BABUNGO, Cameroon

by Tangwing Pius Monji
(Buea-Cameroon)

Babungo, is a village in the Grassfield region of the north west region of Cameroonian. It is one of the villages that make up the 13 villages of the ngoketunjia division of this region.

The village is also called “Vengo” by the indigenes and they speak a local language known as “ghang vengo”( which means "the language of the Vengo"). The language, “Vengo” is spoken by above 14,000 people around the same area. The Babungo people live closely together, concentrating in and around Vengo village. For this reason, there are only small dialectical variations in their speech, which are of course negligible anyway.

Apart from their traditional dialect, the people of Babungo also speak English, pidgin English and a few who have been to other regions of the country speak the French language.
Babungo is a gate way into the Ndawara tea estate in the Ngoketunjia division of the north west region.

The people are mostly craft men and have one of the most beautiful and well equipped museums in the country alongside that of Mankon in the north west region and Banjoun in the west regions of Cameroon respectively. Farming is also one of the daily activities of the people of Babungo.

The people of Babungo are mostly muslims with a few of them being Christians, predominantly catholic Christians.

Babungo is ruled by a paramount Fon. He is the custodian of the culture and has authority over all the people.

They have boundaries with the Bamunka and Baba I people in the same division.