Happy Halloween

I have never put too much stock in any mysticism much before, but living in a place where people believe so highly in witchcraft and after hearing many stories about people claiming to see it with their own eyes, who I trust, its hard not to start thinking some things are possible.

 One example is a little statue many people have in their house. It is in fact a termite mound that can be found in the forest around where I live. They chop it off at the base and place it in peoples’ homes for decorations. They are highly abundant in my area; I just saw about ten of them when I was in the bush for two days. They are roughly two feet tall and resemble a little man with a big mushroom cap head. I have heard numerous stories that people have seen witch doctors bring them to life, see the statues breathe fire, and dance around eating sugar cane. They used to do these ceremonies in a field here in the center of town before the council outlawed witchcraft to be practiced in public. After asking as many people as I can about this phenomena I have heard two stories, either they bring them to life and this is actually seen, or the other story is that the witchdoctors rub some type of substance on your eyes that “make” you see these things… Either way, I have told everybody that has had these experiences that I want in, I want to see this little statue man breathe fire, dance around, and eat sugar cane. They say they will take me…

The other example of witchcraft I here from many different people is that certain vendors in the market are actually people who have been evil and died in another life and have been brought back to live as vendors forever. They usually appear in a town and leave without a trace and are always from a different area, never a local who has grown up around there like a lot of the vendors. It is said that people are always attracted to go to these vendors to buy things, for no obvious reason, they may sell the same exact things as the other vendors, but you will always see certain people unexplainably and unknowingly attracted to buying from the same person, over and over, no matter the price.

There are many stories that are centered around money, and the borrowing of money from strangers. This is where the mysticism turns to involve me, but first I will give an example to show how much stock the locals put in mysticism that my good friend’s wife told me last night. She was in another town and had switched purses; not knowing that the purse she switched to did not have any money in it. She asked a random vendor to borrow 500 FCFA =  <$1 so she could get a taxi to school, return home and then bring him back the money.  He said, “sure lady, I’ll expect you to return the money to me.” As she was walking away she started thinking it was a bad idea and started to look for some type of water source so she could “cleanse” the money before she used it. She made it to a stream and prayed, “Please God, I have taken this money in a non-evil manner, with out any evil intentions, please cleanse this money,” and then sprinkled water over the money. She then used the money, reimbursed the seller and has not experienced any type of evil, so she believes she is fine.

Now my story: This past weekend I was traveling and was running on fumes for money before I made it back to my banking city where I pulled out my normal amount of money and received everything in 10,000 FCFA notes, counted it in front of the teller, folded it, and put it in my pocket. I had no other money on my body, or any in my backpack that was stuffed to the brim with clothes, post office packages, etc. I took one of those 10,000 FCFA notes and changed it into smaller money so I could pay a moto driver to take me back to my house in Menji. I arrived home at night, unpacked my bag of everything, emptied the bag clear out because I had to start work again the next day and needed to use it to carry some things as I was making a two and a half hour trek to visit a school in a neighboring village. After I unpacked the bag, I bathed, went to a friend’s house for dinner, returned home and slept. I awoke the next morning, began packing my bag with the things I needed, while the same friend I ate dinner with the night before came over and used the internet. We parted ways, my bag on my back, and I met my other friend at the local high school where he teaches, who I had the program with to visit another school in the neighboring village, I opened my bag, put his folder inside to keep while we trekked and we started off. We made the trek pretty easily, my bag never leaving my back, and reached the administration office of the school at our destination, two and a half hours later. I am seated in front of the principal of the school and open my bag to hand my friend his folder and pull out my own notebook when an odd amount of money is pulled out from my bag with my notebook. I remove 10 – 2,000 FCFA bills, totaling 20,000 FCFA from my bag.  I immediately ask my friend if he put it in my bag, and he say’s, “No, I just put my folder in there and I didn’t have any money in the folder.” I sit there puzzled, counting money in front of the school’s principal, wondering how it got there. I call my other friend who was at my house in the morning asking him if he slipped some money in my bag while I was doing some things around the house and he says, “No, absolutely not.”

It is extremely odd to me that this money is there because:

A)   I have never had that combination of bills before, I always have 10,000 FCFA notes, break one, use it until it is finished, and then break another, and the cycle continues. I NEVER have had 10 – 2,000 FCFA notes at the same time, since I have been in Cameroon. I understand misplacing a random bill and finding it later, but not this combination of money, I have NEVER had 10 – 2,000 FCFA notes at the same time before.

B)   I unpacked my bag the night before from traveling, and then repacked it with things I needed for the trek. When I pulled out my notebook at the principal’s office, the money came out with it and there were things that I had packed that morning below the money. The money was on top like someone had placed it there after I packed my bag in the morning. They were crisp, perfectly flat, stacked on each other like they just came out of an ATM, while everything else was stuffed and crammed in my bag in a disordered manner. 

C)   I recounted my money I pulled out of the bank when I returned home and all of it was accounted for, this 20,000 FCFA is completely extra money I never had in my possession before this day. All of the money I received from the bank I folded and placed in my front pocket of my jeans. This money was crisp like it just came from the bank.

I returned home and went to my friend’s house to eat dinner and discuss the money, and his wife told me the story I said earlier about sprinkling water on the money after borrowing it from the person.  The conclusion we came with is that I will wait for a month to see if anything comes from the money, if anyone asks for it, or anything. If nothing happens than I am going to take it to the church and tell them how I came to be in possession of the money so they can bless it and use it however they wish. The money is not mine, so the church can have it. Until a month passes, I am not going near it, there is no way I am spending it. I sprinkled water over the bills, and placed them in the middle of a Bible and laid it on top of my bookshelf.

Yikes, Happy Halloween with a lovely full moon.