Bokito has been full of magical happenings in the past few months. Recent gossip indicated a certain successful store owner has been "buying" children to force their undead corpses to work for him.
Last Monday a student at the CETIC died of malaria ("il n'avait plus de sang dans le corps" according to Pascaline, meaning "he didn't have any blood left in his body") and on Tuesday his family buried him in a traditional tomb, without a coffin. Speculation immediately began that he had been "sold" and wasn't really, really dead. As he died his last word was the name of a prominent man in town. Was he accusing the sorcerer who bought him?
Sorcerers buy "undead" corpses to send them abroad to earn money, hence the need for the body to be buried without a coffin. To keep this from happening to your family members, remove their stomach after death and fill it with salt. That way, their new employers will recognize the body as a zombie and will have difficulty finding work. The sorcerer will eventually give up and bring them home to rest peacefully in their tomb.
Traditional tombs are dug out in the family's front yard or living room. A mansized hole is opened, then a catacomb is hollowed out underground. The body is passed through the hole and laid to rest in a room under the house.
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3 comments:
Hi Jessica, my name is David Bone and I used to work with your dad at the legislature. I've been reading your blog and I just wanted to tell you that it's fascinating, especilly this post and the last one. What would they have done about the electricity had the magic crow done this during the African Nations Cup?
Hey Jessica, I just stumbled onto your blog. I was a water/san PCV in Ebolowa from 2002-2004 and I actually did my training in Bokito (I lived in Dang...then Kiiki, but we mainly had classes in Bokito). Anywho, I hope you're doing great and just wanted to say "WIYEMBE!!" Love your pictures too! :)
Kevin Tice
Um... I think the real question is not whether or not this guy is a zombie pimp, but how the heck does he manage to get work visas for the zombies?? Did anyone bother to ask the villagers that? I mean, 60% of living Cameroonians are denied visas, so how do the living dead get them? Really, people, let's be logical.
4 months till COS! Crazy...
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