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| Princewill, a twin now in primary school. lost the twin brother while they were still babies |
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Wimbum is a tribe
in Donga Mantung Division of North West Region of Cameroon. The first thing
that comes to mind in Wimbum area when talking about twins is the question
whether they have fixed them. When we were growing up, medicine men will say
they treat headache, stomach ache, side pains, cough, children who cry at
night, twins etc.
The popular names
of medicine men who were experts in the fixing of twins in Wimbum were Pa Peter
from Wat (Mbaa village), Pa Takwi and Pa Andrew Nfor both from Tang (Tabenken village).
The Wimbum calendar has an eight day week and all major activities except going
to church are fitted into this cycle. Every Wimbum village has its market and
traditional rest days. On traditional rest days women do not work on their
farms and traditional healers consult most of their patients. The rest days are
called country Sundays in Pidgin
English. Country means anything
traditional for example country chop (local cuisine), country fashion
(rituals), country fowl (local chicken), country medicine (traditional
medicine) etc.
Common in the
laboratories of traditional healers specialized in fixing twins is a central
three–stone fire place, bamboo stools, small raffia bags, rattles, green leaves,
bags made of snake skin or pelf of some animals, with bundles of feathers
protruding from them, bundles of bones bound with leopard skin thongs,
porcupine quills, clay pots, peace plants, calabashes, snail shells, cowries
all stained as a result of smoke and soot with the sacrificial sprinklings of
fowl’s blood and palm wine. These healers also all claimed they have medicine
to protect the compound from evil spirits, fire burns and disasters.
Twin fixers or
healers work with the same concentration of chemists. But are they true
chemists? To treat twins, the healer in question would remove his country cap, fold his hands, closed his
eyes and pray. After praying he would genuflect in the direction of the
medicine which he arranged – ground herbs mixed with palm oil and a bamboo from
fire rubbed with eucalyptus resin which produces aromatic smoke. After prayers
he will put on his cap, and then will be ready to begin treatment.
The first set of
twins who have been on waiting pew would come in front of the medicine,
calabashes, rattles, herbs and shells. He will take some leaves tie on the
twins necks, sprinkle palm wine and the herbs mixed with red palm oil over the
twins, lick some of the medicine himself and let the twins lick from his palm and
drink of the palm wine from snail shells. Again a small amount of black powder
is poured on his palm, which he mixes with castor oil and let the twins lick
some of it from his finger tip. He will use the remaining paste of this latter
one to draw a black stripe on the stomach of the twins. The healer at this
moment will go back to his mortar take ground herbs and mixed with red oil.
Again he will take some of it on the tip of his index finger and let each of
the twins lick. He then will wipe his hands on the legs of the twins and drink
too from the snail shells. After this, he will shake the rattles above each
twin’s head mumbling, then taking a hollow bamboo, will blow into each twin’s
ear and the treatment is complete for the next set of twins to come in again.
There also exist
single twins. They explain these are known from the time a child is born. When
a child (single twin) is born, a diagonal line is seen over his shoulder and
under the opposite armpit – just like a would be Fon (chief). Single twins come
out of the womb with a sign on their bodies and the signs are what show they
are single twins.
What if twins are
not fixed? These healers say they might become dry, small and pale. They would
give a lot of trouble, demanding all the time. Some can become fools. They also
may just go one day and sleep and die (just go back i.e how they say it). Some
can become fools. They just go back to another person. So the treatment or
fixing of twins prevent them from becoming dry, small and pale, giving trouble,
demanding all the time, becoming fools and going back.
