Community Forum · Members Only
Join the conversation
1,200+ active threads on culture, heritage, language & diaspora life — be heard.
Discussion threads locked
Culture & Traditions
Diaspora Life
History
Language
Music & Arts
+ hundreds more hidden
Your Tribe, Worldwide
Connect with diaspora members across 89 countries instantly
Free forever · No credit card · 60-second signup
12K+
Members
47
Tribes
89
Countries
Free
Forever
47 joined this week
Be next
4.9 / 5
by 2,400+ members
Verified members
Private & secure
Community driven
89 countries
Join for free today
Unlock all Community Forum features
Community Forum
Discuss culture, history, language and life with your tribal community
Ndolé — more than a dish, it's Cameroon's national soul. Let's talk about the recipe debate
Sultan Ibrahim Njoya invented a writing system. Why does the world not know about this genius?
Makossa music history — from Douala dockworkers to the world stage
No local news yet
Where do the Tikar truly come from? The Nile hypothesis and the oral tradition debate
Gbaya hunters and the bush spirit (Gamba) — what outsiders completely misunderstand about our initiation
Being Cameroonian in Paris — the invisible barriers diaspora faces that nobody talks about
Ndolé — more than a dish, it's Cameroon's national soul. Let's talk about the recipe debate
Good people! I need to bring up the MOST controversial topic in Cameroonian cooking 😄 **The Ndolé Recipe Debate.** 🌿 For the uninitiated: Ndolé is Cameroon's national dish — a rich, nutty stew made with ndolé leaves (Vernonia amygdalina, the bitter leaf), ground crayfish, peanuts, and either fish, beef, or shrimp. It is the dish served at every important occasion: weddings, funerals, Christmas, Independence Day. But ask 10 Cameroonians how to make it and you get 10 different answers: - Do you use peanut paste or whole ground peanuts? - How many times do you boil the leaves to remove bitterness? - Smoked fish vs fresh fish vs meat — which protein is correct? - Is the Duala version, the Bassa version, or the Douala coastal version the 'authentic' one? As a Bassa woman from Édéa, I will tell you: the Bassa original uses fresh bitter leaves, lots of crayfish, and stockfish. Everything else is a remix 😂 But I want to hear all the family recipes and regional variations. Share your grandmother's method!
Sultan Ibrahim Njoya invented a writing system. Why does the world not know about this genius?
People of the Bamoun! And everyone who loves African intellectual history! In 1896, Sultan **Ibrahim Njoya of the Bamoun kingdom** invented the **Shu-Mom script** — a complete syllabic writing system created from scratch over several iterations, evolving from pictographic to syllabic in just a few years. He then used it to write histories, religious texts, medical knowledge, and royal decrees. This is one of the GREATEST intellectual achievements in African history, and it happened entirely independently, with no outside influence. Compare it to the invention of the Cherokee syllabary by Sequoyah — celebrated globally — while Njoya remains known only to specialists. I am a direct descendant of Sultan Njoya and I have dedicated my life to teaching Shu-Mom. There are currently fewer than 200 people worldwide who can read and write it fluently. We are in crisis. Who wants to learn? I am proposing to set up the first online Shu-Mom learning community on TribeLink. Are you with me?
Rudolf Duala Manga Bell — the king Germany hanged, and why his story must be told globally
People of the Duala, people of Cameroon, people of the world — On August 8, 1914, the Germans hanged **Rudolf Duala Manga Bell**, paramount chief of the Duala people, along with his advisor Andrea Ngando. His crime? Opposing the forced relocation of the Duala people from their ancestral lands on the Wouri estuary — lands that had been their home and trade base for centuries. Rudolf was educated in Germany. He spoke fluent German. He petitioned the Reichstag. He used the colonizers' own legal system against them. And they killed him for it. He is not Nelson Mandela. He is not Thomas Sankara. But he deserves to stand alongside them in the pantheon of African resistance. I am his descendant. I grew up with his portrait on our wall and his story in our mouths. Why is Rudolf Duala Manga Bell not taught in every school in Cameroon? Why is August 8 not a national day of remembrance? Let us discuss what justice and memory look like for colonial martyrs.
The Mvet — is this Africa's greatest unrecognized epic tradition?
Mbamba! Brothers and sisters of the forest! Let me make a bold claim: **The Mvet epic tradition of the Beti peoples is one of the great literary achievements of humanity** — comparable to the Iliad, the Mahabharata, or the Epic of Sundiata — and it is almost completely unknown outside Central Africa. The Mvet is performed by a griot-bard (the mvett player) who plays a harp-zither while reciting hundreds of hours of epic poetry about the wars between mortal men (Ekang) and immortals (Engong). The performances can last three days. The language is an archaic form of Fang-Beti that even modern Beti speakers cannot fully understand without training. I have been a Mvet player for 45 years. I carry over 300 hours of narrative. My teacher, who died at 94, carried perhaps 800 hours. That knowledge is gone with him. I am now digitizing everything I know with support from the University of Yaoundé. But I am asking the community: **How do we make the world recognize the Mvet?** It deserves UNESCO Intangible Heritage status urgently.
Fulfulde — the language that connects 40 million people across Africa. Are we using this power?
Bismillah. **Fulfulde** (also called Fula, Pulaar, Pular depending on region) is spoken by over 40 million people from Senegal to Sudan, from Guinea to Cameroon. It is one of the great lingua francas of the African continent, yet it remains almost completely absent from formal education, technology, and media. In Cameroon alone, Fulfulde connects the Adamawa, North, and Far North regions — it is the language of the market, the mosque, and the migration route. I have been pushing for Fulfulde to be recognized as a co-official regional language in northern Cameroon alongside French. The arguments are overwhelming: millions of speakers, rich literary tradition, established Arabic-script writing system. Who here speaks Fulfulde? Where did you learn it? And what do you think it would take to see it on phone keyboards, in schools, on television?
The Kuosi Elephant Society — secret order or public pride? Let's talk Bamileke royal masquerades
Mboo! Brothers and sisters of the grassfields 🏔️ I want to open a discussion on one of the most powerful institutions in Bamileke society — the **Kuosi elephant society masquerade**. These dances are not simply performances. They are living constitutions. The elephant masks (tyn or mkem) represent the concentrated power of the royal court — only warriors who have proven themselves through wealth and valor may wear them. What fascinates me is how the beadwork itself encodes status. The density of blue and white glass trade beads, the placement of cowrie shells — every inch is a political statement. I've spent years studying the royal compound in Bafoussam and I still find new layers of meaning. For those of you in the diaspora — have you found ways to keep this tradition alive? Is it possible to honor the Kuosi outside of the grassfields context? I'd love to hear from Bamileke community members across the world. 🇨🇲
Makossa music history — from Douala dockworkers to the world stage
Let me take you on a journey through the greatest music Cameroon ever gave the world. 🎵 **Makossa** emerged from the Duala and Bassa communities around Douala's port in the 1950s. The word itself may derive from the Duala phrase 'I dance.' Its rhythmic foundation — a syncopated 4/4 with offbeat bass — was shaped by dockworkers who played music in the evenings after long shifts. The genius of Manu Dibango gave it global fame. His 1972 track 'Soul Makossa' reached #35 on the Billboard chart — the first African song ever to do so. Michael Jackson later sampled it for 'Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'' (with eventual legal settlement). But Makossa is deeper than Manu. There's Charlotte Dipanda's sublime voice, Petit Pays bringing it to the streets, Ben Decca keeping the classic sound alive, and now a new wave mixing Makossa with Afrobeats and Amapiano. What is your relationship with Makossa? Grew up with it? Discovered it later? Think it's losing its identity to globalization? I also want to collect: **What is your personal all-time favourite Makossa track?**
Camfranglais — Cameroon's street language is a linguistic masterpiece. Fight me.
I will defend this until my last breath: **Camfranglais is a linguistic masterpiece.** 🔥 For those unfamiliar: Camfranglais is the urban creole of Cameroon, primarily spoken by youth in Yaoundé, Douala, and increasingly the diaspora. It mixes French, English, Pidgin, and up to 25 Cameroonian languages in a fluid, context-sensitive way. Examples: - *Je go au marché go buy some gombo, tu veux?* (I'm going to the market to buy okra, you want some?) - *C'est quoi ce do là?* (What's this thing/situation?) - *Il est trop sharp, ce gars.* (This guy is very clever) Linguists like Augustin Emmanuel Ebongue have shown that Camfranglais is not 'bad French' — it is a fully functional creole with consistent grammatical rules, its own lexicon, and remarkable sociolinguistic sophistication. Yet parents shame children for speaking it. Schools punish it. The government ignores it. This is a mistake. Camfranglais is how 10 million young Cameroonians navigate a bilingual, multiethnic identity space. It is a SOLUTION, not a problem. Where do you stand on Camfranglais? Love it, hate it, or somewhere complicated?
Being Cameroonian in Paris — the invisible barriers diaspora faces that nobody talks about
This is a raw and honest post, and I hope it finds the right people. I have lived in Paris for 14 years. I have a Masters degree from Sciences Po. I speak four languages. I work in banking. And almost every week, something happens that reminds me that France still does not see me fully. But I want to talk about the internal barriers — the ones within our community. The pressure to assimilate. The shame some of us feel about speaking Camfranglais or our tribal languages in public. The elders who tell us to 'become French' and the younger generation pulling us toward Afrobeats and a pan-African identity that isn't quite ours either. I am Bamileke. My grandmother was a Kuosi dancer. My mother sold ndop cloth in Bafoussam market. I grew up in Paris. Who am I? I think many of us in the diaspora are living between identities without a roadmap. TribeLink feels like a place we could build that roadmap together. Can we start a series of conversations specifically about diaspora identity? What has helped you navigate this space?
The Ngondo Festival — water spirits, prophecy, and the survival of Sawa coastal identity
Mungo River people, coastal kin, Sawa nation — this thread is for us. Every year in December, the **Ngondo festival** takes place on the Wouri estuary in Douala. It is the most sacred ceremony of the Sawa peoples — a gathering of all Sawa communities to commune with the water spirits (miengu) who are believed to carry messages between the living and the ancestral world. The ceremony includes a sacred water ritual where a chosen elder submerges into the Wouri and emerges with a prophecy for the coming year. In 2019, the Ngondo prophecy warned of a great disruption to health and travel. Draw your own conclusions about COVID-19. What moves me about Ngondo is its function as pan-Sawa unity mechanism. The Duala, Bassa, Bako, Bodiman, Pongo, Wouri — all different communities — come together under one ceremony. This was diplomacy and cultural solidarity long before the modern state. How many of you have attended Ngondo? What was the experience like? And how do we keep the Wouri water spirits central to our identity as urbanization changes the river they inhabit?
Mount Cameroon (Fako) — the roof of West Africa and home of the spirits. What does this mountain mean to you?
Fako. Mongo ma Ndemi. The Mountain of Greatness. **Mount Cameroon** — 4,095 metres, the highest peak in West and Central Africa — is not just geography. For the Bakweri and Sawa peoples, it is a living spiritual entity. The Bakweri believe the mountain is inhabited by the spirit Epasa Moto ('husband of souls') who governs the dead. Villages at the mountain's base orient their ceremonies, marriages, and burials in relation to Fako. The Mountain Race of Hope (Race of Hope) draws athletes from 40+ countries who run 70km from Buea to the summit and back. But for us it is always more than a race — it is a pilgrimage. I have climbed Fako six times. Each ascent is a different conversation with the mountain. In the cloud forest zone, I always feel the presence of something older than memory. For diaspora Cameroonians who have never been: if you visit only one natural site in Cameroon in your lifetime, make it Fako. Not for the view — though the view is God — but for what the mountain does to you inside. Share your Fako stories. And for those who have never been — what would it mean to you to climb it?
Maka healing plants — 500 species of medicine the pharmaceutical industry hasn't discovered yet
People of TribeLink, I need your attention on something urgent. In the forest around Abong-Mbang and Lomié, the Maka people possess **one of the most sophisticated ethnobotanical knowledge systems in Central Africa**. My family has been forest healers for four generations. My grandfather could identify over 800 plant species and their medicinal uses. I can identify 500. My children, who grew up partly in Yaoundé, know perhaps 50. This is not romantic nostalgia. It is a biomedical emergency. Several of the anti-inflammatory and antimalarial compounds I know from Maka tradition have been confirmed as pharmacologically active by IRAD researchers. One may be a lead compound for a new malaria treatment. But the knowledge is disappearing faster than the forest itself — and the forest is disappearing fast. Logging roads, agricultural expansion, and urban migration are simultaneous crises. I am building a community-owned ethnobotanical database. The knowledge stays with the community. The IP stays with the community. Would TribeLink members be interested in supporting this? And are there other healers from different tribes who want to collaborate on a pan-Cameroonian healing plant database?
Where do the Tikar truly come from? The Nile hypothesis and the oral tradition debate
This is a question that has divided historians for a century: **Where did the Tikar originate?** The dominant academic theory suggests Tikar ancestors migrated from the Nile Valley region, part of the great Bantu migrations southward. Some oral traditions speak of origins near Lake Chad. Others point to connections with the Chadic-speaking peoples of the north. But here is what interests me: our own Tikar oral tradition, as preserved by the royal ndang historians, speaks of a primordial kingdom called *Tikari* somewhere north and east of our current territory. The details are precise — river crossings, landmark mountains, names of enemy kings encountered. Are these memories reliable historical sources? Western academics often dismiss oral tradition. But the Tikar ndang historians have preserved astronomical knowledge, genealogies spanning 40+ generations, and diplomatic records that match written Arab sources. I want to hear from Tikar scholars and elders. What does YOUR family's oral tradition say about our origins?
The Foumban Royal Museum — Germany took 3,000 artifacts. What was recovered and what is still missing?
This is not ancient history. This is an ongoing injustice. During the German colonial period (1884-1916), thousands of sacred Bamoun artifacts were removed from Foumban — beaded thrones, ceremonial masks, bronze statues, royal regalia. Many ended up in the Ethnologisches Museum Berlin and the Linden-Museum Stuttgart. In recent years, Germany has acknowledged some responsibility. Some objects have been repatriated. But the process is slow, bureaucratic, and often tokenistic. **What was returned:** A selection of bronzes and textiles in 2022. **What remains in Germany:** Hundreds of sacred objects, including items still used ceremonially. **What troubles me most:** The 'database access' offered as a substitute for physical return. As Bamoun people, what do we demand? And how do we support the Sultan's palace in negotiating from a position of strength? This is also a community mobilization question — how do diaspora Bamoun advocate effectively?
Bikutsi — why this Beti rhythm is the rebellious soul of Cameroonian music
Let's talk about **Bikutsi** 🎶 People always talk about Makossa as Cameroon's music. And yes, Makossa is beautiful. But Bikutsi is FIRE. Bikutsi comes from the Beti forests — its name means 'to strike the earth' in Ewondo. It was originally a women's music, played at fertility ceremonies and funerals, with a 6/8 polyrhythm that is neurologically irresistible. The great Annie Anzouer and the Queens Bikutsi bands of the 80s and 90s transformed it into a pop music phenomenon. But they kept the edge — Bikutsi lyrics are famous for being sexually explicit, politically sharp, and brutally honest. It is music that does not apologize. I play traditional Bikutsi with a 7-piece ensemble. We have toured France, Belgium and Canada. Everywhere we go, people say 'I had no idea Cameroonian music was this powerful.' What is your relationship with Bikutsi? Do you think it gets the global recognition it deserves? And who are your favorite Bikutsi artists, old or new?
Medumba language is dying — what can we do RIGHT NOW to save it?
I need to be direct with you all. **Medumba is classified as vulnerable by UNESCO.** We have perhaps one generation left to act before it becomes a language only spoken by elders. Medumba is not just one language — it is the linguistic heart of the Bamileke federation, spoken by over 400,000 people across the Ndé division. It has a rich tonal system, a vast proverb tradition, and grammatical structures that encode Bamileke philosophy of time and community that French simply cannot express. I have been teaching Medumba online for 5 years now. My students are mostly diaspora children aged 8-16 whose parents are Bamileke but who grew up in Paris, London and Montreal. The hunger is there. But we lack materials. What resources exist? What are YOU doing to keep Medumba alive? Let's build something together here on TribeLink.
Gbaya hunters and the bush spirit (Gamba) — what outsiders completely misunderstand about our initiation
Brothers and sisters, I want to talk about something that is deeply misunderstood — even within Cameroon. The **Gamba bush spirit masquerade** of the Gbaya is not superstition. It is not 'witchcraft' in the pejorative colonial sense. It is a sophisticated initiation system that has governed Gbaya social order for centuries. The Gamba appears during initiation periods to test young men's courage, honesty, and community loyalty. The spirit speaks in a special voice, wears a full grass-and-feather body costume, and performs at night. The initiates who 'pass' are integrated as full adults into the hunting brotherhood. What this system does — psychologically, sociologically — is remarkable. It creates community accountability. Every man who has been through Gamba knows that his neighbors have witnessed him in moments of genuine fear. That shared vulnerability creates deep bonds. I see psychologists in Europe running expensive retreats trying to recreate exactly this kind of transformative experience. We had it for free, in the forest, for a thousand years. Gbaya people and others — what traditional initiation traditions do you carry? How do you feel about them in the modern context?
Tikar bronze casting — a 600-year-old tradition that shaped the entire grasslands
My people! Let us talk about **Tikar bronze**. The Tikar are widely considered the progenitors of grasslands bronze casting, with techniques dating back at least 600 years. The lost-wax (cire perdue) method used by Tikar smiths produces objects of extraordinary complexity — masked figures, royal stools, ceremonial pipes, ancestor vessels — that influenced the artistic traditions of the Bamileke, Bamoun, and Nso peoples. What makes Tikar bronze unique is the narrative density: a single figure may encode 20 different symbolic referents simultaneously, readable only by initiated elders of the royal court. I am a Fon who has inherited both the political and artistic tradition. My foundry in Bankim still uses the same clay molds, beeswax models, and charcoal furnace as my great-grandfather. The knowledge is intact — but I have only 3 apprentices left. Are there Tikar youth or diaspora members who want to learn? I offer traditional apprenticeships. This knowledge must not die with me.
The Gerewol beauty contest — Bororo Fulani men competing for women's choice. Is this the original feminist tradition?
As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh, brothers and sisters. I want to discuss something that always confuses outsiders: the **Gerewol festival** of the Bororo Fulani. Every rainy season, young Fulani men spend hours applying ochre paste, kohl, and ostrich feathers to compete in a beauty pageant judged entirely by women. The men who are chosen are considered to have achieved both physical and spiritual perfection. This reverses almost every assumption outsiders make about Fulani society. Here is a culture that, in its pastoral context, has always valued male beauty, grace, and the power of feminine judgment. But I want to complicate this. The Gerewol also happens within a patriarchal nomadic structure. Women have power of selection but live lives of considerable hardship. How do we hold both truths? Fulani diaspora members — do you still celebrate Gerewol ceremonies outside West Africa? What does it look like in Paris or Houston?
Ndop cloth — why every Bamileke home should have one and what the patterns mean
Good people! Let me share something that has been on my heart. Ndop cloth is not just fabric — it is **Bamileke cosmology rendered in indigo and white**. Each pattern tells a story: the spider (ngwafu) represents wisdom and royal authority; the tortoise symbolizes longevity and patience; the checker pattern (mkem) encodes the duality of the universe. My grandmother taught me to read ndop like a book. She said: 'When you drape yourself in ndop, you drape yourself in the prayers of your ancestors.' In her village near Dschang, ndop was presented at every birth, marriage, and funeral — it marked the stations of life itself. I am troubled that many young Bamileke in France and Belgium cannot identify a single pattern. How do we pass this knowledge on? I have been working on a digital ndop pattern dictionary — would anyone be interested in contributing?