God Speaks Mundani
In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also. O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker. Psalm 95:4,6
The beginning
Friday, 16 June: The best way to get there is to be born there, but we came from Yaounde, in four-wheel-drive vehicles. Good thing, because the rocky, muddy road from Guzzang to Banteng had received a good deal of rain and some sections were more of a challenge than others. But after a couple hours of “galloping,” and some pushing, all four vehicles reached the end of the road with 24 delegates and eight boxes of Mundani New Testaments! This would be the fourth of such dedications celebrated now by CABTAL. But, the trip in was much easier than the trip out after two more days with rain and in the dark the next night.
We had been assured that porters would be available to carry the heavy boxes down the steep slopes to the bottom of the mountain and the village of Talong in the Wabane Sub division (sounds like wabahnee). What a shock for this Westerner to see children standing by the boxes getting ready to hoist the 50 pounds (25 kilos) onto their heads! Some said they were between 15 and 17 years of age, but they looked more like 12 or 13 to me. (When you get to be a great-grandmother, everyone looks really young!)
See, when you live in a place that is still developing, everything you have has to be carried in. So everyone is accustomed to this mode. The most common greetings are, “Where are you up from?” Or, “Where are you down from?”
Off we went with the children carrying the boxes ahead of us. All of them were very sure footed, though it had been raining off and on, and it continued to do so during the two-hour trek down into the crevice between mountains, where the Mundani speakers live. They were far more capable than we city slickers, nearly all of us taking our turn to slip and fall on the steep slopes, at least once, some more spectacularly than others! Yes, me too. The climb back out of there would take about four hours the next day.
Finally to the bottom, we crossed the Meyi River on a wobbly-log footbridge, still following the children carrying the boxes as well as others who carried our luggage. Then we began up hill after crossing the river yet again, this time on rocks, to finally arrive at a hilltop where we found the auberge (hotel) where we would spend the night. Which we did after a scrumptious meal of chicken stew on rice and cooked, mixed vegetable greens, prepared by the welcoming committee.
June 17, 2006 God is in the midst of the Mundani people
17 June 2006: A continental breakfast was ready for us at 8 a.m. in a home another kilometer or two down the other side of the hill. Double thick slices of square bread had been spread with either margarine or chocolate. We had our choice of coffee, tea or hot chocolate. About 9 a.m. we moved down to the primary school where the dedication would take place in the yard. Plastic chairs were still being placed as people carried them in on their heads. We had all prayed that there would be no rain, and God blessed – until it was all over!
Such events can start as much as three hours late, which is regarded as normal and not given a thought. But realizing that we would have a long trek back up out of this place, with ever-threatening rain, officials were careful to start on time, and keep things moving well. We were glad they did as there was a major rain dump after our meal, and it would be dusk by the time we started down the now muddier yet “road” back to Bamenda where we would spend the night. Two local drivers and their helpers would spin tires and push until we were clear.
The new Waka stick is here!
The emcee started the meeting by holding up his walking stick and reminding us of how much we each needed such an aid to help us move about this mountainous place. No matter whether old or young, everyone has his waka stick, as they say it in the local pidgin, as we are dead without it. Today we have a new walka stick – the Mundani New Testament! We need it daily to know how to move about in our Christian walk, a walk of life! It’s been 28 years in the coming!
After a variety of other opening comments, prayers and songs, we heard from the General Director of CABTAL, Dr Michel Kenmogne. He expressed the joy of the hour, and rather apologized that it was not the whole counsel of God. However, he said that CABTAL will not even consider doing an Old Testament translation until there is clear evidence in the community that the NT is being well used. That is, until lives are being changed and churches are seeing good growth in both numbers and individual conduct, there will be no Old Testament.
The people spontaneously began singing, “♪ He’s got the Mundani people in His hands ♫….” Then we heard from the General Director of SIL Cameroon who gave a similar charge, adding some history, and that those who read and hear and do are the more blessed.
Having asked how the first people came there, I was happy to hear Jacob Taku’s brief history. That people started migrating to this valley as long ago as 200 years. The process of settling included some relocation in the early years depending on food availability and enemy threat. During the First World War, for instance, some ran to hide from the German Army. Even recently a major mudslide moved all the lowest dwellers to higher ground.
A brief history
Eighty years ago the German Basel Mission came to bring the Gospel to the Mundani. But they could see that the majority language in the area was Duala, so that is the one they chose to use in the schools and all literacy efforts. They reasoned that since the children are the future church, that is the place to start with evangelization. However, the teachers were not really well prepared for that aspect of their work. So finally an evangelist came and 15 years later, 16 people were baptized. “After many other efforts over the years, we failed to see any significant impact.”
Jacob asked, “Why did God choose the Mundani to receive His Word? Why was it that SIL, then new to Cameroon, put the Mundani language as a high priority?” Then the next choir sang of this history and blessing saying, “80 years later, God speaks our dialect. The time has come for us to read and study and preach the Word. We are grateful to the Lord, to CABTAL and to SIL. What good news for the Mundani people!”
The pastor I sat next to at breakfast had answered my question that the greatest challenge he has in discipling the Mundani today is their practice of ancestor worship. Since the Gospel has been in a foreign language all these years, it has penetrated very little.
We were happy to hear a bit more history and challenge from Mary (Annett) Endersby who found her way down the hand-cut path into Bamumbu in 1978. She and Elizabeth Parker began language learning and later translation, though they had to do their work in Bamenda or elsewhere during the five months of rainy season. Elizabeth and Christine Durrant, who served for about two years, both had to leave because of health reasons. And Mary also left the project in 1994 when mother-tongue translator James Ndam became the project coordinator. After his seeming untimely death in 1997, he was replaced by Jacob Taku in 2000 who brought the project to completion last year.
Mafo Mbooma
Other speeches followed including one by the Premier Fon of Bamumbu who crowned Mary Endersby with a specially made traditional hat and gave her the title of Mafon Mbooma. That can be translated either Queen Mother or God’s Spokeswoman. Whatever way you say it, it was a very high honor and one rarely conferred on any woman in this society, especially one from Northern Ireland.
The Fon is ready to help
The Fon declared that the people will not develop without a moral message. “We need moral leadership! SIL and CABTAL have brought us a wonderful instrument.” He also promised to donate a tract of land for the establishment of a Christian Community Center. So a prayer request is for the Christians to find funding to build a meeting house where literacy classes can be held and Scripture use, showing of the Jesus film and evangelistic training, all of which would be uniting factors for the churches. Some of the pastors alluded to this need of unity in their speeches or prayers. “After 80 years of Christianity since the Basel Mission, the time is now to begin seeing the difference as pastors begin using the Mundani Scriptures.”
The District Officer declared that our nation has been plagued by bribery and other corruption. “Ignorance is an ignominious hindrance: touch it and you’re done! We have walked in ignorance long enough, but now we have God’s Word. The New Testament in Mundani is God’s Word made simple.”
After a skit demonstrating the understanding that comes with hearing in the heart language, a choir of children came singing as they maintained their rhythm step. They were wearing clothing made from the locally designed blue fabric. But a little girl was in the middle wearing white satin, and carrying a basket on her back by a strap across her forehead. The choir stopped an appropriate distance away and the girl with the basket continued to where the directors of SIL and CABTAL were waiting.
God's gift to His people
The New Testament was wrapped in a square meter of the same blue fabric, and was raised into the air by both Dr Michel Kenmogne, Director of CABTAL and Nelis van den Berg, Director of SIL Cameroon, with a declaration that God speaks Mundani! The people responded with applause and cheers of joy! The name of the book: “A New, Strongly Binding Covenant from God.” The reason the book was brought in by children is because they are the future leaders of Mundaniland. They chose a girl to carry this precious cargo, because it is the women who bear the heavy daily loads.
A great event in the Mundani land
This was lauded as the greatest international meeting ever in Mundaniland, counting at least six foreign countries, including yours truly from the US, plus people from other parts of Cameroon. The closing remarks included a story about a sick, old mother who had no money to buy medicine. Her son was in the United States but all he ever sent her were green pictures of men and buildings. Finally one day, someone told her that was money! So don’t wait until you are dying to pick up your New Testament. Recognize it for the treasure that it is. It’s your walking stick and without your waka stick, you are dead!
Last modified: 2006-12-05
