Kwasio love poem

Translation of the love poem into pygmy Kwasio (other names : Magbea, Gyele, Kola, Kwassio, Maka-Njem, Mabi, Ngoumba, Bujeba, Mvumbo, Mabea, Mgoumba, Bisio, Ngumba, Mekuk, Mgumba) comprehensible by 50,000 people.

The Bantu language Ngoumba belongs to the Makaa-Njem subgroup, it is spoken in Cameroon (Lolodorf region), Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. It is a Bantu language, tonal, comprising several dialects.

Historically, Maka-Ngumba populations would have come from Haute-Sanaga, settling on the Nyong. A succession of invasion of other groups, Fangs and Bulus, will cause splits within the group, so the Ngumbas will settle between the region of Lolodorf and the coast (Kribi).

The Bujebas (kwasios) have for many been assimilated by the Fangs and Boulous.

These pygmies who are populations of the African equatorial forest, lived in close contact with their non-pygmy neighbors to whom they supplied meat in exchange for bananas, peanuts etc.

The Kwasios were both hunter-gatherers and small-scale farmers (cassava, plantain).

The men hunted while the women collected tubers. They lived in temporary camps, bringing together individuals hunting together under the authority of the elders.

Following deforestation which no longer allowed them to find enough food while hunting, they had to turn a little to agriculture, and work in palm and rubber tree plantations.

I am very happy to have this translation and audio.