Dark deeds are afoot...
on Tales from a Mud Hut (Cameroon), 24/Jan/2009 14:47, 34 days ago
Yesterday I met a friend for lunch. I asked her how things were going in Mokolo, the small town where she works."You mean, apart from the riots?" she replied.Riots?Apparently it started about a week ago. Several girls at a local high school suddenly came down with a mysterious illness, characterised in most cases by a sort of epileptic fit. It was not long before another high school reported a similar phenomenon. The girls were taken to hospital where they were found to show symptoms of diseases common to the area, such as malaria and typhoid.This was not, however, the conclusion drawn by the local community. The fits were instead taken as absolute proof that the girls had been possessed by evil spirits. But who would do such a thing? The culprit, in everyone's eyes, could only be the local school director. He was, after all, from the south; furthermore, he had studied in Spain, where he had picked up a style of dress markedly different from the local fashion - including, on occasion, bracelets. There was no doubting that he was a wizard.Retribution was swift. A group of high school students started a demonstration that was quickly joined by most of the town. Teachers fled from their classrooms as their pupils were recruited to the cause by large gangs of protesters. The director's house was burnt down; his wife escaped with minor injuries. The director himself was cornered in his office by a mob clearly intent on killing him, until mercifully a police envoy managed to scatter the would-be assassins.The director and his family are currently hiding in my friend's compound, unsure of what to do next. Curiously, it seems that this is not an isolated case of mass hysteria: people from the south of Cameroon who hold high positions in the north are often accused of witchcraft or other heinous sins. The south is considered to be more developed and its residents better educated, which is why many southerners, especially teachers, are sent by the government to serve a stretch in the north. The hope, ostensibly, is that the balance shall be evened out, but the more common response appears to be jealousy and hostility on the part of the 'less-developed' northerners.The incident in Mokolo also brought home to me the influence of ideas about witchcraft and sorcery in northern Cameroon. Beliefs such as those described above are not confined to rural towns and villages; even the President of my organisation is a strong believer. We recently learnt that he consults a 'marabou', or sorcerer, on a regular basis in order to cast spells on those he wants to control. For example, if he wants to seduce a woman, he rubs a lotion over his hands and arms and then does the same to the object of his attention by shaking her hand, squeezing her shoulder or stroking her arms. The victim will then fall under his power and agree to marry him. The spell does not last forever, which is perhaps unfortunate for the woman who suddenly wakes up to find herself married to President Math. (I can't help feeling, however, that this is how most seductions in the West are carried out, only with the man drenched in Lynx or something equally repugnant).Anyway, riots and sorcery aside, I made it back to Maroua with few hiccups (leaving my house keys in England being one of them). I had a wonderful time in England, ate twice my weight in mince pies and Christmas pudding and even managed to smuggle some marmite and bags of PG Tips into Cameroon. I also discovered to my delight that quite a few people have been kind enough to read my blog, making me feel very bad for not updating it very often. From now on I promise an entry at least every two weeks. Next week: the Naked Man of Maroua. You have been warned!