Kribi, Oct. 14 – It is not everyday that you
get to boast about dancing with the Baka
pygmies of the Cameroon, but I did. It
reminded me of my years in my village in
Nigeria. Or conflicted by the experience.
Why should I be conflicted by the
experience? Because here I am an African
from Nigeria with the perception that I am
behaving like those white people who you see
all over the black world being welcomed with
song and dance. But when I thought about
it, I felt more comfortable being in the
midst of the Baka Pygmies, enjoying their
company and their dance as I participated.
Our journey up to this point, the Pygmy Village,
had taken us from New York on Saturday October
12, through Delta Airlines to Paris, and from
Paris through Air France arriving Douala on
Sunday, October 13, at around 7 pm. We had been
reminded several times that we would have to pay
the visa fee of $150.00 on our arrival at Douala
Airport. But on our arrival, our passports were
collected by immigration officials, and as a
gesture of goodwill to the media group, our
passports were processed without our paying the
$150 fee, which I thought was a good gesture on
the part of the country that we would be writing
about.
We ended that evening at the Bano Palace
Hotel in Douala, a clean hotel with nothing
special to recommend it. In the morning, we
set out on our way to Kribi, from one
coastal city to another down south, about
110 miles from Douala. Of course, right
from the airport, we had been joined by
officials of the Ministry of Tourism who
were accompanying
us according to the schedule they
had made for us, including Mr. Eric
Epoune, Head of the Communications
Unit and Mrs. Judith Ewonkem,
Service Head for Promotional
Activity of the Tourism Ministry, as
well as Ms. Carole Ayissi, who
chronicled with her powerful camera
every move we made during the whole
media and Congress event.
The media group included Mrs. Abena
Agyeman-Fisher, senior editor at News
One who had accompanied the Obamas
during their recent trip to Africa; Mr.
Jonathan Black, of the Travel Weekly and
a former managing editor of the Playboy
Magazine; Mr. Michael Marcos, Publisher
of World Traveller based in Canada; Mr.
Adam McCauley, free lance writer for the
Atlantic Magazine who had lived in
several African countries; Ms. Dorkys
Ramos of the BET; Ms. Kimberley Wilson
of Black Enterprise; and of course
myself, Dean of the African Media in the
U.S. Two other media individuals
included Ms. Claudine Moore of CMoore
Media who organized the media group on
behalf of Arik Air; and Mr. Joseph
Placide, ATA Liaison to the media group.
On the way to Kribi, we had passed
several towns and villages. As the
Toyota Coaster bus neared the Pygmy
Village, the road wides to a four lane
highway, as just several blocks away is
the deep sea port being constructed by
the Cameroonian government. On the
left, I notice two very ramshackle huts
with thatched roofs on a small clearing
up the mound, too small to contain two
people, let alone more than 40 people no
matter how small they are. As we
descend from the bus, the Baka Pygmies
seem to know that we are there to meet
with them. They quickly line up and sit
on two raised wooden planks. They seem
unfazed by our arrival. We had been
told many times that the Pygmies don’t
like what’s happening in their area of
abode, that they would prefer to move
back into the deeper rainforest. They
are not happy with the developments
around them, especially with the sea
port being constructed.
We climb the mound to where they are
gathered. The first thing I noticed was
that not every Pygmy is short: in fact,
I noticed several tall ones. They are
generally supposed to be on the average
side of between 4’6″ to 4’9″, but some
were 5’6″ or taller.
The four or five elders are standing at
one side, while the rest are seated.
The chief is introduced. An interpreter
is provided who understands the Pygmy
language, but told me he himself is not
a Pygmy but their villages abut one
another. Then a French interpreter in
the person of Judith Ewonkem who
translates French into English for us.
The chief is supposedly 75 years old,
according to him, but basically most of
them don’t really know how old they
are. During our conversation with the
chief and some of the elders, they
repeat what we have already been told:
they are not happy how their environment
is being brutalized and commercialized;
how they are no longer able to hunt and
feed themselves. They would feel better
to move deeper into the rainforest,
where they would be able to fend for
themselves. There is an subtle
insinuation that government is not doing
enough to cater for them.
(This sort of provokes a lecture the
next morning from our Tourism Ministry
officials that we should be talking to
them about what the Pygmies want, rather
than talking to them directly to find
out what they are really about. So why
take us their in the first place, if we
were just to look at them and neither
talk with them nor ask questions).
My question and concern were for how
long would they continue to move into
the deeper rainforest, as there is heavy
logging in Cameroon and the loggers
would continue to encroach on them, and
development would continue to reach
wherever they decide to move. Why don’t
they just send their children to school
so that they could begin to socialize
with other children and eventually learn
some trade. In fact, I noticed a young
lady at least 5’9″ with two children.
Though she was tall, her two children
didn’t seem like they would reach her
own height. She didn’t fit into the
mode of a Pygmy. I asked her why she
didn’t go to school as nobody would
associate her with being a Pygmy. She
replied and inferred that she could not
afford the expense, as there was no
school near enough to where they now
live
To be fair, in talking with many
Cameroonians, they throw up their
hands and say that the government
has tried to do a lot for the Pygmy,
but that they prefer their way of
life.
As the interviews wound to a close, the
Pygmy started beating their wooden
musical equipment and the dancing
started. The old and the young, men and
women would go into the circle and
dance. Meanwhile, I had given the Chief
the sum of 5000 CFA and then I went to
the floor and gyrated to the music. I
left the circle and noticed that they
had put a bowl on the floor so that
people could contribute money to them.
But to my utter consternation, none of
my group was putting any money into the
bowl, maybe as I reasoned through
ignorance of the custom. So, I picked
up the bowl and went directly to each of
the media personalities and pushing the
bowl in front of them to contribute.
Discussing later, at least it seemed we
had raised at least CFA 30,000 for them
that daySome
of the people were like, what’s this? It
is the custom, I replied. It reminded
me of my childhood back in the village.
To my mind, I doubt that the Baka
Pygmies, though the first people to
settle in present day Cameroon, would be
able to survive the onslaught of
commercialization and development, which
would lead to them being a relic of the
past. What a tragedy that would be!!