ON THE QUESTION OF BALUE ORIGINS

 

By Blessed E. Ngoe

It is almost about a week ago that I witnessed a number of well-meaning Balue people express their dissatisfaction with the remarks that someone, in another forum, made about them and their origins. 

Background: In one of the Oroko forums to which I do not belong, someone allegedly and erroneously made the claim or seemed to suggest that the Balue people do not know where thy come from. In fact, it is said that the young man boasted that he could knock off any Balue chief by simply asking the said chief to recount the history of his people. What arrogance! Naturally, those claims did not sit in well with a good number of Balue people in that forum, my humble self-included. What the claim implied is that the Balue are, to say the least, ignorant of who they are as a people, having no knowledge of their past to chart their knowledge of their present. If a group of people do not know from where they came, cultural knowledge teaches us that they most likely would have no idea about where they go. 

In response to that young man, whose name I asked for but wasn't given, I want to tell you a little bit about who the Balue are, at least when it comes to where they actually come from with the hope that he will find it informative. 

Let me start here: I happen to be the grandson of one of the most celebrated keepers of oral history in Balue land, Tata Nefenda Itoh Mofa (baptized Nicholas when he became a Catholic in 1922). My grandfather's narratives of Balue origins remain fresh in my mind, even though he died over two decades ago. Being so dated, I would not want to rely so much on my memory of what my grandfather said, but on recent data taken from my research interviews with people who, in their youth, were actually taught Oroko history in school. I know that sounds strange and far-fetched to so many, but once upon a time, some of our fathers and grandfathers (born between 1935 and 1945) were taught Oroko history in mission schools all over what has become known today as Ndian division.

In this exposition, I will rely on information I got from two sources: Pastor Johnson N. Mesembe and Mr. Gregory E. Mbongo, all of blessed memory. Their narratives of Balue history corroborate what older oral historians, from whom they gathered knowledge, said. 

 

ORIGINS

The Balue agree that they descend from two great leaders, NANGENOA and NALIOMO. Both are said to be descendants of Erume (Elume) Nangoi. Oral history holds that the apical ancestor of the Balue (Elume Nangoi) came from the BIMA VILLAGE OF BEBOKA. His ancestors had settled in this village after fleeing the coastal site of BATEKA. The story goes that in Bateka, during a high-level festival, a European (most probably a Portuguese) happened on the people unannounced. His appearance, seen as breaking a taboo, met with fatal hostility. The people dumped the intruder's dead body into a creek. Three days later, the tides brought back the body to the banks of the river close to the settlement of our ancestors. Upon seeing this, and gripped by fear of the unknown, our ancestors fled their native land to higher grounds. Those who would become the ancestors of the Bima, Bakundu, Balue (and consequently Ekombe and Mbonge) settled in the village now known as BEBOKA (the mother of all Bima villages). 

It is said that ELUME NANGOI (that is Elume of Ngoi or Elume, son of Ngoe) took a BATANGA WOMAN as wife. His descendants later settled in a probably extinct, village called MAYƆKƆ, near MADIƐ NGOLO in the EKAMA territory of that land. 

MIGRATION

An unfortunate incident in which an assailant group came upon the women of the village, in the absence of the men, further drove the sons of Elume eastward, away from Ngololand. It is said that all of their women and children were killed as the men were away hunting. These sons of Elume wandered through the forest in search of a peaceful place to settle. In their travels, they came upon a young woman who could not speak their language. My position is that this was most probably a BAROMBI MAIDEN, as the Barombi were the ancient occupants of the territory they were in. The eldest among the wanderers took the young woman as wife. Their children, led by Nangenoa and Naliomo continued the journey through the (ba)Rombi Hills (now called Rumpi Mountains) and discovered a flourishing Barombi town where the townsmen were skilled potters. The sons of Elume laid siege upon the town, capturing it, and renaming it BETƐNGƐ, after the clay pots that were made there. 

It is from Betɛngɛ that the earliest Balue villages spread as the population grew with time. The historians said that the sons of Nangenoa founded DIKOME and several other settlements in the northern half of Balue land, including some that are today in Mbonge territory. Meanwhile, the sons of Naliomo founded BAFAKA (still called Bonaliomo today) and many other settlements in southern Balue land, including some that are today in Balondo territory. 

 BALUE OF TODAY

Although these origins and migration story of the Balue seems very linear and clear cut, it is worth noting that not all Balue villages came about as a result of this route. Many Balue villages splintered from Mbonge, Balondo, Bakundu, and Ngolo villages. Moreover, there's at least one Balue settlement that was used to settle "slaves". I put slaves in quotes because it is a polarizing term that should be taken with a pinch of salt. Again, even the so-called original Balue villages are, indeed, blended. Many family (lineage) founders came from different parts of the Oroko Nation. For example, in Bafaka, there are lineages whose apical founders came from the Balondo village of Illor, the Ngolo villages of Madie and Mbange, the Mbonge village of Disoni, and the Bakundu villages of Mbu and Mbakwa, etc. 

Indeed, the Balue are a true blend of what we call the Oroko of today, having their most ancient roots in the riverain region of the Ndian - BATEKA. Their intermediate origins are undoubtedly, BEBOKA BIMA. They settled for a while (and in peace) in EKAMA NGOLO, and are the maternal descendants of the BATANGA (and probably the BAROMBI). Their sons became many and brought forth the MBONGE and the EKOMBE as well as many who today are called BALONDO. The Balue are the Oroko in miniature. 

***Blessed Efilo Ngoe is a Ph.D. candidate studying Communications at University of Colorado, Boulder***