By Mola Mbua Ndoko
Did traditional Mokpwe houses have windows?
Mokpwe traditional houses as I knew them before I started going to school at the age of eight had no windows. The walls were constructed with "vee-ye", "ngonja", "vekaka", "meyowo me mae", "meyoli me wanga/likomba". The "veyee" were planted on the ground like a fence.
"Ngonja", or "vekaka" or "meyowo me mae" were tied neatly and firmly, using "meyoli", on the skeleton wall. Sun light entered the house through the entrance to the house, while air and smoke circulated through openings between the walls and the roof, through the several holes that were created by the "meyoli" that were tied on the skeleton walls, and through the entrance to the house.
"Mekonya", or neatly tied "ngonja", or "vekaka", or "meyowo me mae" were used as doors. They were leaned against an entrance to a house, and supported from inside the house by heavy sticks that rested on loops of ropes that were tied on the walls. When there were no people inside a house the door was tied on the wall with ropes.
The word "winda" is most probably derived from the English word "window".
Digression: It is worthy of note that in spite of fragile houses at that time incidences of burglary were few. There were instead frequent occurrences of looting of farms and palm wine.
Below are some "Mokpwe" words that are found in the above text:
nyango = leaves of branches of palm trees.
mokonya = woven leaves of branches of palm trees for use as a door ("liyofa").
veeye = sticks, singular, "eeye"
tumba/tumba ndavo = sitting room; conference room.
liwondi = one of the sticks/poles at the gable ends; the sticks/poles on which a shelter above a fire ("wokao/etao") for cooking, a bed, or a platform rests; plural, "mavondi"
liwondi la tumba ndavo = a pole standing at the middle of a "tumba ndavo" to support the roof.
Persons answering charges of crime were ordered by the court to stand close to the "liwondi la tumba ndavo".
(Teme anga "liwondi la tumba ndavo" = stand close to the "liwondi la tumba ndavo").
mbingo = the sticks ("veeye") of the wall of a house that are planted on the ground.
ngonja = thatch/thatches.
vekaka = mats, singular, "ekaka".
meyoli = ropes, singular "mooli".
mosinga = a length of thread; plural, "mesinga".
meyoli me wanga/likomba = climbing stems in the bush/forest.
wanga = bush.
likomba = forest.
moowo = the bark of a tree, skin; plural, "meyowo".
meyowo me mae = barks of trees.
liyofa = a door.
gbwe = a tree, plural "mae".
gbwe = a medication.
Nyaa-ngo = madam.
Nyaa-nga Ndavo = the mistress of a matrimonial home.
lifondi/efondi = a hole; plural, "mafondi/vefondi".
lifondi la ndavo = an opening on the wall of a house.
Oma nanu.
Mola Mbua Ndoko
P.o Box 38 Buea, South West Province
Cameroon, West/Africa
Tel/Fax: 332-25-35
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