The Mysterious Lake

Mbunue Ngu

Description

This book tells the story of my life, growing up in the village in Bambili as a child. Life then was serene and the things we treasured, such as picking kola nuts, helping friends with house chores in order to finish and play, were great pass time. As one of the few among my cohorts who was privileged to go to school, this was a game changer. My life story shows the entanglements and aspirations of a wife and mother juggling life as a teacher, a politician, a philanthropist and a religious person. Importantly, life as a grandmother and great grandmother added another dimension to my being, from the village girl who attended college, got married and moved away to town and to travelling the globe to visit children and grandchildren and taking up American citizenship. To all those senior citizens with grandchildren and great-grandchildren who ask questions and request stories told without relent, I hope this book makes a modest contribution to the joys of being a granny.

Sujets

• Autobiography
• Regional
• The Women
• Woman
• Teacher
• Indigenous
• Biography
• Women
• Native American
• Cultural
• Ethnic
• Aboriginal
• Educators

Informations

• Publié par: Langaa RPCIG
• Date de parution: 20 juillet 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9789956552092
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 42 Mo

Extrait

nuts, helping friends with house chores in order to finish and play, were great

five boys and three girls. She has twelve grandchildren and one greatgrandchild.

THE MYSTERIOUS LAKE

THE MYSTERIOUS LAKE From a Village Girl to Mami America

THERESIA MBUNUE NGU

THERESIA MBUNUE NGU

The Mysterious Lake: From a Village Girl to Mami America Theresia Mbunue Ngu

L a ng a a R esea rch & P u blishing CIG Mankon, Bamenda

Publisher: LangaaRPCIG Langaa Research & Publishing Common Initiative Group P.O. Box 902 Mankon Bamenda North West Region Cameroon [e-mail] www.langaa-rpcig.net Distributed in and outside N. America by African Books Collective [e-mail] www.africanbookscollective.com

ISBN-10: 9956-552-80-1

ISBN-13: 978-9956-552-80-1

©Theresia Mbunue Ngu 2022 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical or electronic, including photocopying and recording, or be stored in any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher

Dedication This book is dedicated to my late parents, Pa Michael Foleng and Mama Anastasia Chwefung. Mum, although you left me at the tender age of nine, I felt your presence all through my life, even now. Dad, your love for me was outstanding, thank you for always making me feel special. In so many ways, you filled the gap the absence of a mother left in my life. I miss you both. Rest in peace. Adieu.

Acknowledgement

This book is produced, thanks to the persistent efforts of my son-in-law, Professor Francis Nyamnjoh. At first, he made just a passing statement suggesting I write a book about my life, which I waved aside and we went on to other matters. His constant insistence on the matter made me really think about it and I finally gave in and began writing a few months later. I would like to thank him tremendously for his encouragement without which this book would not exist. Many thanks also go to my granddaughter Chenyl, for typing the manuscript. To my daughter Bernadine, I say bravo for doing the correction and general supervision of the book. You did an awesome job. I have not forgotten you Doctor Mrs Henrietta Nyamnjoh, Sue Nyamnjoh, and Emmanuella Nyamnjoh for typing and proofreading. I sincerely appreciate you Caroline Nyamnjoh for final corrections and assembling the book. Your contributions played a vital role in accomplishing my dream. Finally, I pay special tribute to Professor Nyamnjoh for his patience in waiting for the complete work. At times l will forget l am writing a book. This did not play a negative role on him. Thank you all very much who have contribute, in one form or another, to making it possible for me to have a story to share. Without my encounters with all of you, I would have no story to tell.

Table of Contents Chapter 1: Growing Up ........................................ 1 Chapter 2: Pre-School Era in My Village ............. 9 Chapter 3: School ................................................. 15 Chapter 4: The Excursion .................................... 29 Chapter 5: College Life ........................................ 37 Chapter 6: Good-bye Kumba ............................... 45 Chapter 7: Marriage Life ...................................... 51 Chapter 8: Political Life ....................................... 65 Chapter 9: Life with Grandchildren ..................... 71 Chapter 10: Visits to Children and Grandchildren 81 Chapter 11: Philanthropy ...................................... 83 Chapter 12: Social Life.......................................... 87 Chapter 13: Insurgence of Democracy................. 91 Chapter 14: Religious Life on the Move............... 97 Chapter 15: Mami America .................................. 101 Chapter 16: My Life in Photos ............................. 105

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Chapter 1 Growing Up Fourteen kilometres from Bamenda, headquarters of the North-West Region, on the way to Bui just before the undulating slopes of Sabga, is a village called Bambili. This village is so small with less than 300 000 inhabitants, yet Cameroon’s history is incomplete without bringing in Bambili. Her importance stems from the fact that she is the cradle of education in the whole Grassfields region. It started with the opening of the Cameroon College of Arts, Science and Technology (CCAST) Bambili in 1962, followed by Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS) and finally by the University of Bamenda. Every person born in Bambili is usually filled with some air of importance when making a self-introduction in public. You can imagine how I feel writing my story, being born in Bambili. I am highly delighted. Yes, inside this village way back on the 8th of January 1944, a seventh child was born to Pa Michael Foleng and Ma Anastasia Chwefung all of blessed memory. Like any other child in those days, I grew up being cared for by my elder sister Helen. It was common for the girl child in a family to babysit her younger siblings. Usually, I was carried along to the farm whenever my mother was going to the farm. I lived on breast milk for a very long time. I remember, vividly, times when I used to cry to follow my mother whenever she was going out. To put me off, she would ask me to open my palms, into which she would then squeeze breast milk. As I would greedily lick the breast milk off my palms, my mother would have been long gone by the time I looked up. On farming days, everybody

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