Mpumpong poem

Translation of my love poem in pygmy Mezime, a Makaa-Njem language. The mezime pygmies of MBANG live in the Kadey in Eastern Cameroon.

This language has a small number of speakers, perhaps 40,000, and a large number of names to designate it (Bageto, Boman, Mboman, Mpongmpong, Mpumpoo, Mpumpong, Northern Bangantu, Menzime, Medzime, Bombo, Kunabembe, Nkumabem, Mendzime, Pobyeng, Baagato, Mpopo, Bangantu, Mpompon, Pongpong, Mpompo, Konabem, Konabembe, Mbombo, Kunabeeb, Mbobyeng, Mpomam).

Mpongmpong is one of the 270 languages of Cameroon, it is spoken in a whole bunch of small villages in the rainforest.

This language, like many others in Africa and even around the world, is not literary ... it is just oral, so there is no standard for writing it, so no precise spelling.

If I speak of this, it is to explain the difficulty of learning languages which are only oral in a school way, the real learning of these languages without textbook, grammar etc. is to immerse oneself in the midst of the speakers.

Pygmies are characterized by their small size, lower than that of neighboring populations (generally less than 1.50m for men). This small size would be the genetic adaptation to the equatorial forest.

There are 3 groups of pygmies in the equatorial forest, the eastern ones (Mbutis) which were the most studied, those of the center (Tswas and Bingas) of the Central African Republic, and those of the west (Gabon, Cameroon), Of which the Mezimes are part. Hunting and gathering are their daily lives, and what they provide can be intended to be bartered for agricultural products.