Meet HRH. Fon Angafor Mombo-oh III of Bambui and his Diaspora Connection

The Fon of the Bambui Fondom, HRH. Fon Angafor Mombo-oh III is an exemplary one. Since his coronation on the throne of the Bambui people as the Traditional Ruler in 1995, the community has been witnessing a lot of good things happening for them in the area. Thus Fon Angafor has been reputed as a traditional ruler with a vision for his people. The Fon strongly believes in the spirit of oneness and the advantages that go with it. Like a hen that gathers its chicks and protect them from any danger, HRH. The Fon of Bambui likes seeing his people live in unity, peace and progress. He remains very conscious of the fact that no one man has ever done the most complete and perfect job, but a united people. This explains one of the main reasons why the Fon has come out the throne to embark on visits to the Diaspora to find out exactly how his people are faring out there. In this direction, Fon Angafor III just concluded a historic visit to the people of Bambui living in the Unite States of America where he stayed for over two weeks spreading his royal blessings and goodwill message of peace, unity and love for one another as the corner stones for progress. His timely visit to the USA to meet his people took him to seven of the States that make up the USA like Washington DC, Boston, New Jersey, Minnesota, Texas and New York.  

In a chat with WATCHDOG TRIBUNE, the Fon said his visit to the USA was to meet his people and see what steps they are taking concerning the harmonious development of their home land. Also I went to the USA to make sure the people of Bambui live together as one people so as to better realize the dreams and also it was my mission to make some contacts and create partnership with necessary bodies that could benefit the Fondom, the Fon stressed. The Fon strongly believes that development comes better in partnership than when one works in isolation. Already, putting the health of his people first, the Fon disclosed that such connections in the Diaspora (USA) is yielding fruits as some containers filled with medical equipment are being shipped to Cameroon where they will be conveyed to Bambui so as to help improve on the health needs of the population.

It was the very first visit of its kind by Fon Angafor to travel out to the USA since becoming Fon in 1995. According to the Fon, his children are all over the USA, Europe and South Africa but his choice of starting first with the USA, was because the USA is seen as the “Headquarters” of the world and thus thought it wiser to start first with a visit to the place. The revealed that his next outing will take him to the United Kingdom and other parts of the world where his subjects are also to give them the encouragement and blessings they need to develop themselves. Hear him, “at time as a good leader that I am, you must also try to visit your people wherever they are and see how they are living and not only allow them visit you all the time… these visits will surely permit me to live the difficulties they face and would treat them better. As a father, when I live their difficulties they face, I would be able to know the kind of encouragement to give them for the progress of the village”.

The Fon, the USA and New Experiences:

In an exclusive interview with WATCHDOG TRIBUNE on his tour of the USA from the 20^th of June 2012, HRH. Fon Angafor outlined a good number of new experiences he gathered out there. First, he understood the proper use of time in order to achieve the best things in live. Second, as an environmentalist of the first order, the Fon experienced better ways of conserving and preserving the natural environment and this according to the Fon will go a long way to assist him in his continuous fight against Climate Change and Environmental protection.  Hear him, “I even saw a variety of animal species (wild life) well protected such that no one tampers with their existence… I saw and admired the way the people out there happily live so friendly with these animals”.

The Fon also enjoyed the way the people of the USA orderly in the things they do and are quite law abiding respecting human rights at every level and in every action. The Fon stressed that this aspect in the high respect of the rule of law and human rights are worth emulating for the common good. The Fon also noticed the total cleanliness in both the human and physical environment making life more enjoyable.

Further more, as concerns the management of traffic, the Fon also noticed that in the USA traffic congestion is properly managed such that it is not really a problem. He said out there, there are traffic rules which are strictly respected and thus roads accidents are hard to find.

Another aspect that caught the attention of the Fon was the fact that at the White House of the US President, people are seen moving freely unperturbed unlike in Africa where Head of States and their Palaces are heavily guarded by security men. Even the US President moves around freely without much protocol.

At the Headquarters of the United Nations, the Fon witnessed the activities of the UNO for the well being of the world. At the UN Headquarters the Fon experienced the preservation of most important action in world history and also experienced how things are done at the UNO where he personally visited and gathered a lot of important information that could improve the lives of his people back home in Bambui. It was also noticed that most the streets of the cities are planted or erected historical monuments which are well preserved and they easily tell the history attached to them.

Finally, the Fon experienced how most of the activities in the USA are mechanized making life easier and from what the Fon saw and gathered brought him to the quick conclusion that the USA is truly a land of plenty especially when one considers the variety of foodstuff in abundance.  

The Fon’s Expectations from his Subjects after the visit:

After his visit of his people living in the USA last June 2012, and with the blessings and encouragement given to them, HRH. The Fon of Bambui, expects much from them for the development of their native land. The first thing Fon Angafor expects from his people out there in the Diaspora is that they should remain united and be each other’s keeper at all times. Second, the Fon expects them to be good Ambassadors of the Bambui Fondom wherever they are in the Diaspora. Thirdly, the Fon wants them to always participate in the development of their village especially during fundraising for development projects at home. On this point, the Fon said there are measures taken to make a census in order to know how many Bambui sons and daughters are in the Diaspora for this purpose so that everybody is involved in the development of the village. Since education remains the key in life, the Fon expects his people particularly those of the new generation to live a quite responsible live by getting married and sending their children to school so that they could become responsible leaders of tomorrow.  He cautioned his subjects to take the responsibility to legally protect the family property left behind and that land should rather be leased and not sold.

To those in the village, the Fon expects them to stop sleeping and to stand up to face the numerous challenges that is now ahead of them. He reminded them of the development aspects that go with the creation of the Bamenda University in Tubah. With the increasing influx of people to the Tubah subdivision and particularly to Bambui which is the bread basket of the Division, the Fon is calling on his people to be more hospitable and take up the challenge to put up better housing and business infrastructure, extend their farm sizes to meet up with the imminent increase in demand for food and above all ensure a peaceful environment for the good of the village.

Apart from his historic tour of the USA, it was also an opportunity for the Fon to express his satisfaction with the progress of work to give the Bambui Palace a face lift in the coming days. He said rehabilitation works are on going and he and his collaborators are determined to give the Bambui Fon’s Palace the deserved image that could make his people to be where they belong as the “mbeuh”. He also added that a multi-million Museum project for the fondom will soon kick-off and the Palace was selected to benefit from this support by the group “Routes De La Chifferie”