Bafaws Begin Cultural Jamboree Today

Dances, songs and displays will mark the event in Kombone in the presence of guests.

Running from January 18 to 19, 2013, the three clans of Bafaw tribe in Meme Division of the South West Region will assemble at Kombone, one of their 10 villages, to exhibit their annual cultural prowess. A press conference to announce the event was coordinated by out-spoken daughter of the soil, Lydia Effimba, last weekend in the Kumba-based palace of Chief Nfon Victor Mukete, Paramount Ruler of the Bafaws. The conveners explained that the occasion will highlight Bafaw culture in song, dance and acrobatic sports.

Under their traditional rulers, flanked by the elite, the sons and daughters of Bafaw intend to make a show of the 2013 version of "Mbum M'Bafaw", their cultural festival. Their forward looking theme this year; "Bafawness, charting a way from poverty to prosperity" is expected to economically spur the coastal peaceful people who originated from Masui in Mbo-Bakossi and are today spread in several localities of Meme Division of the South West Region.

After the last Bafaw Culture put on display outside their tribe land at the Yaounde Conference Centre in 2010, the Kombone edition this time promises to move from the then history-packed theme tracing their origin and peace-loving existence to a forward-looking economic theme this time. According to the organisers, this year's theme recalls to the world the enviable leading position occupied by Bafaw land in producing the highest tonnage of Cameroon's cocoa, making it the fourth cocoa-producing nation in the world.

The modern "Mbum" had its first display in 1976 but prior to the present era, it was a moment to assess births, deaths, marriages, newly arrived strangers and food harvest in order to thank the Almighty God (Diyu) when there is abundance or implore Him to improve fertility if the contrary is the case . To empower the Bafaw youth, a 1999 idea of Mbum set up BAFDEF to award scholarships and cheer their children to academic and professional excellence. On this score, the Bafaw Diaspora has been very active in supplying funds to encourage their schooling population ahead of 400 beneficiaries now.