kom culture + religion

Humans are wired for stories. Some humans believe, in their hearts, stories that sound true but are actually fiction. Belief and truth can be miles apart. But a human heart can make them neighbours.

TribalMonk

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Education and the Kom Circle of Life

Bobe Emma,

While we wait for Bobe George to "throw more light…", I just want to thank you for turning on the light switch again with this statement:

"I remember in 1993, I helped a PhD research student from the US doing translations, and his field of research was traditional herbs and different methods of traditional healing in our Kom land. I marvelled at how much material he had, but at the time I was wondering why an outsider would be wasting his time on such things…"

What is the purpose of schools and education if what is taught and learned does not translate directly into the lives and living conditions of the citizens of a community? Most educational institutions worth their salt do research, and not just so students can earn PhDs. The research has to help solve a real-world problem. If not, what a waste of everyone's time!

It is heartbreaking to see our brothers and sisters who have "graduated" from institutions with various degrees end up (as one forum member wrote) unemployed, underemployed or virtually jobless. Meanwhile, more schools are built, more parents struggle to pay fees for children to attend them, only to graduate and go back to the "bendskin" cycle of joblessness again. Is something wrong with this picture? What is it? Does anyone have any ideas?

I do. But it is better if everyone takes a little time to think about this picture. See in your mind how it plays out (not like a movie): take the example of a close family member and put yourself in their shoes. At that point you can really "feel" the problem, and then you can put it into words better.

Meanwhile, our funerals must go on, a juju must dance, someone has to taal mɨkum, KOMrades have to dig the grave, our God-sent Kom women still have to make the most delicious food, and the ghɨBobes will split a kola nut and pour libations (with mɨluuh fɨfah), calling on our ancestors to behold the ups and downs of all the years since they left. Then a child is born. And the music begins again from the beginning.

Education without incorporating the Kom Circle of Life is meaningless in a Kom context (if you ask me). And we are just warming up.

iBoisɨ
~wv

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Debt forgiven? Where did the money go?

If you visit an off-licence beer shop and look at the signs, you might find this: "No credit. For credit, come tomorrow."

Well, our poor developing (or still underdeveloped) countries did not have credit. Then they got credit, used it, and, because they have not paid back the creditors, their debt is being forgiven? The signs in the beer shop should now read: "No debt. For debt, went yesterday." And something new: "Free beer for all!"

But there is still this nagging question: where did the money go? Don't tell me so. The next generation of debtors is on its marks, getting set, ready to go.

If you look closely at these so-called "deals" between nations, there is usually more to them than the public imagines. When money changes hands, it really does. If a debt is not repaid, does the money disappear into a black hole? No. It is somewhere.

So when a lecturer at the Russian Institute of Natural Monopolies, Vladislav Ginko, says, "On the one hand, we get political support of these countries, for instance in the UN. On the other hand, it helps negotiate military cooperation…", one should take note and bring it home to one's own reality: will our local politicians sign, accept or hunt for loans that they know will only be repaid by raising their hands at the UN in support of their creditor?

The tortoise and the giraffe can live in the same neighbourhood, but one cannot necessarily see what the other sees.

So…
iBoisɨ
~wv

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If Kom culture has to live

Bobe Nkfum,

Ayongnɨ. Thanks for taking the time (once in a while) to share your informed opinion about KOM issues.

If one does not know the details of one's culture, history and everything possible about one's homeland, that ignorance can lead to a lot of mistakes, mishaps and misjudgements… mis-everything.

I dare say that even at the global level, the conflicts one hears about every day are mostly based on the struggle of one group of people to keep their culture alive and strong and, if possible, to share (impose) it on as many people as possible. That way (since your culture becomes the centre), everyone and everything else revolves around you. Basically, that is what Western culture has done.

But Kom culture does not have to die for Western culture to live. So if Kom culture (and civilization) has to live, what does Kom need to do to make that happen?

Something to think about.
~wv

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Without a foundation, no house can stand

There is a real lack of knowledge among many of our people about their own things. It only goes to prove how we have been beating the bush along a path to nowhere. But few will heed the warning to stop, think and look carefully before carrying on with whatever we think "development" is.

Without a foundation, no house can stand. Without a cultural foundation, no civilization can stand the test of time. If our people do not firm up their foundation, more of the soap operas we are seeing will keep on keeping on. The children are watching, waiting for the cultural portfolio with which to build the future.

Question: are the adults doing their part? You tell me.

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Look at Botswana

Bits of information about a system of kommunity living, taken out of context, can seem a bit strange to the uninformed. Here is the deal: there are 200+ tribes in the Cameroons, and each has its own cultural ecosystem. Then there is the ecosystem of the Franco-Camerounese "national" public-service culture, which permeates all 200 tribal systems one way or another. Question: under this national ecosystem, how are the tribal ecosystems doing? You tell me.

But before that, take a look at the governing system of the Republic of Botswana. Its legislative branch (those who write and uphold the laws) consists of a House of Chiefs plus a National Assembly. If you ask me, this mix of traditional and Western intelligence creates a hybrid that produces better, more practical and more logical laws, the kind that make common sense common for the average man or woman on the street in each community.

My deli sɨ bo.

— Wanaku Verdzekov