About 2,500 people live in the village of Ngan-Ha. Practically every family is a farm family earning most of their income through agriculture. Some of the major crops are cassava, corn, millet, and beans. The upland savannah of north central Cameroon is covered with grass and scrubby trees. They get 6 months of rain followed by 6 months of zero rain.
Although villagers have huge challenges from poverty, tropical diseases, poorly designed and maintained roads, and other threats, some local practices are very sustainable. Most local homes are made of large red bricks – made from the red dirt – and roofs woven from local saplings and thick grass. A home like this lasts about 5 years and then gets replaced with another just like it.
Because this part of Cameroon was historically dominated by France, French is spoken commonly in the big cities where it is often the language of business, government and the classroom. But as you move out of the city – Ngan-Ha is 5 hours by bush taxi from the provinicial capital of Ngaoundere – African languages are more likely to be spoken first.
There are three major ethnic/language groups in Ngan-Ha. The Fulbe or Fulani are traditionally a nomadic, pastoral, trading people herding cattle, goats and sheep who keep somewhat separate from local agricultural populations, but still are part of the community. The upland savannah of north central Cameroon is a good place for grazing cattle. A second group of people are called the Mboum. Only about 39,000 people speak this language in Cameroon. The third group is the N’Di. These groups all live together in the village and accept the Belaka of Ngan-Ha as their chief. The Belaka settles disputes and traditionally controls the allocation of land to families and larger groups of families.
One interesting reality about Ngan-Ha and other little villages in central-west Africa is that several hundred refugees live there. People from Cameroon’s neighbors – Chad, Nigeria and the Central African Republic – fleeing flood, famine or violence in their home country are welcomed and given support by the village. Ngan-Ha is not a wealthy community. Opening their doors to refugees puts a strain on local resources. But this is what you do when people knock on your door.
