La Mafia Medicale par GHIS

Bamena

La Chefferie Bamena BAMENA ou le trône à partir... d’une chèvre volée. Les Bamena sont souvent taquinés avec humour comme étant des voleurs de chèvres. Cette blague n’est pas du tout sans fondement. Au contraire, elle a un rapport direct avec l’histoire du village. En effet, il y a plusieurs siècles un chasseur venu du village Baloum dans la Menoua, du nom de BLINGOUN NJON VIEUP, s’installa à Bamena. Il trouva sur place un village administré portion par portion par les dignitaires suivants : ZAWONG, ZAFENG, ZATCHEU, ZOUSSOUGANG Chef de Tap et FEUGEUPAH à Enou. Pour unifier ces villages et entreprendre la direction de la Menoua, il usa de ruse : à un moment donné, la population fut frappée par une famine et demanda aux dignitaires de leur procurer de la viande, lesquels dignitaires se lancèrent à la chasse en compagnie de l’étranger. Mais ce dernier très malin après avoir fait quelques kilomètres seulement attrapa une chèvre qu’il mit dans un sac et la ramena aux populations comme étant le gibier qu’elles réclamaient. Malgré les protestations de celles-ci, BLINGOUN les amenèrent à accepter son offre en leur faisant reconnaître qu’elles avaient réclamé de la viande sans préciser s’il s’agissait de celle d’un animal domestique ou non. Ayant ainsi gagné le pari, BLINGOUN NJONVUEUP devint le Chef Supérieur Bamena avant le retour de la chasse des dignitaires. Par la suite on découvrit que le Chef avait volé son butin et c’est pourquoi on l’appela le Chef voleur de chèvres. C’est depuis lors que les Bamena sont taquinés comme étant tout comme leur Chef, des voleurs de chèvres. A la mort de cet unificateur, son fils TCHAPTCHOP KOUAGOUN pris les rênes du pouvoir. Puis ce furent successivement WANGUEP qui n’a régné que quelques mois, MEFEU (qui était un Albinos), KOMBOU TOUKEP (qui fut le plus illustre). Toutes les filles du Chef et des fils du Chef à partir de ce souverain sont desNGOUTOUKEP. Après ce furent les règnes de guerre : NGONGANG mort en 1939, WANDJI NGONGANG mort en 1968 et celui de NIETCHO Jacques mort en 1997 et qui laissa…71 enfants ! Il faut sans doute préciser que l’unificateur du village dont nous avons parlé au début n’était pas venu de la Menoua seul, mais accompagné de deux de ses frères : son frère jumeau et leur aîné. L’aîné est allé fonder le village Baloungoun qui se trouve actuellement dans Bangou tandis que le frère jumeau NZOUAMI  allait s’installer à Bangoulap. C’est pourquoi les Bamena considèrent les habitants de ces deux villages comme des frères et il n’y a pas ainsi possibilité de mariage entre eux.

Kimbangu

Kimbangu, Simon
c. 1887 to 1951
The Church of Jesus Christ on Earth
Democratic Republic of Congo

Prophet Simon Kimbangu was the most important of the prophet founders in the independent church movement. The Church of Jesus Christ on Earth by the Prophet Simon Kimbangu is one of the largest of such communities and was the first both to establish a theological school and to be admitted to the World Council of Churches. Little of this was foreshadowed by Kimbangu's life, however, most of which was endured in prison.

The outlines of his life are simple. Although Kimbangu's father was a traditional religious leader, Simon was converted by the Baptist Missionary Society in 1915. He worked for several years as a catechist, a religious teacher who prepares candidates for baptism, and then had a vision in which God gave him a divine commission to preach and heal. To escape the divine command, he fled to Léopoldville, the capital of the Belgian Congo, where he did migrant work. In 1921 he cured a sick woman and returned to the Lower Congo region to preach. This mission, which lasted only six months, had astounding effects. He drew crowds, to the extent that workers left the plantations to hear him speak and hospital beds were emptied of those hoping for cures. The word spread that an ngunza (prophet) and mvuluzi (apostle, messiah) was among the Congo people. Kimbangu cured the sick and was said to raise the dead. His village, Nkamba, was renamed New Jerusalem. The mission became a mass movement and began to take on nationalist overtones, disturbing both the Baptists and the Belgian colonial authorities. His healing ministry had a powerful impact, as followers proclaimed his cures and miracles. In all this were echoes of the messianism of KIMPA Vita two centuries earlier.
Kimbangu employed Christian symbolism, seeing himself as a Christ figure. He appointed 12 apostles to assist him and laid down three moral rules: the abolition of all traditional religious symbols, the eradication of erotic dancing and the destruction of dance drums, and the end of polygamy. He opposed witchcraft and sorcery. To the shock of the missionaries, who had worked toward these goals for years with little result, Kimbangu's disciples conformed to his rules without a murmur.
Africans often believed that the missionaries held back the secrets of Christianity that were the source of European power and wealth, and therefore Kimbangu's leadership provided a way to unlock these secrets by using a prophet who had talked to God. Kimbangu identified God with nzambi, the Congo supreme being, and preached God's closeness to his people.
The movement also fed on anti-European feeling and thus aroused the Belgian government's concern. Prodded by missionaries, especially the Catholics, the government panicked. Machine guns were posted in the capital in expectation of an African uprising. The first attempt to take Kimbangu failed when he slipped away from a rally, resulting in stories of his miracle-working. Kimbangu turned himself in to authorities, was charged with sedition, and was sentenced to death. King Albert I commuted the sentence to life imprisonment with 120 lashes, and Kimbangu was sent a thousand miles away, where he died after 30 years in isolation from his followers.
If the Belgians thought that this would silence the movement, they were mistaken. During his trial, Kimbangu assumed the stance of the martyred Christ during his passion; in detention his figure took on iconic proportions. Even traditional Christians admired his acceptance of his fate, his obvious prayerful piety, and the evidence of his deep personal holiness. Although he could not preach in prison, his demeanor was patient and loving, and he shared his meager food rations with other prisoners. His followers begged him to use his miraculous powers to escape but continued to build his movement without him. The Belgians cracked down on Kimbanguists, but the church went underground, led by Kimbangu's son, Joseph DIANGIENDA. Several related sects soon appeared, all acknowledging Kimbangu as their spiritual father. Kimbangu also became a symbol of Congolese nationalism, and Kimbanguism fostered group cohesion. By diminishing the power of magic and witchcraft, it helped to develop mutual trust and community. It also challenged the authority of the local chiefs, who were seen - quite rightly - as the lackeys of the Belgian authorities.
A church council was established in 1956, five years after Kimbangu's death, and his three sons, led by Diangienda, took over. In 1991, President MOBUTU Sese Seko, who had legalized the church, posthumously amnestied Kimbangu and awarded him the National Order of the Leopard.
Norbert C. Brockman

Freedom Forum 2011