bakwerirama

Unraveling Conflicting Narratives about the Origins of the Isubu of Bimbia

By Dibussi Tande

The Isubu (also known as Isuwu) like many other African peoples, have different and sometimes conflicting narratives about their origins. Although it is generally believed that the settlement of Bimbia was founded by Isuwu La Monanga, a native of Womboko, there are emerging alternative narratives which reject the Womboko connection. These alternative versions may be termed the “Duala narratives”, since they emphasize on real or imagined ancestral ties between the Duala and the Isuwu.

Bimbia in 1893: From Colonial Grandeur ...

Letter to the Contestants for the Royal Stool of Victoria (Limbe)

By Mola Njoh Litumbe, Bakweri Notable

There has been lately some discussion in the press pertaining to the succession to the vacant royal stool of Victoria, following the death of HRH Chief Ferguson Billa Manga-Wiiliams.  As potential aspirants gird their loins for the contest, they would do well to have the benefit of history, as it relates to  royal succession in the city of Victoria.

Introducing Max Sako Lyonga: The Man with the Golden Brush

By Dibussi Tande

In October 2004, Cameroonian painter Max Sako Lyonga captured the imagination of the country and made headline news with a breathtaking and grandiose exhibition at the Blaise Cendrars French Cultural Center in Douala. The exhibition, which was titled “Letter to anyboby”, drew thousands of visitors and again confirmed, if need be, that Max Lyonga was without doubt one of the greatest Cameroonian painters of his generation, if not of all times.

According to a World Bank portrait of the artist, “[Max Lyonga’s] native Bakweri culture, the environment, social aspects of life, and intimate scenes and feelings dominate his artistic works which he expresses through abstraction and figurative works.”

Max Sako Lyonga in Images

Click the thumbnails below for a sample of Max Lyonga's paintings

Click here to visit the ARNET website to purchase paintings by Max Lyonga

Art Ambassador

By Simon Mol (Moleke Mo-Njie)

(The Second Renaissance; World Forum of Cyframatics - Villa San Carlo Borromeo, Milan (Italy), Nov’ 29-Dec’ 5, 2005)

On ALITALIA flight nr. 555 from Warsaw to Milan last Tuesday, Dec’ 29th, I picked a copy of the Financial Times and flipped through to the space reserved for Art critics – on page 10. An article written by Samson Spanier tilted The Critics, captured my attention. Somewhere between Spanier states and I quote, ‘Giambologna, the great sculptor after Michelangelo’s death, was said to care nothing for money because he wanted only artistic glory’. True to this line of thinking, here is what Simone Fortuna wrote to the Duke of Urbino in 1581 about Giambologna: "He is the best sort of man one could ever want to meet, not greedy at all, as one can tell from his being so poor: all that he wants is glory and his greatest ambition is to rival Michelangelo.

Book Review of "Sophia's Fire": A Fako Sage's Ouevre

Reviewed by Emil I Mondoa, MD

Sango Mbella. Sophia’s Fire. Pittsburgh, PA, G&V Publishing. 2005 (ISBN 0-9768150-0-1)

Sango Mbella is the nomme de plume of a United States-based sage and writer, who seems to prefer a degree of anonymity at this time.  His publisher, who sent me a copy of his work, “Sophia’s Fire” describes him as a writer, scientist and entrepreneur and holder of several US and international patents and that he hails from Ambas Bay. I understand when writers want to be anonymous, and have no desire to unmask the man of mystery nor to question his reason for not wanting to take public credit for a well-written and profound book.
Sophia is the Greek goddess of wisdom, and fire is the symbol of energy. That gives one an idea of the scope of the book, whose purpose is to impart the reader with the wisdom required to succeed on earth.

Before the First Rooster Crows - A Poem

By Eposi N. W. Tokeson

Moms prepare their wares for the market place
Dads sharpen their cutlasses for the farms.
Moms heat up (ekwakoko ya weku).
Children get up reluctantly from their cozy beds when the 3rd rooster
crows.
And line up with their buckets, for the stream to fetch water.

The Horseman's Woman

By Mbella Sonne Dipoko

Some Bakweri people in Great Soppo owned horses
When I was growing up in that village as a small boy, going to school
In the late 1940s of the just-ended century.
And on the Mission Hill too there were horses
On which white missionaries sometimes rode
For the fun of it for they also had their station wagons.
Maybe it was because of those horses
That I came to write
About a woman who never betted on the races, not being a gambler,
But who nevertheless was always dreaming of a big black horse
On which a man sometimes came riding through her farm,
A big black horse that sometime was No. 6
And at other times it was marked No. 9
And always it was painful to her
Whenever that man came riding through her farm
As if it was no longer her private property
But the village common or the Town Green
On which any black horse could gallop
And any cow graze.

The Bakweri Drums

By Eposi NW Tokeson

The rhythm starts slowly
With a pause
Then the throbs increase their pulse
The pulse increases to tones that needle the shock waves
of the senses
Into your brain, hair follicles, stomach and feet
Like an electric shock of fever waves
That moves from your toes all the way to
The hairs on your head in a flash
Then the hairs remain standing as the rhythm continues
Then the throbs send currents to the shoulders to move
Left- right -then left.
Flashes of continues uncontrollable movement then
Stop.
That is the way of the Bakweri drums.

Obituary: Chief Manga Williams is Dead!

The Paramount Chief of Victoria (Limbe), H.R.H Chief Ferguson Billa Manga Williams has died. He died on Saturday, July 9, at about 11:00 am in his Down Beach Palace.

Born on February 1, 1919, in Victoria (now Limbe), late Manga Williams was the fourth child of his parents: Chief John Manga Williams and his mother, Iteki Ida Williams née Do'o of Bonabile in Bimbia. He was the second child of his mother. He succeeded his father in 1959.

The Two Bueas: Buea North (Then) Buea South (Now)

By Canute Tangwa

I spent the long 20th May weekend in Buea. It was both exciting and chilling. Exciting because every time I visit Buea, the town and land of my birth, I go down memory lane. I always look forward to meeting good old friends; savour the warmth and hospitality of the indigenous people (the Bakweri); think about or visit the prestigious schools we attended, popular joints (Holiday Inn, Cybel, Olivia, Mobutu) where we used to sit and crack jokes over bottles of beer;

Performer, Audience, and Performance Context of Bakweri Pregnancy Rituals and Incantations

By Babila Mutia (Cahiers d'études africaines, no. 177, 2005)

Abstract:
This article presents a comprehensive description of the four kinds of rituals that are performed on pregnant women among the Bakweri of South-western Cameroon. These pregnancy rituals are performed to avert abortions, premature deliveries, still births, and to ensure safe delivery. They are also intended to keep the pregnant woman healthy during her gestation period. The four rituals are performed by four separate nganga (traditional doctors). The implication here is that the pregnant woman moves from one herbalist to the other as her pregnancy progresses and need for each ritual arises. Of equal significance in this article is the consideration of the incantations that are chanted by each nganga and which complement each of the rituals as verbal art.

Simon Efange: "Brain Gain" Pioneer

Professor of Chemistry at the University of Buea, Cameroon

In the past two decades, the socio-economic and political development of most African countries has been severely hampered by the massive exodus of its highly skilled human resources to developed countries -- the infamous brain drain phenomenon. Recently, however, there have been coordinated attempts by international institutions, NGOs, and some African Governments at stemming or simply reversing the tide by creating enabling conditions that would facilitate the return Africa's intellectual capital to Africa - the much touted "Brain Gain" movement or the "reverse brain drain".

While this movement has gained steam in many Southern, Eastern and West African countries such as South Africa, Kenya and Ghana, it is an idea that has yet to be embraced at state level Cameroon. In spite of the absence of institutional incentives, some skilled Cameroonians are nonetheless taking the plunge and making that generally uncertain and risky return to the motherland

Philosophical Basis for Bakweri Mysticism

By Magnus P. Mukoko-Mokeba

Culled from ABBIA, Vol. 3 (September 1963): 39-44.

Bakweris inhabit the south-western portion of the Federal Republic of Cameroon. They are part of what sociologist E. W. Ardener has described as "Coastal Bantus". In this article, we shall endeavour to examine and describe some of their philosophical concepts in order to understand the basis of their spiritual life.

Usage has rendered a number of words ambiguous and vague: This is particularly true of words such as "democracy", "communism" and "justice". Definitions of such words are apt to be arbitrary and my definition of philosophy claims no exception to arbitrariness. For the purpose of this article we shall define philosophy as the critical reflection on the justification of basic human beliefs and analysis of basic concepts in terms of which such beliefs are expressed.

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Bakweri words of wisdom: "Mooli mo Wanga ne Eyea Wanga"

By Mola Mbua Ndoko

35.  Mooli mo Waanga na Eyea Wanga.
(A vine clinging to a tree in the forest).
Source: Tales of the Plants and Animals World.
mooli = twine; a rope;

eyee = a stick.
Mooli  mo  Wanga = a climbing stem in the forest.
Eyea Wanga = a tree in the forest.
Likomba  la  wanga = an area thickly covered with large trees to an extent that it is dark under the trees; a virgin forest.
yosa = friends/friendship.
joono = a finger.
nganda = a finger/toe nail.
yosa  ya  joono  na  nganda = tight friends; inseparable, for instance, a finger and its nail

FAKO SUMMIT OF HOPE

By Mola Fritz Ngale Ilongo

Fiery crown of the Kpes
Guarding refugees on exile from lands ancestral
Brooding brow wreathed with cloud waves high and low of tide
Mirror reflecting flitting emotions experienced below awesome giant.
From sources mysterious, rivers and fountains red molten
Are belched suddenly
The invincible floods preceded by shivers earth-shaking

Prelude to gigantic vomits
Coughing out earth's bowels devouring
Terror of generations
Never committing the error of annihilating species menaced by extinction
Seeking protection grace within arms colossal.
Solid flanks of forest green repel invasion onslaughts
Petering out into savannah lush
Dancing brushes waving gaily in soft breezes without caprice

Crossing the Mungo River: An Eyewitness Account

By Lyombe Eko - Iowa City, Iowa, USA

I have crossed many African rivers–both literal and figurative–but none of my many experiences prepared me to cross the Mungo river on a dugout canoe without a life-vest. It was with a heavy heart and a rather disorganized frame of mind that I arrived Douala on the evening of July 29th. It was about 5:30 pm. I set my sights for Buea, hoping to get there in time to take part in funeral services for my mother, who had travelled to the land of the ancestors a few days earlier.

A taxi driver at the Douala airport informed me that because of repair work on the Wouri bridge, taxis were not allowed to cross to Bonaberi. He offered to take me to the Mungo river crossing in his private car–at a hefty fee (about $30). Since it was getting late, I did not have much of a choice. I hopped into his taxi and we changed cars infront of the airport. We got to the Mungo river at about 6:45 pm. The skeleton of the collapsed Mungo bridge rose into view like a rotting elephant carcass as we approached the river.

Click here to read the complete article

Bakweri Words of Wisdom 30:Nyaaka, asa mbee-ya o-woolo

By Mola Mbua Ndoko

Nyaaka, asa mbee-ya o-woolo (A cow ceases to be wild when it is inside a canoe)

nyaaka = a cow.
woolo = a canoe.
Ikanje = the Bakweri name for River Mungo.
Mofondo or Mofondo mo Valongi = the Bakweri name for "Mpundu" village

Yasi nanu:
Five Ewonji men came to Wonyavio to buy a "nyaaka". After they had seen all the "nyaaka" that were available for sale they decided to buy a wild nyaaka which belonged to Mola Monge-nya mo Linde. In an attempt by ten persons to catch the nyaaka, it became excited, and ran wild towards Muea, then to Wolifamba wo Lelu, then down to Wokaka, and to Lysoka, then to Ekona Mbenge. At Mautu, the ten men who had been running after the nyaaka caught it when it was struggling to find its way through a thick cluster of strong climbing stems. The.Ewonji men then decided to take the nyaaka to Mofondo and sail with it in a canoe down River Mungo (Ikanje) to the creeks, then to Ewonji. The Wonya-vio men expressed surprise that Ewonji men were taking a grave risk to sail in one canoe with the wild nyaaka.

Did Traditional "Mokpwe" Houses Have Windows?

By Mola Mbua Ndoko

Did traditional Mokpwe houses have windows?

Mokpwe traditional houses as I knew them before I started going to school at the age of eight had no windows. The walls were constructed with "vee-ye", "ngonja", "vekaka", "meyowo me mae", "meyoli me wanga/likomba". The "veyee" were planted on the ground like a fence.

"Ngonja", or "vekaka" or "meyowo me mae" were tied neatly and firmly, using "meyoli", on the skeleton wall. Sun light entered the house through the entrance to the house, while air and smoke circulated through openings between the walls and the roof, through the several holes that were created by the "meyoli" that were tied on the skeleton walls, and through the entrance to the house.

Drawing Strength from the Past

By Simon Mol

PART I

Is there really any future? The reoccurring presence of the Past points to the Powerlessness of the future, as it dies out to become meal for the Past. The fact is, man or tribe is nothing without its Past, which he yearns to return to, consciously or unconsciously, even after Death.

The Bakweri concept of immortally and reincarnation is Not a matter of belief but a one of Experience; a dynamic truth that challenges current dogmatic concepts.

Growing Black in Nazi Germany: The Story of Mola Martin Ngeka Luma

On April 13, 2003, Mola Martin Ngeka Luma, one of the most prominent and most venerated sons of Fako of our times, died in Douala after a protracted illness. His death brought to a close one of the most fascinating lives of our time; that of a little Bakweri kid who grew up in Nazi Germany with a Jewish family and later became a minister in the Government of Ahmadou Ahidjo in Cameroon.

According to Mola's biography as presented by his son Peter Luma at his funeral:

The Late Hon. Dr. M.N.LUMA was born on 10th September 1927 at Tongo. His father Nako LUMA died three months before he was born while his mother Sarah Ngombe died six months after his birth. Hon. Dr. Martin Ngeka LUMA was adopted later in his life by a childless German Family ,the Reinholds. In 1929 he was taken to Germany by his adopted parents.

Children's Games (Maloko ma wana): Kweti

By Eposi Tokeson

Kweti is a game that is played during the rainy season by the fireside.  This game emphasizes the importance of naming one's relatives and it emphasizes the importance of memory and quick thinking; The winner has to be very smart in verbal expression, physical dexterity and also to have a sharp memory.

A visit to the Maalé: A Festival of the Mokpe Secret Society of the Elephant

By Lyombe Eko - Iowa City, Iowa, USA

We live in an age of mascots. Transnational political groupings, nations, ethnic and tribal groupings, organizations, companies and sports franchises all have social symbols or mascots that incarnate their values, ethics and aspirations. Not so with the Whakpe (Bakweri) people group of Fako division in the South West Province of Cameroon.

The symbol of the Bakweri people is the elephant or Njoku. To say that the Bakweri have a mascot, which happens to be the elephant, would be an understatement. Indeed, the reverse is true. For the Bakweri, the elephant, a denizen of the rain forests of the slopes of Mount Fako, is not just a mascot.

Bakweri words of wisdom 25. Metoti, me-yoke-ya vaana

By Mola Mbua Ndoko

Metoti, me-yoke-ya vaana; Vaana va li-ngani loke-ya o-metoti (Children like to play on level land)

Source: Tales of the Animal World
metoti = low and level lands.
Koo/Koo a Nyame = a mole.
Kaave/Kaava Nyame = a deer.
mooli = a hill.
mbee-mbe = a slope on the side of a ravine.

Yasi nanu:
"Koo a Nyame" and "Kaava Nyame" were friends. Koo built his house at the bottom of a hill, on level land near a stream; Kaava Nyame however built his own house at the top of a stony slope of a hill, from where, to his satisfaction, the house was seen from the towns of Gbwenga, Ewonji, Meselele and far away Douala.

Stylistic Patterns in Oral Literature: The Form and Structure of Bakweri Dirges

BABILA J. MUTIA - University of Yaounde I, Cameroon

Nordic Journal of African Studies 12(3): 387–406 (2003)

ABSTRACT
This article examines and analyses the language of dirges among the Kpe (or Bakweri), a homogenous ethnic group of semi-Bantu stock in the Southwestern region of Cameroon. By so doing, it exposes the fascinating language variety of the Kpe dirge form as poetry. The article is of the view that the structure of the dirges, their chant and antiphonal form, the figurative language employed by the performers (that includes lyrical repetition, personification, symbolism, imagery, apt metaphors, and allusions) constitutes some of the essential components that are utilized in the realization of this funeral poetry.

In Memoriam: Mola Ndeley Mokoso is No More

It is with deep sadness that the Bakwerirama team announces the death of prominent Bakweri novelist, poet, painter, journalist and politician, Mola Stephen Ndeley Mokoso, on June 9 in London, England.

According to news reports, Mola Ndeley:

... came to the UK a few years ago to pursue treatment for a long ailment, but his life here was full of activity. He continued his work of art and writing, seeking to perfect all the time. He won many friends among the retired who took after his inspirational talents. On the occasion of Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee, he was hailed by the local press as the man who had on official duties brushed the Royal family in three different decades. Queen Elizabeth on her visit to Nigeria, Prince Philip on his visit to Cameroon and Prince Charles to whom he offered his famous painting of the Victoria Botanical Gardens.

In Memoriam: Poetry By Ndeley Mokoso

A SALUTE TO MOUNT FAKO

I stand at the salute
my right hand aloft and my head salaamed
to the great Olympus of West Africa
the colossus, citadel and sanctuary of the Bakweri-men of old
from the daring exploits of early despots in the name of
explorers and patriarchs
substituting native despotism for white civilization
and bringing Christendom into heathendom
from the traffickers of black gold
from the ruthless Hun with his sticks spitting out fire and death
the pogrom of a hostile and stubborn race
the rape of a people by a people
But KUVA LIKENYE stood his ground in complete defiance of the carnage
the hero of his emasculated people
and you roared, shook and fumed in wrath
belched out smoke, fire and brimstone
The terrestrial brotherhood scampered in panic and pitched
their bastion in Douala
but that was a long, long time ago
before my father's father
But there you are ! Moli mo FAKO! LAIR OF IFASA MOTO!
bulwark of ages
still dominating the scene
indomitable, majestically dormant
the Giant Pyramid of West Africa
I salute! I salute you!

Winner of the 1995 Cameroon National Poetry Award

Bakwerirama Seeks Artistic Representation of Efasamoto

Bakwerirama seeks artists to make an inspired conception of Efasamoto (Ephasa Mote), the spirit or God of Mt Fako and the ethical guide of the Bakweri people. Artists do not need to be native to Fako, but any skilled person who is awed and inspired by the idea of a powerful being, half human and half rock; generous and bountiful but severe to transgressors who are greedy and inconsiderate of the environment. There are a few references in this website to this God.

Meet Bakwerirama Authors/Editors: Iya Mojoko Ewusi

A born teacher, Iya Mojoko is passionate and knowledgeable in Bakweri culture and is one of the foremost in a unique crop of individuals determined to ensure that the culture not only survives, but adapts and remains dynamic and vital well into the future. Born and raised in Mokunda (Buea), she taught kindergarten and elementary school for 10 years both in Cameroon and the USA, where she worked in inner city schools where she was an advocate for women and children of low income families.

She currently works as a pediatric nurse in the Minneapolis/St Paul metropolis, so her focus continues to be children. She is a busy mother with a family of her own. As if her hands were not already full, she holds a diploma in computer networking.

Fako America 10th Anniversary Convention, Dallas July 2-4 2004: Travel Update

Fako America 10th Anniversary Convention, Dallas July 2-4 2004:  Fact Sheet No. 1

Preferred Airport

Dallas, Fort Worth Airport

 Official Convention Hotel 

Hampton Inn Hotel @ Walnut Hill
11069 Composite Drive
Dallas, TX 75229
Phone: 972-484-6557
Fako America Group Code: 83829870

Profits Support BLCC Advocacy

Bakweri words of wisdom 20: Vesongo, veyondi ve mbgweli Lisee-ngi e-kumba !

Vesongo is the name of the leaves of a plant called mose-seni; plural, mese-seni.  Mose-seni grows to a height of about three metres.  The branches spread horizontally and bear more branches as they spread.  Mose-seni has unique hard leaves.  Bakweri traditional baskets for carrying farm products are woven by crossing stripes of mese-seni over and under each other.

Esongo = singular of vesongo.
 
Lisee-ngi is a kind of tree that grows to a height of about ten metres or more.
kumba = honour/respect/fame; pride.
mooko = stunted; slow growth.
mwaana  juume = imp.
molonjo = a valley.
li-ngoole = to roll.
limise/li-limise = to erase; to extinguish.
Woli-nyama = all animals; the Animal World.
Ikule/Ikula  Nyame = a tortoise.
foo = far away.
Foo = the Bakweri ancestral name for the town of Victoria presently known as Limbe. 

Different Views of Buea

Photographs courtesy of Mola Isaac Menyoli.
It is impossible to convey, even in photographs the overwhelming physical presence of Mount Fako in the foreground.

Meet Bakwerirama Authors/ Editors: Iya Rosemary Ekosso

Iya Rosemary Ekosso was born in Buea. She holds a B.A. in English and French, as well as postgraduate certificates in Translation and Interpreting. She has worked as translator/interpreter since 1995, first with public and semi-public bodies of the Cameroon government, in addition to extensive freelance work, and is currently employed in the same capacity by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Tanzania.

Decribed by contemporaries as "one of the brightest of our generation", her contributions in Bakwerirama attest to the truth of that assertion.

Contact:

THE LEOPARD AND THE GOAT

AFRICAN JUNGLE TALES originally collected and retold by C.J. Bender
Haldeman-Julius Company, 1919

Again, we invite your comments on this story. Do you know a different version or interpretation?

The Leopard and the Goat were friends. One day they went out camping together. They built themselves a hut in a secluded spot in the jungle, where they could live and do just as they pleased.

After they had everything in shape, the Leopard went hunting. He met with unusual good luck and returned with much game. On this they lived for a number of days.

Then it was the Goat's turn to furnish supplies. But instead of going after the game himself he went to a hunter and bought what he wanted in the line of food. He also bought a leopard-skin which the hunter offered for sale.

When he reached home, the Goat hid the leopard-skin back of the hut, but the meat he took along inside.

Witchcraft in Contemporary Bakweri Society by Rosemary Ekosso

The belief in witchcraft or liemba is very common among the Bakweri. It considered to be the art of influencing the lives of other people by occult means. Such influence is usually malevolent and affects a person’s spirit, and through that, his mind and body. Alternatively, it is benevolent, but requires the harnessing of such powerful and potentially ungovernable forces that its practice is shunned by many people. In the Western world, people who practise witchcraft can be referred to either as Wicca (male witches) and Wicce (female witches), or wizards and witches, also respectively male and female practitioners of witchcraft. For our purposes we shall use the latter terminology. Witchcraft shall be considered here to be good or bad witchcraft, depending on whether ‘black magic’ or ‘white magic’ is used. Among the Bakweri, bad magic is what is known as liemba. Good magic is often just called.

THE BAKWERI: NYONGO WITCHCRAFT AND THE "BANANA BOOM” OF THE 1950s

By Cyprian F. Fisiy & Peter Geshiere
(Translated from French by Dibussi Tande)

The classic study on the relationship between economic development and witchcraft in Cameroon is by [Edwin] Ardener, which analyzes how the Bakweri broke free from the Nyongo terror in the 1950s, thus benefiting from the Banana-boom.

The Bakweri are a small group of about 16000 people [pre-independence statistics ed.] who live on the steep but fertile slopes of Mount Cameroon, close to Cameroon's southwestern coast.

Before the beginning of colonial conquest in the early 1880s, the Bakweri constituted a very fragmentary society dominated by an egalitarian ideology-- it is not even certain that there was ever a real chieftaincy position at the village level. Ardener however emphasizes that there was a strong tendency among the Bakweri to accumulate wealth, particularly, goats, pigs and short cows. It was through accumulation that individuals increased their prestige in the villages.

Titi Ikoli: Sexual Insult and Female Militancy among the Bakweri

By Shirley Ardener

An excerpt from “Sexual Insult and Female Militancy.” In Shirley Ardener (ed.), 1975. Perceiving Women. London; Malaby Press, pp. 29-53

This article attempts to examine certain manifestations of female militancy in Africa, not only for their own interest, but also to see whether they can throw any light upon the completely independent modern women’s liberation movements with which we are now familiar in the West. The African ethnographical material, which is set out first, refers mainly to the Bakweri, the Balong and the Kom of West Cameroon. Besides oral reports collected from Cameroonians about traditional behaviour and on particular occurrences, for the Bakweri there is additional relevant documentation from Court records.

Scale of African slavery revealed

BBC NEWS | Africa | Scale of African slavery revealed
The Bakweri people are part of Africa, and so are not completely insulated from the terrible practices described in this BBC report. Geography (isolation imposed by the mountain), relative prosperity and abundance of good nutrition could have something to do with this. Increased population, migration and a rise in crime ensure that child slavery is not too far from our doors. We must be vigilant

The trafficked children can face terrible physical and emotional abuse

The trafficking of human beings is a problem in every African country, says the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef).

The report, which covers 53 African nations, says children are the biggest victims in what is a very complex phenomenon.

It describes how they are forced into slavery, recruited as child soldiers or sold into prostitution.

In Africa, children are twice as likely to be trafficked as women.

WHY THE WEAVER-BIRD AND THE WOODPECKER ARE ENEMIES

Comments (including long ones) Invited
This and other stories that are going to be posted here in the coming weeks were collected, retold and published by Rev Carl Bender in 1919 under the title: "African Jungle Tales". Many of of us listened to some of version of these same stories as a children. Bender clearly wrote for an American or European audience, and although his writing is on the whole sympathetic and very progressive, some of today's reader might consider some of the language dated by today's standards. We would like readers to comment and "reAfricanize" the stories. A lot of folk tales had accompanying songs. If you remember the wordings of the songs, please post them too.

The Woodpecker and the Weaver-Bird one day went on a hike together. When they saw that they could not reach their destination the same day any more, the Woodpecker suggested that they build huts for themselves in which they could put up for the night.

"All right," said the Weaver. And they went to work.