How God touched the heart |
 |
| n Gaston Ze Komba acts as a go-between for his people and the Church |
SANGMÉLIMA, Cameroon — Gaston ZeKomba was 12 years old when he first heard about Jesus. The elders in his remote forest village had gathered everybody together to listen to a group of Roman Catholics tell a story about God and his son, Jesus.
As night fell, the visitors set up a projector and screen among the huts and showed the Jesus film in the Baca language. Most villagers had never seen a film before and there was a buzz of excitement. Gaston stared transfixed at the screen as the story unfolded before his eyes. He was deeply moved by what he saw.
But the villagers were Baca pygmies, a people who keep to themselves, wary of other cultures that may have an adverse affect on their own way of life, and Gaston did not feel able to find out more about Jesus from the visitors. Instead, along with the other boys in his village, he continued his way of life, following the tribal customs and helping the men hunt for wild boar, chimpanzees, gorillas and elephants in the forest. When he was in his early teens, he was initiated into manhood.
Magic
“Our ability with a spear and other hunting weapons determined when we were ready for initiation,” said Gaston. “Then we were taken into the forest by the elders and shown the tricks of magic or hunting, and how to use traps and herbs. For example, we learnt which tree bark makes the right sort of protection when you wear it on your face like a paint, and how to make a deadly poison by burning a particular tree bark and adding the leaf of another tree.”
And so life continued as normal for Gaston for several years, but he never forgot the Jesus film. One day, a Roman Catholic priest, Father Dhellemes, came to the village and spoke about Jesus. Gaston spoke to him for hours, asking him questions about Christianity. He was impressed with what he heard.
When Fr Dhellemes mentioned that he needed someone to help him with his work at the Roman Catholic mission in Djoum, Gaston decided to go, becoming one of the very few Baca to work in the church. There he has found fulfilment in helping the church to reach out to other Baca people.
“I act as a representative to my people and an interpreter for the priest, Father Anatole Minkoumou,” he said. “There are few practising Christians among the Baca – I know of maybe 50 or 60 – but those who have seen the Jesus film have responded very positively to the Gospel message.
“It would be good to have the Scriptures in Baca but many Baca-speakers cannot read their own language, so they would have to learn.”
Fr Anatole spoke of the difficulties that the mission has encountered in working among the pygmy people.