Granddaughter of a queen?
My grandmother, Maveun Tawa III, was the king's sister and her role was just as important as the king's.
How is that?
I come from a region, Western Cameroon, Grassland, where female lineage is very important.
What do you remember about your grandmother?
My grandmother was very strong, very dignified, but above all very free. She chose her husbands, she had several. At that time, women were generally very free, not like now.
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All my aunts have different fathers. Mothers were the ones who supported everything. In Cameroon everything that creates, what gives life, mother earth, women, is highly respected.
And what happened to that?
Colonization and modernity have changed us, but the descendants of kings are the custodians of a centuries-old tradition.
As it does?
We maintain traditions through the Jean Félicien Gacha Foundation, from not forgetting respect for the elderly to the conservation of our crafts and the promotion of local economic activity; ancestral practices in every sense.
You are dressed in that sacred art.
Each of these beads has a meaning and so do the drawings of the actual fabrics, the ndop, I have written a couple of books about it. We must preserve all that wealth and we have workshops to train young people.
Traditions that were almost lost?
There came a time when everything that was sold as African fashion was not, it did not represent us at all, poor quality and poorly sewn fabrics that had nothing to do with what I knew.
And he started designing and teaching.
Because we have extraordinary fabrics throughout Africa, but curiously, those who ended up printing supposedly African fabrics and making clothes were the Dutch and it had nothing to do with reality, with the cottons from Ethiopia, the dyes from Cameroon; In Africa there are incredible designs and fabrics.
Did Africans also wear those Dutch designs?
Yes, we were their market and children grew up with it and forgot the original quality and beauty. The poor, in addition to being poor, had to buy things that came from outside, it was a regrettable economic policy.
Tell me a story about necklaces.
They represent values and wealth but not materials, they are like medals, you can tell how important a person is through the necklace they wear and also which secret society they belong to.
Secret societies in Cameroon?
There are many things that are not usually explained or disclosed, you have to be an insider. There are African beliefs that can be complicated to understand.
Is animism still valid?
It is underlying, we believe that behind every being or phenomenon there is a spirit that communicates with us, just listen to it.
Has it happened to you?
I remember that when my mother was very sick and I was watching over her with a Bible in my hands, a mosquito landed.
And he didn't crush it?
No, I asked him if he wanted to tell me something, and then he landed on a phrase that said: “Don't be afraid of anything, trust, everything will be fine.” We believe and live all this, we always listen to nature.
Do they talk to trees and rivers?
Yes, and they answer you. One day, as usual I went to the market with my husband. When we got home I saw a book on the living room table and I opened it. There was a message for me: “Stop eating meat because they are corpses,” I read.
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I went back to the kitchen and noticed the smell of a corpse, I threw away all the meat and haven't tried it again.
Is Westerners' vision of Africa poor?
In general you have not understood anything. Africa is a large continent with very different cultures but capable of giving a lot to the world, and the West, instead of taking what it needs from our countries, should learn to ask.
A complex relationship.
We are very generous, we give what we have, we are not materialistic and we end up very decimated.
Can poverty be alleviated with culture?
It is one of my intentions, African fashion and contemporary art are increasingly sought after.
The health infrastructure is precarious.
Therefore, in addition to educational activities, I cooperate with hospitals, universities and local and international institutions to improve living conditions and access to health resources, which are limited in rural areas.
