iforti ya kah

Batibo, the Heartbeat of Moghamo

 

Culture 

 

Batibo is blessed with a vibrant culture that portrays itself in rhythmic music, traditional outfits, captivating artwork, moving folklore and traditional rites that all sum up to a bounteous culture. A visitor to Batibo will find a place that is saddled with a zeal for natures simplicity. He or she will find a people rooted in a happy subsistence with nature in their history, daily activities, and lifestyles. Batibo is sandwiched between the Savanna and the tropical forests. It is inhabited by a unique people who continue to make optimum use of this land adorned by palm trees, ever-present greenery, criss-crossing streams and waterfalls navigating their way through beautifully undulating hills, slopes and valleys. This blessedly transitional climatic and vegetation zones have endowed the people with so many subsistent & cash crops. These varieties of crops include numerous types of yams, beans, corn, peanuts, cassava, potatoes, tomatoes, bananas and plantains. Also cultivated in Batibo are perennial trees that produce palm nuts, plums, cashew nuts, kolanuts, coffee and cocoa. There is also an endless list of fruits and vegetables grown here which include pineapples, passion fruit, guavas, sugar cane, monkey kola, berries, okra, Bitter leaf, leaks, oranges, avocados, water melon and pawpaw.

 

 

Wine

 

According to the BBC World Service, Batibo and its catchment area of Moghamo is also the palm wine capital of the world. This sweet asti-like white wine is tapped from the raffia palm tree and owes its perfection back to generations of skilled tappers and honed skills handed down. The gift of this nectar from the Gods can be traced back to the Almighty, as testified by any tongue that comes in union with this unforgettable wine. The white wine locally referred to as Fitchuk is a staple at all occasions including birth celebrations, engagements (knock-door), weddings, funerals and others. Fitchuk, a third income earner is a profitable occupation for many from this area. This salivating white wine is exported to all the other nine regions of Cameroon with areas as far as Yaounde and Douala. As hardworking as the Batibo people are, they are also as sociable as they come. Visit Batibo and the reasons are ambient and transparently surround you.

 

 

Food

 

The types of food grown here are numerous. In addition to its own indigenous meals, dishes initiated from other areas in Cameroon are perfected here. Nang-tari is a delicious pourish made of coco-yams, vegetables and a dicey source that brings your taste buds alive when followed with palm wine. Huckle Berry vegetable (Njama Njama) and cocoyams is a frequent meal. The over twelve types of yams are cooked in diverse ways with meat, fish, chicken, vegetables and spices. Their blend perfected through generations culminates in different types of spicy and dicey dishes that keep the Batibo indigene contented. The menu options of Batibo also keep visitors mesmerized by the manner in which Batibo indigenes are keyed in perfecting the blend of spices towards mesmerizing results. Other foods consumed by the Batibo people include, rice, fufu, ndole, eru, achu, miyondo, koki, garri just to name a few.

 

The indigenes of Batibo also engage in animal husbandry. Animals raised in Batibo and Moghamo in general include goats, sheep, cows, rabbits and pigs. The affinity of the Batibo indigene to pork meat comes only second to palm wine. Pigs are raised in abundance and it suffices to say that a Batibo cultural occasion that is absent of pork meat is one that will be absent of blessings from the elders. There is a Jewish proverb that says, spread the food on the table during dinner and the quarrel will end. In Batibo and Moghamo, this can be directly paraphrased to, Slaughter a pig and even the most intense of acrimonies will come to an instant halt. In addition to animals, chickens are also raised both in poultries and as free range.

 

 

Music

It is an indigene of Batibo who originated the famous quote Music is the fruit of lifes creative and rhythmic juices. A visit to any cultural occasion in Batibo will reveal the reality that rhythmic culture truly flows through the society, just as blood flows through the body. The Batibo indigene and their catchment area of Moghamo have a culture that is rife with music, folklore, dance, all woven around beats that will string tenderly to your soul. The traditional dances include the Tiwara, Nchibi, Mareway, Ambolo, Njang, Ngo, just to name a few, but not forgetting the Royal dance and towering musical sensation called Nere. The traditional dances and diverse forms of music form a moving and weaving melody during birth celebrations, church services, funerals, engagements, weddings, coronations and numerous other social occasions. The charm of Batibos rhythms was best captured by a poet who expressed this alluring melody as follows;

 

The celebrative occasion of birth,

Filled the air with joyous news,

It gave an imperative reason to visit a relative,

 

A calm peace was our approach,

Through fresh mango groves, and juicy plum trees,

Through sugar cane stems, vegetable gardens,

And sights of creeping passion fruit, was the sound

 

A tone that was and is a trademark of Batibos very essence,

A signpost of its thrilling promise,

The sound of music, a beat of hope,

Encapsulated within a peoples history,

A people of the day before yesterday, the day today,

And the day after tomorrow

 

The women sang the famous Aghi-bou,

Meaning song of birth in the lingua;

I heard their singing, and felt the tempo,

Sounds that reminded me of pleasant yesteryears,

 

Through my heart did pierce the poignant melody,

Like a sample regiment from an angelic choir,

The beat had the most appealing pitch,

With overflowing joy, and a passionate zeal;

A zeal so strong that you could touch

 

The women wailed with stirring tenor,

And hummed with heartrending bass,

Twas the minute of my hearts surrender,

A yielding to this rhythm, on loan from God

 

Then I knew, and surely I did feel,

That on the soil of an African village,

I was The wooden and leather drums roared,

In sync with the rattles and flutes,

I saw the adorable movement of their feet,

And felt rhythm in captivating action,

Like dancing leaves on swaying branches,

Informed by blowing winds, and a falcons priceless touch

 

Steps you wish you had taken,

And tantalizing moves you wish you had made,

They danced, and sang, with faces of beaming smiles,

And expressions adorned by happiness,

They captured my all, and expressed the yoke of Africas happy innocence,

Its village; as evident in the Soul of Batibo

 

Batibo, the heartbeat of Moghamo with all its blessings in location, treasures in culture and assets of a gifted people have a lot to offer to any visitor. As the gateway to Bamenda, a corridor on Trans-Africa, a source of food supplies, a land with a priceless climate, it can be understood why so many of her indigenes chose to retire in this comfortable gift of a hamlet that keeps giving to its inhabitants as well as to all visitors.