related to gender and social inequality, Oroko women are sparingly allowed to get less involved in political and household decision-making processes which affect their lives. Oroko women have very limited access to land, possess no assets thus are economically poorer than the Oroko men folk. Also, the Oroko woman does most of the agricultural work and she also bears the unequal responsibility to feed her entire family.

The Oroko man’s belief in Polygamy, also makes the Oroko woman unlikely to get any wealth transfer because of marriage. Their condition is further worsen by the fact that in almost all the tribes, only men inherit lands and family assets. The impossibility for the Oroko man to enforce marriage and inheritance laws due to weak government laws, make the Oroko woman’s ability to acquire assets very unlikely. The Orokoman simply and quietly seizes the family assets and goes away without bothering about what becomes of his women family members.

One would be a fool to believe that the Oroko woman is poor because she is lazy or incompetent whereas over 90% of businesses and 80% of agricultural activities are carried-out by Oroko women. What about the proportion of Oroko women who die each day trying to give birth to Oroko kids? Oroko women most often are unable to sleep or sometimes sleep only for two hours a night because they have to nurture their new born which goes on for several months’ even years.

In Orokoland, the two major economic activities are agriculture and trade but how come the Oroko woman owns nothing? How come all the houses, cars and lands are owned by Orokomen? Is it because of unpaid labour, patriarchal connotation and child bearing responsibilities?

What baffles me most is why should an Orokoman own or accumulate so much wealth while contributing so little to economic emancipation of the Oroko? Oroko men run the Orokoland from 6pm to 7am sleeping almost 10hours per day. The Orokoman has or owns no industries, there is no manufacturing, no mining and the rate of unemployment is massive with almost 85% roaming our streets. The Orokoman shows no compassion for neither his kids nor his women, they have stolen their future, their lands, food and resources.

The Orokoman, still suffers from the pride of “am the master” and “you’re the slave” towards the Orokowoman reflecting his enclosure in the damned colonial society. The Orokoman rejoicefully locks-up himself in secret societies, witchcraft, cults, sects and strives to fight the rest of the Oroko. This rest of the Oroko society is offcourse made of the hardworking women folk, his kids and those poorer than him.The Orokoman never fights those above or richer than him less of all foreigners., he is a gate without a fence.

Orokomen are counter and unproductive usually acting as paper pushers in offices, touts for migrants and traders or if they’ve tried GTTC Mundemba! They don’t work in offices because all Oroko administrations are nonexistent; in politics the Orokoman is the worst politician in Cameroon or maybe on earth; in the armed forces, the Orokoman makes-up maybe 0.0001%; in the sciences and technology, these require special skills which the Orokoman is not yet prepared to acquire even if the training lasts for just a single day.

So of what use was, is and will be the Orokoman with respect to the emancipation of the Orokoland? It is time for the Oroko man to join forces with the Oroko woman for the development of the Oroko.

I will be back!

Land of the Orphans

 I `died` several times inside me whilst reading the epistles of the Oroko voice `The sad path of the Oroko in Ndian`. Sister, thank you for your enlightenment sessions as l must confess being one of your fans. The problem is not the reality that, some were born , opened their eyes and found themselves as Kikuyu in Kenya, Yoruba in Nigeria or Ngolo, Balue, Bima, Batanga, Korup, Isangele, Barombi, Balondo in Ndian. The problem is not the reality of life but our interpretation of these realities. The reality is that, Ndian might have just one kilometer of poorly paved road, an enclave with all its major roads akin to abandoned mine fields,extreme poverty everywhere and lack of opportunities even for the bravest. That is the reality but how are these realities interpreted by the indigenes, administrators, so-called elites, young educated men and women, politicians, elected reps and gov’t?
It is a truism that, human beings are identified, defined and classified more by where their ancestors come from than where they choose to reside, adopt, adapt or identified with. Reasons why, a black man no matter how long he lives in USA, Italy, France, China, India, Aussie etc shall always be classified and identified as people from the 3rd world, cos where their ancestors come from looks like a 3^rd world. The irony of life is that, the more you try to run away from your identity and realities like King Oedipus in the classical Greek Drama Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, the more you walk towards your roots. We have seen and watched several dead bodies of sons and daughters, who never identified, lived, associated with the Ndian Identity all their lives brought and carried in hammocks to be buried in Ndian forests. I once overhead one old woman exclaimed that, Is Ndian only good for dead bodies?
In spite of everything, l take solace in the fact that, there is hope at the end of the tunnel as there are a few strong voices like Wa Mowoh Dada Eugene, Muwere Mboka, Dr. Peter Mbile, Orume Robinson, Mispa Molukule , Nanje Jackson and the list is growing shouting in the wilderness; re-awaking the conscience and political awareness of the people. That is the active ingredient and tonic the NDIAN People lack and need in abundance to overcome. The pen has always been more powerful than the sword. Let the story of Ndian be told as the pillage, exploration, exploitation of Ndian shall remain the scar in the conscience of humanity forever. Ndian is an orphan being rapped, abused, misused and abandoned.
Stereotypes are food for the unenlightened, uneducated minds and primitive people who still believe that, every Bakundu man is short and eat nothing but pepper and plantain. Whereas, there are more short people of littoral origins and more ewondos living in mud houses and appear more primitive than any Oroko tribe. The perceptions from other tribes should never be used to define are personalities. That, corn flakes are simply glorified maize and less nutritious than Koki corn but the perception is in the packaging. That, `water fufu` Atangana bread, eba are all products of cassava. It will therefore be ludicrous for an ewondo whose meals is entirely made out of cassava to make a Ndianite feel inferior eating a delicious meal of `water fufu` and pumpkin leaf soup. That, the chicken at Mister Fries are same like the local fowls we eat in our villages daily, that the perception is just the branding. Let’s out-grow this imaginary superiority complex of others less endowed, stereotypes and began to understand that, residency is a function of locality and destiny is the end of a journey.
How can a race that planted and cultivated large cocoa, coffee, palm plantations over the years and employed farm hands from elsewhere, now be described as being lazy by their farm hands? How can a race that was first to produce University graduates and had the most educated MP in Cameroon when the Federal National Assembly was constituted be considered intellectually lazy? The ancestors and off springs from Ndian might have had a late start in education coupled with the late arrivals of roads but it is a truism that, the Dikome Balue people in the heart of the Rumpi forest have more university graduates and professionals in every human endeavour than the Bafaw located in the heart of Kumba city. The Ejaghams in Eyumojock have more University professors, Medical doctors, Engineers, Pilots, PhD holders than the sawa people in the heart of Douala. THESE ARE FACTS AND NOT FICTION.
The sad path of the Ndian people is not how they are perceived by others but most maliciously, how they are perceived, considered and treated by the CNU-CPDM regime since 1961. The political choice, voting pattern and political expressions of the Ndian people at the 1961 plebiscite has informed and dictated the perception of the Ndian people by the regime since 1961. The regime will never perceive the Ndian people to be truly citizens of that country. The Ndian people have been black-listed and considered to be `Biafrans or Nigerians` and enemies within the house. Ndian is considered more for statistical computation, a no man`s lands rich in natural resources but with no human beings. The gov’t has made deliberate efforts to downsize the census figures of Ndian to portray the region as uninhabited, unsuitable for human habitation but for oil exploration and setting up of forest reserves. Check the official census figures of Ndian especially the reverine areas. To wit, what was the subject and input of Biya`s speech during his maiden visit to Buea SW. ` I was born a Cameroonian, l will remain a Cameroonian and l shall die a Cameroonian`. THE SW INCLUDING THE NDIAN DELEGATION CLAPPED AFTER BEING LITERALLY INSULTED FOR REMINDING THEM OF THEIR LEPROSY.
The problem as l see it, is the apparent lack of political awareness and gross ignorance on the part of the Ndian people on their rights, benefits, privileges as citizens and reading of the political barometer of Cameroon. To wit, why should a Ndianite be compelled to change his ancestral name and adopt a middle name to get employment in the public service, recruitment into the Police, Army or to obtain an International passport simply because the name is not perceived Cameroonian enough or looks like an awala name? Or is there any indigenous tribe known as Cameroon or Cameroonians with defined sets of names? Yet eye brows or nationality concerns are not raised when neighbouring states bear Ondua, Obiang, Owona, Abessolo etc….
Lack of interest in the political health, affairs and future of Ndian by the so-called educated elites, arm, bench chair critics and Youth. These very influential groups have completely abandoned Ndian in the hands of a few cabals and stooges of their oppressors. Take cursory look at the quality, quantity, capacity and credentials of all the elected Representatives from the local, regional and national levels. Without prejudice to any professions or persons, the SDF mayoral candidate for the Mundemba council election was a mason. The CPDM list is not better. How do we expect these set of people to propel development and growth of the region? Politics is the business of competition of ideas with the intention to capture power. When it comes to elections, we all run away and abandon the stage for stooges, puppets, neophytes, misfits and interlopers.
UNLESS THE NDIAN PEOPLE COMPLETELY MOVE AWAY FROM THE CPDM AND CHART A NEW POLITICAL PATH, IT SHALL CONTINUE TO BE SAME GARBAGE IN GARBAGE OUT AND A CONTINUOUS SAD PATH TO THE ABYSS.

By Tata Atabong Albert Motale and title is by me, Orokovoice.

The Sad Path of the Oroko

I have decided not to listen to Cameroon’s national radio be it the “mother station” or its so called fm and regional stations. This includes the infamous so-called radio and its “post-5pm radio tit-bits” which doesn’t even reach the Oroko of Ndian Division apart from a few houses in Dion Ngute’s Bongongo 1 and the people residing on the Rumpi Hills. Longtime ago, I stopped watching the so-called “canal mendoze”.  Each time I did, it brought me nothing but sadness, tears and regrets (bowaki, misodi na mbereke) because, am an Oroko from Ndian. The everlasting bad roads, lightening styled-electricity, no portable water, neck breaking high living costs, poor healthcare facilities, a gangrenous corrupt judiciary, an abominable local administration and an unrepentant political class.

Looking at the contemporary history of Cameroon, where one comes from is fast becoming a reflection of one’s identity replacing names, local languages spoken and similarities in physical appearance. Our origin embodies our culture, beliefs and in some cases, a presupposition of our social status. Wherever, we find ourselves in this country, the national knowledge of our origin (background) always precedes us.

From this perspective, I have asked myself several times and now I ask you, what does it mean to be an Oroko in Cameroon? Have you ever bothered to find out how the other tribes see, what their opinions are about us or what rating score is attributed us? What paths of our original Oroko beliefs, traditions and culture do we bring to the national table? Do we have any accepted cultural beliefs, traditions, people, places, artefacts and ground breaking innovations that is identified with the Oroko? Or is our Oroko identity simply associated with everlasting bad roads, gangrenous witch craft, endemic laziness, generalized poverty, eternal handclapping and forever reliance on being spoon-fed. I ask questions that are obviously mind boggling and irritating but whose answers are disheartening and obnoxious. You are free to take a different stance but I do what am good at, that’s talking.

This is what happens when a growing number of Oroko have chosen to substitute their original true identity with that of another. This is what happens when the Oroko believe their local culture is barbaric and want no connection with it. Who are our Oroko heroes? What do we have? Nothing! All the forests and lands of the Mbonge,Ekombe, Bai and lower Bakundu area in Mbonge subdivision are gone to oil palm, rubber and coconut save for some lands and forests of upper Bakundu area in Konye subdivision, the Oroko of Meme Division have lost their heritage. The hand-clapping chiefs, parliamentarians and so called-elites are watching, as usual, doing nothing. What legacy will you leave for your future generation?

The situation is becoming catastrophic and calamitous for the Oroko of Ndian Division, from Mbonge Junction to Mbongo via Illoani, Boa Balondo, up to Ekondo Titi, Mundemba back towards Bekora Barombi through Ekwe Balue down to Kumbe Balue and back to Dora Barombi and Njima Barombi via Iribanyange and Mokono Barombi. The lands and forests are gone! Thank the Almighty creator for the Rumpi Hills which are inaccessible, else, the story would have been different. An individual owns 200hectares of oil palm in Ngolo Metoko and yet, we have a so-called senior Oroko magistrate from that village, who also doubles as the second vice SG of Cameroon’s National Assembly. What a paradox! Imagine if that were to happen in Late Dr Timti Isidore Nse’s Boyo Division. They pulled-out the toll-gate in Matazem-Santa rebelling against the ruling government of Cameroon for bad roads; Mr Ngeule Ngeule Felix, former SDO for Mezam now Governor of South Region(Ebolowa, Land of the rotten chimpanzee) was there, standing next to SDF Chairman Ni John Fru Ndi, watching. But is that possible within Oroko land?No!no!

Yet a couple of years ago, when our Oroko son Mr Nasako Besingi stood up against this Timti for his Herakles farms project, the very Oroko people called him a traitor. Imagine 55000 hectares (55 kilometers squared, which is equal to the distance from Ekondo Titi to Kumba squared) of forested lands going down the drain, promoted and supported by people who claim to have the Oroko at heart including Hon Chief Mbile Nobert Nangia, a seasoned Oroko intellectual (former principal of CCAS Kumba, former Parliamentarian and present chief of Lipenja 1 Batanga, Toko subdivision, Ndian Division) and his cohort, a seasoned Oroko intellectual Dr Okole Blessed Ndokpe (Present Chief of Big Bekondo in Mbonge Subdivision, Meme Division), I rest my case and i'll be back!

Why should a man defending the Oroko in his very backyard, be manhandled, threatened, beaten, assaulted and jailed? What has our Oroko become? Is it because of money? If not for money or a corrupt judiciary plus stomach politics, how come such a person is even detained when the senior state counsel (state prosecutor) of Mundemba, is an Oroko elite from Dikome Balue? What is happening to my Oroko? Is it not true that, we have decided to walk the sad path? Else, why would an Oroko magistrate from Bisoro Balue halt the Herakles project through an injunction order, just for another judge to reinstate it and send environmental campaigners to jail? Where are the Oroko? Where are the Oroko puppet elite class? From these recent happenings, it is my belief that, development in Oroko isn’t hindered by a lack of opportunities, potential or intelligence but by a loss of cultural and social identity. 

We must stop running-away from our roots, responsibility and become dynamic for the emancipation of the Oroko man.

I will be back!

OROKO, Second Class Citizens

It may not be a good idea to voice it out but sometimes, these issues and situations are just heartbreaking or unbearable.I sometimes go into deep thought and the feelings of guilt, shame or disgrace are overwhelming to me as an Oroko Child.I often wonder why we have become second class citizens even in our very backyards of the Oroko Kingdom!I might be wrong again or just make a lot of noise, see things others don't see, hear what others don't hear or observe what others don't observe but take it or leave it, we are second class citizens even in our very backyard.Is it because we the Oroko are not enterprising or because we are just a bunch of lazy-drowsy dogs waiting to be hand-fed?
A couple of weeks ago on our way from Mbonge, we had a breakdown at Mabonji Bakundu,so we decided to relax at the local market square while waiting on the driver to have the car  fixed.To our greatest dismay, the bar owner was a non-Oroko,worse of all was that,even the guys who sold plantains and cocoyams by the roadside, were not Oroko.
This observation reminded me of similar cases and situations within the Orokoland in which we have to beg strangers inorder to feed, clothe, convey or house ourselves. Strangers have taken over all the businesses and entrepreneurial initiatives within the Orokoland, from Bamusso to Konye, from Toko to Ekondo Titi, we have become tenants and second class citizens in our very land. All the businesses, boutiques, tailoring workshops, hairdressing saloons, lodging facilities and transport vehicles are owned, managed and run by strangers. This has become so controversial such that even Oroko cuisine has been taken over by these strangers.

From the honey sellers of Fabe,to the ngakanga sellers of Dikome Balue, the nyamangoro sellers of Mbonge Marumba, the palm wine sellers of Bongongo 1 Barombi, the yam sellers of Banga Bakundu, the garri and waterfufu mongers of Bombe Bakundu, the wood merchants of Konye, the bush mango sellers of Toko, the clando drivers at Mbonge road (Mile 1 Motor Park) Kumba to the cashew sellers of Big Massaka, the cocoa carriers of Weme Balue, the bar owners of Mundemba, the cocoa buyers of Ekombe Bonji, the palm oil dealers of Bekora Barombi, the zwa zwa sellers of Big Nganjo and the mechanics of Ekondo Titi, have been invaded and in some instances overtaken by non Oroko.
An Oroko man can be president of Lobe Credit Union but what difference does it make if you intend taking a loan, paying back or if you fail to pay back?All the decisions are taken by strangers and management is run by strangers at their offices of Ekondo Titi, Lobe Estate, Bai Estate and Mile 17 Buea.All the branches are headed by strangers despite the fact that Oroko people are at the very forefront of this financial house. The demise of Therese Eboka a couple of years ago, was another darkness that befell the Oroko man in their quest for financial power. Auntie Therese was branch manager of MC2 microfinance establishment in Ekondo Titi, with she died the financial power we sought and now, we have remained beggars. Oroko people have no financial monopoly, they must beg from the northwesterners or westerners even during very precarious circumstances like back to school, elections, sickness, weddings, farm projects and funerals. All the financial houses and some 'njangis' are run by these strangers who impose severe penalties and conditions on the Oroko man in order to benefit from their services.The rumpi project came with a few digressions but what has become of them?Tell me, i have no idea!
Travelling within the Oroko has become a nightmare because this sector is manned by total strangers, just try arguing with Park Guys of Mbonge Road, Mundemba Park, Konye Park or the guys hanging around the Banga Bakundu Park, most of or all of them are strangers to our land,some don't even speak pidgin just French.Even the numerous Okada boys at Big Bekondo Junction, 3-corners Ekombe, Illoani Square, Ekondo Titi and those of Bafaka Balue Park in Bekora Barombi, are mostly strangers,so what has become of our Oroko youths and adults?Is it because we are not enterprising or is it because we don't have the means to or is it because we the Oroko are a bunch of lazy cowards waiting for manna to fall from heaven as in the days of Moses?

To these questions, a recent even comes to mind.About a year ago, i attended a meeting in Bombe Bakundu organized by an Oroko gentleman from Denmark.This meeting was aimed at brainstorming on how to create, run and manage an Oroko Bank Plc and it was coordinated by an Oroko banking professor at the Buea University.It was during that meeting that i got to know Oroko had such brilliant youths including an expert in banking who also doubles as a university professor.The events of this meeting still puzzle me till date and all i know is that, about 63 Oroko elites from all the clans were invited including chiefs, mayors, ministers, magistrates, lawyers, policemen,gendarmes, DOs/SDOs,parliamentarians,businessmen/women etc etc but to my greatest surprise, out of the 63 just 8 turned-up.The guy who had contacts in Europe and his coordinator in Cameroon, were very disappointed.Some of the calls and text messages, they received were very nauseating. I also got to learn of threats received from many Oroko stalwarts because they didn't ask for their concern and permission before taking such a step because, they were the policy and decision makers of the Oroko, little boys don't tell old men and women what to do or don't take decisions when old men and women are still alive.That is how, this good initiative was terminated and the young man returned to Denmark with his ideas and connections.
Many of such good initiatives have been taken by Oroko youths but have received stiff opposition and contrasting views from those who call themselves 'Oroko Senior Elites'.Many Oroko well-wishers have brilliant ideas but are killed along their paths especially if they disagree, jealousy, envy and witch-hunting jumps in.Sometimes, the very judicial system that is supposed to protect them, turns round to hammer them, the social system, the taxation system, the enam and council boys also contribute directly in planning your chute libre.
As someone once said to me, wicked people continue to enact evil because the few good people who exist decide to do nothing about this evil. It is time for Oroko people to become first class citizens, claim their right and push-out these people who continue to preach evil, who represent evil and who want the Oroko to remain in darkness.Yes, we can be like others, we can run our own businesses, we can be general managers of companies, we can start, run and manage our own banks, transport companies and manufacturing industries.
God bless the Oroko.

What Do The OROKO Stand For?

Oroko People, our identity is about our education, our upbringing and the Oroko values we are taught. 

No matter where we were born or where we choose to live today, we are Oroko. 

Nothing stands in the way of staying true to ourselves, no one should erase our identity and who we truly are. 

We must build on our Oroko identity because Oroko belongs to us and we belong to our Oroko as it is about our identity, knowing who we are and our values.

Identity is not an individual quality, it is a shared value and we all share an identity. Politics that does not build our Oroko identity or value our Oroko culture is bad politics. It is about appreciating the value in each other.

The reason you are Balue, Barombi, Ekombe, Batanga, Bakoko, Mbonge, Ngolo, Bima, Balondo ba Diko, Balondo ba Nanga, Ekondo Kondo, Isangele, Bakundu and the meaning of OROKO, is an education that values the identity and culture we all share.

It is about building an Oroko tribe that brings all of our strength together.

The Oroko of tomorrow is ours and so i ask, what will we stand for? What will we be willing to fight for and even die for? We must want to live for something although a shared identity does not mean that we are all the same. 

But we do not differ in wishing for the well being of every Oroko Child and progress of our country, Cameroon.

Oroko people, let's always challenge ourselves to be better people as this will make us be more useful to ourselves, our families and our country.

Let's always think that we can be better, we can do it and that we the Oroko deserve it and if it starts with us, it’s even much better. 

If we have the tools in our hands and if we want to improve our life, why would we wait another moment to do it?

The Oroko should never expect things to come easy, because the chances are slim and if it happens, it never lasts.

I leave you with this song by our Brother Loma Lome called Miango (News or Stories) 

God Bless Oroko

OROKO Youths, Going Too Soon

When Oroko People raise their children, friends and family members, they never imagine they will die so soon. They expect them to grow into adults, marry and also bring forth their offspring just as their parents.

Looking back about a quarter of a century ago, life has not always functioned in that orderly manner for many Oroko families. Many parents have seen their young, vibrant, handsome, beautiful, intelligent, agile and aspiring children ‘go too soon’. Many parents have lost not one, nor two but sometimes all their promising children in appalling, tragic and painful circumstances. Decades ago, it was unheard of for Oroko children to die at such a young and tender age be it brutally or in strange circumstances.

Most parents would give their lives for their children in tragic circumstances but in cases where they are powerless and cannot change the death of their child, the additional burdens of despair and grief are heartbreaking. But when parents plan, it sometimes does not work out as desired since the child they plan for, can suddenly be plucked-off this earth without much warning.

Almost on a weekly basis, I am told about the death of young Oroko people who lived with their parents or far away from home. It is such a painful development for these parents as one of the most traumatic things that a parent can go through is losing a child to death.

These thoughts cut across and pierce my heart, even making me laugh a laughter of sorrow and anguish. Like a famous Oroko Song Writer/Musician Betondi James in his Bobe o Monyere (Evil in the World), I always find myself pondering over these issues. What is happening to the Oroko youth? Why is it so hard for us to live our lives into maturity and grandparenthood? Borrowing from Betondi James’s Bobe o Monyere (Evil in the World), parents gave birth to children such that they will be buried by these children but nowadays, it is the reverse within the Oroko with parents tending to bury their children in most instances .

According to the very popular Oroko proverb kabe emo yaka’a bana, ama e siko okor kor bekeli (the antelope procreated because it didn’t want to get wet from morning dew), parents would therefore want their children to stay alive, to clean the morning dew as the need arises but is that the case within the Oroko? When I asked, many replied that, the youths themselves share the blame because of the love for fast buck, fame and front seat. Some people also mentioned jealousy, hatred, vengeance and in most cases witch-hunting. Other opinions hold that, the rural to urban migration has no doubt created so many obstacles where Oroko youths easily trip and fall for good without prior notice.

Death is indeed something we will never understand especially when it involves young and vibrant Oroko people. No matter the cause, it is time for Oroko people to do something about these tragic and sudden deaths of young, energetic and intelligent Oroko youths.

A couple of weeks ago, I attended the funeral and burial of Lokombe Barbara Bea, a beautiful 33 year old Oroko lady. Barbara was shot at close range by her husband while at her Crédit Foncier office in Yaoundé instantly killing her. As mourners streamed to their home that weekend, it was so difficult to comprehend how this charming and attractive life that was so full of vigour and strength with such a bright future could end so tragically. Hundreds and hundreds of colleagues, relatives and friends came to pay their last respects. It was a symbol of honour to see such a huge gathering paying homage to a young person.

The death of Barbara reminds me yet of the late Nasina Ebanja Philip, who also died tragically in very appalling and strange circumstances a few years ago. I also remembered Mami Ababa of Bongongo 1 Barombi who found it so distressful to bury the children she raised, so she also died a few months later.

Then I also recalled the sudden death in very strange circumstances of the young and fresh first principal of GSS now GHS Mbonge, he hailed from Dipenda Bakundu. His death also reminded me of the sudden ad mysterious death of the first principal of GSS now GBHS Ekondo Titi, who hailed from Ibemi Bakundu. The Oroko in Buea will always remember the tears of Mami Mwengela when her child passed-away and those hot tears of Mami Lobe of Ekondo Titi when her daughter, Maureen Lobe died.

The sudden death like a joke of Lobe Marie Mendoe of Dschang University still lingers on in the hearts of the Mbakwa Supe people, 17 years after. The people of Ekondo Titi are still to come-over the loss of Noromo Divine, Melvis Nganya Wa-kemba and Patience Illambo, all young Oroko youths working at the Ekondo Titi Health Services.

Mami Nasako of Mbonge still mourns the tragic loss of her young magistrate son Leo Nasako more than 10 years after. The people of Bongongo 1 Barombi are still living in awe at the tragic death of young Hans Ngute in a ghastly road accident along the north Cameroon roads, over 10 years ago.

The Oroko People of Buea and Mundemba still live in great consternation, fear, pain and tears after the sudden and mysterious death of the very beautiful and cute Dr Nanganoa epouse Moki a few weeks ago. The late Dr Moki as she was fondly called,was one of the few Medical Doctors of the Oroko and to the best of my knowledge, the only Oroko Dentist and the list goes on and on, on and on!

There are thousands of similar cases out there that still hang on in your memories and hard to let go. But all these examples are sad incidents involving children, whose parents looked up to in their years of aging as pillars to lean on that died under very tragic and sometimes inexplicable circumstances.

 Whether that child is very young or an adult, the pain is still the same. It is especially hard on the mother, not that the father does not feel anything for the loss of a child but the grief that a mother feels is very bitter grief. The father will most likely hold back from openly expressing their emotions as a bereaved parent as it sometimes comes with a sense of guilt. It is very natural for both parents to feel this way when they lose their child but it would be wrong for a parent to feel like they have failed to do something that could have prevented the death. During a time when most people need as much support as they can get from family and friends, this is the time when a lot of friends tend to stay away. Because according to them, they are not sure what to say during this difficult time.

There is, however, no real textbook solution on how to cope with the loss of a child and it is unfortunately a thing that we have to deal with. But in my opinion, there is one thing that will help and that is the BIBLE for it is the only source that has proven to help those that are grieving.

Rest in peace Barbara, Maureen, Melvis and all those that died prematurely. I hope that something will be done by Oroko People to halt such sudden, mysterious and tragic deaths in youthful exuberance of our friends, relatives and colleagues.