Roseline Anoma

The wife of my late cousin, Commissioner of Police Isaac Anoma, Mrs Roseline Anoma died recently. News of her death was a big shock for us members of the Anoma family, in the large sense of the word.

The original Anoma was a son of the then ruling Fon of Mbu (Baforchu) Njie Angieh, who unless I`m mistaken, handed the throne to Fon Fobolingong I. Anoma begot Tayong (my paternal grandfather), Ngu (father of Professor Victor Anomah Ngu and John Niba Ngu), Achu who later settled in Muea and a sister through whose ancestry the present Anomas (Ernest, Eric the military officer, Ufei,Valentine, Felix etc) sprang forth.

The reason why we the family shall for ever remember Mami Roseline Anoma is that we loved her much. We loved her because she cared for us. She neglected none of us and would always look for us wherever we were. In fact, so successful did her marriage become that some Mbu (Baforchu) men became determined to look for a wife only in Manyu Division from where Mami came.

Pa Isaac spent a significant part of his professional career out of Bamenda. However, he was finally posted to Bamenda. That was when I was in the early classes of Sacred Heart College, Mankon.

The day Ufei and I met for the first time at their family residence near the former Roxi Cinema in Bamenda, our two body chemistries immediately clicked and we became very close and fond of each other. She had lived and schooled in Yaounde and so at that time she spoke very good French which I admired greatly. She was at Lourdes and so we wrote letters to each other and sent them to the other person through the baker (whom we called `Boulangerie`) then in Ntarinkon who supplied bread to both Lourdes and Sacred Heart. Sometimes she would drop hers in the Volkswagen of our principal, Bro. John Phillips, wile he was at Lourdes visiting the principal there. Many Lourdes girls dropped their letters in his car. It seems he knew it and did not mind because when he was there, the window of his car was down and therefore easy of access to the girls with eager letters.

At the time – and perhaps today – it was fashionable for Sacred Heart boys to have girl friends in Lourdes. For all one can say, those relationships stayed at the platonic level. Even so, we relished them. I talked Ufei into finding me a “nice” girl at Lourdes. She did not hate the idea but felt strongly that I should be the one to “discover” my girl by myself and chat her up by myself. She felt that such an approach would prove to the girl that I was “a man”. The problem with me was that I was shy. That was why once, during the brainstorming, Ufei replied to one of my letters and said it was not advisable for her to be my “go-between”. It was the first time I heard that expression. My relationship with Ufei has remained strong over the years, except for the occasional lapses that usually come from me.

Ufei`s eldest brother, Ni Ernest, was in Form 5 at Sacred Heart when I entered Form 1. So I was very much a “fox” to him. But he looked after me very well at school. One day, many years later, I visited the Anomas at the Bamenda residence. While Ernest and Mami were seeing me off, Mami said to me:
“When you go you greet Martina, eh?”
Ernest asked: “Martina na who Mami?”
And she said: “Na some Papa ye sister.”

Although Mami may have gone, her name and spirit remain. So we feel she is still with us.

She was the last born of the five daughters the late Chief Samuel Etchu of Bachuo-Akagbe had with his first wife, Elizabeth Ewang Takangnchong Etchu. Their mother died young and they became motherless as kids. However, their mother’s elder sister, Emilia Mpey Egbe, filled in as mother, and raised her sister’s children together with hers. Incidentally, one of Emilia Mpey’s sons, the late Hon. Emmanuel Tabi Egbe, became a minister who served in both Ahidjo’s and Biya’s governments. It was this Emmanuel Tabi Egbe who, when he became a teacher in N.A. School Tali, took along his little cousin, whom he regarded as a sister, and enrolled her in school. She was a bright student and also did well in sports and atheletics. Her big brother, E. T. Egbe, however had to hand her over at some point to the elder sister, Clarah Abunaw, when he had to travel to Onitsha in Nigeria to further his own education.

The way they grew up taught the kids the importance of being there for one another, acting as each other’s keeper; and they did not fail to instill this spirit into us, their children. We, their children called them our Mamies. Of course, collectively, we saw them as our mothers even though they had different characters and different modes of operation. The first, Mamie Clarah, was commander-in chief. She was a strict disciplinarian. You disobeyed her at your own peril. The second, my own mother, Mamie Sarah, was very imperial, but conciliatory. The third, Mamie Lydia, was very compassionate. We called her Guardian Angel because she had a way of appearing from nowhere to render help when someone was stressed out. The fourth, Mamie Joana Awu-Tabe-Mbok, popularly called Joe Awuta, was very witty, a good story teller, and an expert raconteur of folk tales. Because Mamie Joe was my baby sitter, I was able to learn to tell folk tales the way she did. Finally, the youngest, Mamie Roseline, was the diplomat of all the children of Chief Samuel Etchu.  She settled all little conflicts, not just between her mother’s children, but also between Chief Samuel Etchu’s other children. It is not my intention to eulogize these mothers of ours because all of them are now dead. Rather, I want to express the sweet memories I have of the youngest of them, Mamie Roseline Anoma.

Mamie Anoma, was a trail blazer of sorts. She was the first Bachuo-Akagbe girl to finish school and become a teacher. Miss Lucy Etchu, as she was called in those days, later took the name Roseline, when she got baptized as a Catholic Christian. She followed her police officer husband to Enugu, Calabar, Ikeja and Lagos in Nigria, maintaining and developing in her career as a teacher. They later returned to Cameroon, where she continued teaching in Buea. Her former pupils have proven themselves in all fields of academic endeavor. Mamie Anoma was also the first Bachuo-Akagbe girl to follow love and marry a none-Manyu man, thereby contributing to the breaking of tribal taboos. Inter-tribal marriages have become common today, thanks to brave young people like Isaac Anoma and Roseline Etchu. Mamie Anoma was also very instrumental in the creation of the Catholic Women's Association in Buea. While serving a stint with her Police Commissioner husband, the late Mr. Isaac Anoma, in Mamfe, she got into politics and became the WCPDM section president of Manyu, demonstrating her political acumen. In short this woman was not just a princess. She was also a born leader and proved it, wherever she had an opportunity to serve. Her life was in deed devoted to the service of her fellow human beings.

My first memories of auntie Roseline date back as far as when she was a primary school pupil in R.C.M Kumba, where she lived with her eldest sister, Mamie Clarah Abunaw. She made it a habit of coming to spend her long holidays with her second elder sister, my mother, in Bachuo-Ntai, my father's village, to help with farm work. My mother had spoken so much of her little sister who was on her way to becoming a "Miss", the title given to female teachers of those days. One beautiful day, she arrived on a "Mamfe-come-down-day", covered with dust from the dusty Mamfe-Kumba road because it had not rained for a few days. I did not need any introductions. My mother's younger sister had close resemblance to my mother. The only difference was her patted teeth formation at the front top of the mouth, which was incredulously similar to mine. Wao! I could easily have passed for her son if she were already of child-bearing age. She brought us bread, sweets, biscuits, butter, margarine, sardines, patched ground nuts. It is important to stress at this point that those items were delicacies in the village. Her first coming to the village was euphoric, but the euphoria ended in a few days. My carefree way of live in the village was replaced with rules. My aunt laid down rules for everything that one did. All of a sudden, I could no longer eat in the morning without first of all bathing. As far as bathing was concerned, she made sure it was done by doing it herself. I could not eat without first of all washing my hands. Before her arrival, I had developed a habit of just roaming around, playing with other village children until food was ready and my mother sent somebody to find me. This habit had to stop with the presence of my aunt. In short, in my aunt’s world, there were rules for everything. She also loathed idleness. It was from her I learned the English expression: “The devil has work for little idle hands.” With so much law and order in the house, my rebellious soul would very often wish my aunt never came to the village at all. The longer she stayed, the more our relationship climbed to a love-hate domain. However, as soon as her stay was over and she returned to Kumba, I would missed her a lot. During the first few days of her departure back to Kumba, I would lie awake in bed at night and think of all the goodies she brought, as well as her daily bathing of my body; and the gentle application of rubbing oil on my body. The rubbing oil was not the palm kernel type we used in the village. It was white man's oil which smelled good. Some people called it pomade. Yes, I missed all that and wished she had not gone back to Kumba. My only consolation was knowledge that she would be back in one year. In fact, she continued to do this even after she gained admission to Saint Francis Teacher Training College and became a student there. She was a rare example of a college girl in those days, who enjoyed doing dirty farm work as a means of helping her out elder sister. She only ended the practice when she got married to a gentleman called Mr. Anoma from Bamenda. Those were the best days I had with my aunt; and they were the days that helped me to develop into an organized man. My aunt's rules bore fruit. 

As her marriage was blessed with many children, she once in a while brought her children to the village and I enjoyed seeing and playing with my little cousins.  Auntie kept on playing a vital role in my life when I became a student in CPC Bali. I remember visiting them many times in the police barracks/clerk quarters in Buea. My auntie and her husband were not rich, but they never lacked what to share with me. Pa Anoma would always push some currency notes into my right hand when ever my visit was over. Mamie continued to touch my life with good advice in times of crisis even when I had grown up, married, and had my own children. She also continued to touch my life through my four boys - Besong, Tambong, Tabi, and Eta, throughout all their years in CPC Bali, our common Alma Mata. My boys were always sure of a grand mother’s treatment (for that was what she became for them), when they went for weekends to auntie’s Bamenda residence or just when they stopped over on their way to or from school. For all these experiences, memories of my aunt will remain indelible. Is there any wonder then, why she was my favorite aunt?

Auntie, let me now address you directly. Nobody lives forever. We therefore did not expect you to be with us forever. No amount of the tears we shed will bring you back to us. Hence, all we should do is to celebrate your life of many great achievements. While you and your sisters were with us you all showed us the power of love. You showed us how to use many hands to tie a bundle. Now that you have all left us, we beseech you to intercede for us in your new realm, that we may not cease to be the keepers of one another. Keep your eyes open and continue to look after us. Send us blessings upon blessings, upon blessings. We love you. Good bye. 

James Tabot Ashu

Boston, Massachusetts

USA

In Memoriam
Goodbye & Salute To Ma Roseline Anoma
Foremost Broadaster Educator, Post & Headmistress Exits
Leader, Elder & Catholic Women’s Association Co-founder
By Dr. Jerry Komia Domatob
 
All over the globe, African/Cameroonian women excel
As accountants, nurses, engineers & communicators
Lawyers, managers and doctors
 
These phenomenal achievements
Like celeb attainments
Root back to stellar pioneers
Among whom shined, Ma Roseline Anoma
 
An illustrious teacher
Who zealously dispensed knowledge, as a star preacher
Ma Anoma soared for enlightenment
Like heroes of commitment
 
Renowned Post mistress
She inspired as Headmistress
Always respected as a leader
Ma Anoma, enthused as a revered elder
 
Modern day builder, who valued meaningful tradition
Ma Anoma championed edification
Wife, mother, sister and aunt of distinction
She epitomized ideals of devotion
 
Catholic Women’s Association co-founder & originator
Ma Anoma served as a prime innovator
Tactful, careful and resourceful
Truthful, faithful and prayerful
 
Hurrah to a versatile trendsetter
Who glittered as a pacesetter
Salute to a superb organizer, mobilizer and motivator
Top-notch role model, creator & initiator
 
Planner, strategist, tactician & internationalist
Ma Anoma empowered, as a globalist & nationalist
Leading Cameroonian icon, who served as a trailblazer
Ma Anoma shined lights, sofolks found a way
 
Special condolence: to all Anomas at home and abroad. Heart-felt commiseration, with our bosom friend and former SHESA USA president, Mr. Ernest Anoma, his wife Comfort and family; Retired Lieutenant Colonel Eric Anoma & family; Ufei Anoma Nseke & family; Bates Anoma & Family; Valentine Anoma & family; Jude Anoma & family; Ba (Felix) Anoma, his wife & family;  as well as all friends and associates.

Aunty Roseline, 
Your parting has left a void, but we will fill it with all the loving memories you are leaving behind.
You have lived a good life, bringing happiness to us all. Your nieces and nephews each treasured the individual and
special relationship they had with you. I for one, will always treasure the impact you had on my young years.
Aunty, I will not weep, because this year, you are spending Christmas in heaven with Jesus.
Follow the light to the shore, and go rest with your loved ones. 
Farewell aunty. Tell Daddy and Leo we're fine.
It is well, Aunty Roseline. IT IS WELL!!!