Fondom of Bafut

The baby died this morning, about ten minutes after we left the ward. I asked the nurse if the family was there and she said nonchalantly, "yes, they took the corpse already". It struck me as a strange choice of words. 

We spent the day in a town called Bafut, about an hour and a half from the hospital. It is actually the Fondom of Bafut which is synonymous with a Kingdom, as the king of Bafut is known as Fon. The kingdom is over 500 years old and has had 11 Fons in its history. It was taken over by the Germans after a 10 year war in 1911, but was eventually returned to a Fondom after the Fon was released from prison. Prior to Germany's acquisition there were some pretty unsettling practices taking place.

One of the princes gave us a tour of the kingdom (one of the present Fon's many sons) and the first place he took us was a field of stone structures. The first was a large and a small boulder. This is where people with high crimes were punished-- these crimes included fornication and adultery- the large rock was for the men and the small stone was for the women. They would be tied to the structures to die and if they were hungry they were fed their own flesh and if they were thirsty, they were given their own blood to drink. If they were taking too long to die, they would be given to the lepers (or leopards?) to be eaten. There was another structure close by with to cylindrical stones where two virgins were sacrificed every year as they felt that it would keep the Fon powerful. The prince clarified that in present time they sacrifice animals instead.

Where the Fon pays respect to his ancestors, built ~500 years ago.

Huts where the wives live

Taking a break in the market

Walking around the Fondom was very cool, there are a lot of huts where the Fon's wives live and tons of kids running around. The current Fon has 8 wives, but apparently some Fons had 100 wives and fathered close to 500 children. Twins were sacred and triplets were a curse. When the Fon dies, his will is opened for the first time and that is when his successor is named.

There was a small museum where we weren’t allowed to take pictures which had tons of German guns and Bafut war equipment. The Germans fought with guns and the Bafut fought with bow and arrows dipped in snake venom and elephant traps, and still the battle lasted for a decade. If you cross your legs while sitting while you’re in the Fondom it’s a sign of disrespect and you need to pay the Fon a fine of livestock. They also have their own court system.

It was a busy hot day, but pretty interesting. When we arrived back in Mbingo, one of the mountains near the complex was almost completely in flames. Apparently they do this just prior to rainy season to make way for the new crops. It’s alarming to see a wild fire so close to where we are living and working, but no one else seemed phased by it. Tomorrow we are going hiking or horseback riding, Monday I officially start wards.

Another Fulani traffic jam

taxi