Projects
The Ibanikom Climate Mental Health Evolution Model in Kom, Boyo Division of Kom
“There is an adage that if we do not care for our environment, our environment will not care for us. For years, we have heard a lot about climate change, but like in all crises, we always think ‘they’ refer to different people until it hits us like a tornado”.
Never before has the Kom village that used to be so green , cold with streams and brooks widespread with many local pulses and seeds and indigenous berries abound but now erratic and extreme rains falls and increased in temperatures and increased in landslides are increasing affecting not only the social, economic and physical lives of the kindreds but the mental health of the people. Extreme climate and climate change is increasing the poverty level of the people, loss of crops and animas , loss of useful medicinal plant biodiversity and traditional foods that symbolic and recommended by the ancestors for use.
Cameroon sits on the Congo forests and described as the ecological lungs of Africa; they have become the world's lungs now. Greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, water bodies continue to lose their volume as the days go by, and the effects of this are telling on us at all levels, especially on our health, including mental health and our agriculture, which directly
influences health.
The Ibanikom climate mental health literacy evolution project is coordinated by Prof Kenneth Yongabi Anchang, a Professor of Public Health and founder of the PRF foundation and Rev Fr Joseph Ateh, a moral theologian and director of the centre for Inculturation, Nairobi, Kenya, is a co creation and co development model built on The Kom Ethos symbolized by “Iwu Kom Tual’’(Three Kom Hands)
“Wain’’ (Child)
“Afo-ayina’’ (Food)
“Nyam-gvin’’ (Prosperity)
The “Three Kom Hands” also form the subject matter of invocatory and supplicatory prayers at all initiation rites, be it at the individual, family, or village levels. They pray for the health of the mind, the body and the soul. The royal hunting period, which lasts for one week, comes up in May and involves all the male
youths. This is followed immediately by “Ngam Kwifoin”, that is, the “holy week”, during which the Fon carries out the “Fuchuo” and “Azhea” supplicatory sacrifices to inaugurate the planting season and to ensure the fertility and well-being of Kom. The well-being of Kom includes health in all its dimensions. The Fon carries out these ritual sacrifices assisted by the priests of “Achaf” and “Ekwu” clans and “Kwifoin”. In the description of W.G. Nkwi;
“Fuchuo was the ritual carried out by the achaff and ekwu priests (all founding lineages of Kom) to inaugurate the planting season and ensure the constant food supply in the Kom Fondom. The shrine, ndo-fuchuo stood in a spot held to be the place where the python disappeared. It stood on three pillars with a grass thatch roof. The performance of the ritual by the ekwu and achaff priests was because of their proximity to their traditional settlement when they arrived Laikom… Prior to the ritual, the path leading to the shrine is cleared (usu leng fuchuo), and the following day, the priests offer guinea corn porridge (sorghum bicolor), palm oil (Elaeis Guineensis), salt (sodium chloride), and palm wine, a white milky substance extracted from the palm tree… A libation followed the rite in the ntul shrine poured by the Fon and achaff priests, who both offer prayers for peace, fertility, and more food in the Kingdom… In the one week following the fuchuo ritual, social gatherings of a festive nature where musical instruments may be used are all forbidden. No funeral ceremonies were to be carried out until seven days elapsed… Closely related to the fuchuo ritual, which is performed in the sacred forest, is azhea. Azhea is linked in both function and content to fuchuo. The shrine is found in the precincts of the sacred forest (Nkwi, 1982). According to Chilver and Kaberry (1961), it is “a ritual which is performed to ensure a regular fall of rain” (p. 76). This ritual also ensures sufficient sunshine and a future bumper harvest. When this ritual is performed in the sacred forest, it is repeated at royal compounds found at Yang, Fuli, and Alim. From the royal compounds, the other villages are nourished.”
In his function as the spiritual leader, the Fon invokes the power of ‘Fiyini’(God) through the intercession of the “miyini”(minor gods) and “nkfiisi-nse’‘(ancestral spirits) for the fertility of “ifuo jim a kom”, that is, all living things in Kom. By implication, nothing is left out in these prayers, and the “Three Kom Hands” remain outstanding as the subject of the prayers. This indicates that any achievement by a Kom person belongs to the whole Kom world and not just to an individual. The “child” or human person belongs to all, “food” belongs to all, and any other form of “prosperity” is communal. This explains the Kom proverbs; “The education of the child is the affair of the village.” “One is fully realised only when all are realised”. Hence, one can discern the vision of collectivity, fraternity, solidarity, and the common good, which informs the Kom ethos summarised for practical purposes in the “Three Kom Hands” symbolism.
The necessity of these cults is so paramount and engraved in the DNA and ethos of the person that anything that threatens the fertility of “Wayn, Afoyina and Nyamgvin” directly affects his psyche and mental well-being. Climatic changes today causing destabilisation of the systems of the Kom society bear heavily on their mental health. That explains why they will say “ivi jah imein” or chu jah imein”, “the rains have gone mad”, or “the sun has gone mad.”
When there is a drought or too much rainfall, the Kom believe something has gone wrong in the ecosystem, and the mind, soul and body are affected. This explains why they are susceptible to climate change and the disasters caused because they live in close symbioses with nature, our closest neighbour. When this “neighbour” is affected, the effects bear on the Kom person and his livelihood, so his well-being is threatened. He is worried and traumatized when this goes beyond the diviners’ and the gods’ expectations and consultation for the “why” and the “how” is the expected result.
What Has Been Achieved So Far With The Ibanikom Climate Mental Health?
- A traditional mental health literacy and a climate literacy community of practice has been built based on the traditional structures and has been rolled out in the last 3 years empowering members and being adopted across other African countries, Nigeria.
- Ibanikom has identified the socio cultural triggers of mental health issues and how climate devastations exacerbates the prevalence and affects DALYS
- The Ibanikom has embarked on the planting of traditional trees such as tephrosia, bamboos that sink carbon but used widely by the ancestors as materials for construction of homes.
- We also educated people on erosion control at the village using vertivier grass and the respect of traditional forest reserves and traditional buffer zones.
- The Ibanikom has constructed a limno-psychosocial support model rooted in modern mental health therapeutic and prevention approach and traditional methods.
- The ibanikom built the first ecological house hold and community water treatment to curb water borne diseases due to extreme climate change , this technology uses green materials devoid of chlorine and alum and less energy . Installed for the past 9 years at Balikumato village in Kom, more than 100 people trained.
- Ibanikom has built an ecological farming training centre in Bamenda where green plants have been used to produce fertilizers. This means that with floods and landslides, resilience remains when the people can farm at their backyards using green manure and integrated farming methods with wastes converted to wealth.
The launch of the Ibanikom Climate mental health model- a traditional model to mitigate climate change and build mental resilience using traditional and ancestral wisdom
The traditional climate mental health literacy community of practice policy code being unwrapped from the traditional DOMA as a decree by the KING as an approved Community of practice for all KOM Kindreds
IBAINIKOM HEALTH LITERACY EVOLUTION
