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Wednesday, July 16, 2008

The rest of the family

In Ndongo, Lydien and Agbor came into the family when both of them were about going to college.Lydien, is the second child of my mother before she met my father.Agbor, was her third child.My mother had a son also, named Ayuk, who did not live with us.He was the first child of my mother and he lived in then Victoria, now called Limbe.Ayuk, who is now of late visited us occasional.He was at the time,the star member of the family.He decided to end his education after primary school and concentrated on making a living on his own at a very early age.He played soccer very well,mainly during "inter quarter" competition back then in Limbe.So my mother and father met when she already had three children from previous relationships and he had also three child from different marriages.Helen, my father,s first daughter lived with us until she got married.Helen,is now of late.After being married and having all her children,she had decided to go make a living in Gabon.She was to get sick there and later died while I was in the US.She is buried right in front of our compound in Besongabang,Mamfe.Dennis, my father's first son was already in Presbyterian Secondary School Besongabang at this time and we saw him only during the holidays.Agi, my father,s third child was just two years older than me and lived with us in Ndongo.We both attended the same primary school.I was the first child of the marriage between Mr and Mrs Tambe.Lydien had gotten admission into Okoyong Secondary School in Mamfe, while Agbor, had admission into the legendary St Joseph,s college of Sasse.They joined us in Ndongo shortly before leaving for their secondary school education.The last member of our family is called Betek, he was born in the year 1970 while we were in Ndongo.It is always a happy moment when a new member is welcomed into the family.Betek was very fair in complexion and lot of people just loved him.He was very sick in his early days and we had some concern moments when we taught he was not going to make it.There is an age difference of four years between Betek and Charles & Ebenezar,the twins who he follows.This because my mother had a set of twins who did not make it out of the hospital.They passed away shortly after birth.My mother had earlier lost a set of twins, who had passed away shortly after birth.My middle name,Nkongho,means somebody who follows twins. I and Agi, my elder sister, started and completed our primary school education in Ndongo.Olivia, my immediate follower, Charles and Ebenezar, the twins, started in Ndongo primary school, but were to finish their primary school education later at Government School Upper Cu stains, when we were later transferred to Tiko.

6 comments:

Juin said...

I did a little stint in Mamfe as well. But such a long time ago! 1971 I believe. I recall that it was when Apollo 11 was the rage. I did my Class 2 at a St Joseph's school in Mamfe. And lived in a humble locale near one so called West End Bar haha. I also recall a street called Yaounde Quarters. It was on the way to St Joseph School. It was so called because both sides of the street were lined by little shop shacks that by night all had lanterns- This was before public electricity. At night the street was a row of lanterns lining up both sides of the street.
There was also a "crazeman" I recall, I believe his name was afaninkon. One guaranteed way to get Afaninkon to chase you like one of those bulls in a Spanish Toro is to make refence to his feet. An enraged Afaninkon, when querried why he wanted the hide of a kid he was chasing, explained, "he call me led led foot"


Mike babasam@msn.com

Infotambeblog said...

In 1971 I just knew there was a place called Mamfe because the village that i come from is called Besongabang.I did not get to know Mamfe until around 1977.There are still "crazemen" around especially in big cities like Douala.They are much calmer though.They just move around and maybe reflecting on how they got to their present state.

Juin said...

My stint in Mamfe in Class 2 was my first foray outside Bamenda where I was born. This stint was necessary as my mom was off to do some stint in England. She was a social worker. After her return she was posted to Banso and then back to Bamenda, this caused me to switch primary schools quite a bit. I believe I attended 5 primary schools in total. Funny enough I ended up at the same school I started off in: St Joseph's, a boys school, in Bamenda.
After passing my Common Entrance, I was ready for my second foray outside Bamenda. This time I was dropped off after a journey of some six hours outside the gates of Lycee Bilingue at Molyko. This was 1975, if I recall well, and took up residence at Ahidjo 1re etage....

Why, out of the blue, a few days ago your name came to mind and moved me to google, I dont know. You can guess my surprise at landing on your web page! It made my day and my week.:)


Mike babasam@msn.com

Infotambeblog said...

Ahidjo 1ere etage,that is the name of the dormitory that I was at.You still remember the name of the dormitory.I have been to lycee bilingue quite a bit since I returned to Cameroon.The dormitories are still there,though they have all been turned into classrooms.But I remember Ahidji premiere etage quite well.

Juin said...

Ahidjo 1ere etage was the dorm we were in for 6eme. Some memories come back to me in driblets. I recall my bed was right by the door. The metro that year I cannot recall much of, except a refrain of his that I believe one Bissai liked to repeat, "You people who dont want to sleep". Regarding the obligatory siesta. The 5eme Chang Che metro left a more lasting memory. But the funniest I can recall is a 3eme Metro I believe; Tamon always made fun of some cowboytype boots he was fun of.
Your website doesnt appear to have a way to email you. you can email me at babasam@msn.com, whenever you can.
It is so good to chat with you after such a long while. And great blog. You always had a certain positive attitude towards life which still shows in your blog.

I am getting ready for today's Euro games.

Michael Galabe

Infotambeblog said...

I remember the metro from 3eme and his cowboys boots.Fair in complexion guy from the West Province(Bamileke region).You know Tamen Fred used a stick and beat the metro up just before we left for the end of year holidays in form four.Fred did not bother to come back and did his GCE O levels in Lycee Bilingue Yaounde.But that metro caused us a lot of problems and it was just a matter of time before somebody got to him.I will email you as soon as I can.