AbubakarSulaiman Muhd
Mango Beti’s Mission To Kala was published in French as Mission Terminee in 1957 and later translated into English in 1964. An important literary figure and social commentator, Beti was born as Aleixandre Biyidi in 1932 but wrote under pseudonym as Eza Boto, a Cameroon francophone writer. As fervent critic of the French relationship with Cameroon, his novels were banned in Cameroon in 1972.
His writings are
harsh in tackling social, cultural and political issues with “irony and
lightness that show the profound understanding of human nature” especially with
the treatment of his subjects having confusion experienced in trying to make
adjustment as a result of contact with the Europeans.
Beti’s theme in
Mission To Kala is the destructive
influence of colonialism, and European’s civilization mission which sees Africans
as having no meaningful culture of their own and should be enlightened, the
cumulative effects resulting in the identity crisis by Africans.
The indictment of the French
policy of assimilation and ideologies comes in full force in the tragedy of the
colonized Africans who are left on their own bereft of intellectual wherewithal
in a world “which does not belong to them, have not made and does not
understand, and walking blindly through dark…”
To address this,
Beti employs satire and mock-heroics character to explore the consciousness of
their universe in a journey of self-discovery. This explains that culture is
the inbuilt aspect of the society and cannot be imposed outside its home-grown populations.
The protagonist,
Jean-Marie Medza, partially exposed to western education, thinks he is educated
but is surprised to discover new aspects of culture. He is sent on mission to Kala
to bring back his uncle’s wife who left, after her husband beat her, for having
an affair with another man, and more so, she is barren. Instead of doing his
mission, Medza drifts off. In Kala, life
is a complete indulgence, adventure and carefree with endless partying, dancing,
drinking and having girls around. Medza is shocked to discover his cousin,
Zambo, lives with girls in his parents’ house and yet is not ready for marriage.
Beti also puts
culture and religion in perspective by highlighting the nature of traditional
societies who see women as a communal possession and should always conform to
the cultural convention. The oppressive culture in Kala, and Vimili, Medza’s
town, is exposed through Niam’s wife. Women are naturally vulnerable and are
used for sexual fulfillment, labor and for child-bearing.
When Niam’s
wife left, he boasts that she is a broken leaf who in the end cannot prevent herself
from falling. He is lazy and she is the person who tills the land. She refuses to come back. After waiting in
vain for several months, he decides to employ the service of his nephew to go
and fetch her back.
Adultery, the
reason for Niam beating his wife, can mean nothing if it is the man who commits
the crime since women are seen as properties to men and owned by the entire
community. Medza’s brother continues to sleep with Edinma, the girl Medza
brings from Kala as his wife and already have three children.
What really
causes disapproval is sleeping with other men from another tribe and if it is
someone on the inside, things would not attract harsh response. When Medza
complains after waiting for too long to see Niam’s wife, Zombo his cousin explains
“it is no big deal here for a woman to be screwing around with some man or
other” because “all the women here run two to three husbands besides their men
when they get to her age.” Now Beti challenges the tradition and allows Niam’s
wife to enjoy her freedom. She yokes the social restriction and lives as a dissolute.
Contact with the new culture turns
children disrespectful of their parents. Medza humiliates his father publicly
when he attempts to catch him and beat him. He chases after Medza who twists, zigzags, swerves and
sidesteps until his father falls to the ground. The crowd cheers up in delight.
Medza cultivates a great disdain
for his father and challenges him why should he refer to him as “hey, you
there.” His father asks how should he call him and Medza responds sarcastically
with “Anyone interested in such details of etiquette should apply to the local
Registry Office. They will show you my birth certificate.”
His father complains that Medza
fails his exams because he slept with women, drank alcohol when he went to the
city for schooling, and obliges that Medza should resit the exams. Medza vows
that he could not resit “I am through with all this nonsense. Anyone who thinks
it is easy ought to go and have a shot at it…”
Colonial
education system creates fierce antagonism between the old and the modern,
between parents and their children. Medza leaves Vimili a teetolar and virgin,
controlled by strict and oppressive father. Tension ensues when he returns from
Kala, turning out rebellious on the belief that he alone can determine how he
would govern his social life.
Medza is aware of his
individuality to declare to his father that he is not standing for anyone
beating him. In the end after the rip becomes so deep, he relocates to another
town to live with his maternal uncle. A
nous la liberte, ours is freedom, he declares. Zambo shouts after him “can I come with you? I
can’t stay alone there with all the old fogies,” people who can’t understand things in new
perspective. Different people and ideas are changing across cultures but Vimili
culture refuses to adjust. Old people are advocating cultural conservatism
while their children are gravitating towards modernity. Indeed, a clash of
generation between the old and the modern.
I know Dr Jaji would send you here. So, don't copy word for word. I submitted the same to him during our days.
Reference:
Beti M Mission To Kala African London. Heinemann 1964
Ziwira E. Culture and Religion
in Mission To Kala www.herald.co.zw.culture-and-religion-in-mission-to-kala/ 2014
