Cameroon, Witch Doctor Mosque, 1990
Cameroon, Witch Doctor Mosque, 1990

Cameroon, Witch Doctor Mosque, 1990 - When I passed this structure in a bus headed for Foumbon, I told the driver to let me off. He tried to discourage me, saying we were not near any city. I got off anyway. It turned out that this mosque was built and owned by a Muslim with four wives and twenty-eight children. I was invited to spend the night there. It was rather amazing to be in a house with twenty-eight children, four wives, the head of the house and an aide, totalling thirty-four people in all, not including me. The next day, the man showed me he was a witch doctor to boot. He showed me how he divined answers to questions through the use of a gourd and four feathers fastened to clay bases. He placed the feathers laying on the ground, then placed the gourd over them. He asked a question, beat on the gourd and then lifted it up. If the answer was No, the feathers stayed flat on the ground. If the answer was Yes, the feathers stood upright. When he asked, "Jeff est bon? (Is Jeff good?)", the feathers answered Yes. The feathers can't be wrong! I shot a video of this, which will appear in this website.

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