A New Evil

We, on the Baka team, have always believed that now is an opportune time to reach the Baka with the Gospel. In the last few decades the Baka have gone through a difficult transition. For centuries the Baka lived in the forest. They hunted and gathered everything they needed to survive. Life was challenging, but they had the knowledge they needed to provide for their families. Then the loggers and poachers came into the forest. The plenitude that the Baka had enjoyed turned to need. They had to transition from being hunters and gatherers to being farmers. This new lifestyle clashed violently with their culture, and most have not made the transition well. Instead they have entered into a sort of subtle slavery with neighboring people groups who control the Baka by keeping them subservient.

Alcohol is used as a lure. Many Baka have become hopeless addicts. Often the Baka are paid for labor in alcohol. Sometimes they are not paid at all. I recently learned that when the Baka go into the forest to harvest peke, the nut of the wild mango which is a valuable trade item, individuals from other people groups enter the forest to get first dibs on the peke nut. They bring alcohol. So strong is the desire for alcohol that the Baka gladly sell the peke at a reduced price. Their meager earnings are often spent on alcohol as well.

Even government officials, whose job it is to help the Baka make this transition well, will bring boxes of hundreds of small sachets of hard liqueur, saying "They are lazy. They won't do anything unless we give them something to drink." That kind of backward thinking only causes more laziness and more alcoholism.

As a result of alcoholism and many other social difficulties, the Baka have become apathetic and fatalistic. They are told by others that dirtiness, laziness and worthlessness are their lot in life. Other people groups have sayings like, "you are as lazy as the Baka" or "dirtiness is for the Baka."

Since their parents are often drunk, Baka children live in chronic malnutrition and suffer from frequent, often preventable, diseases. Neglect is the rule, rather than the exception. And these children grow up to perpetuate their parents sins.

But there is a new evil among the Baka. Tramadol is a powerful medication designed to help those who suffer from chronic pain, but it is abused in Cameroon. It is sold on the street and is used by a surprisingly high percentage of young people. And it has reached the Baka as well. Young men often take the drug to give them strength to work hard. They pop 3-6 pills at a time, with no thought of what it is doing to their bodies. Some suffer dangerous seizures and other effects of the drug. But the biggest impact that tramadol has had on the Baka is to perpetuate the slavery that the Baka live under. Young men are lured to work for their non-Baka neighbors with the promise of pills. They get paid very little, but they become willing and faithful workers because of their desire for the drug.

A young non-Baka man that lives near us has taken this slavery to a new level. He has taken in several teenage Baka boys. These boys are given drugs, alcohol, stylish clothes and shoes. They are provided with a place to live. They idolize their "boss." They try to dress like him, wear the same hairstyle, walk like him, talk like him. The gravity of their situation is hidden from them. And as they remain in the service of this young man, their demeanor changes. Their eyes are often glazed over in a drug induced haze, they are becoming skinny and pale, and they no longer care about their families. It is a rain forest version of Oliver Twist.

I had the opportunity to talk to one of these young boys a few weeks ago after he became the victim of an accident. He was carrying a chainsaw on his shoulder and stumbled. The saw gave him a nasty cut on the back of the head. While we worked to repair the damage, we noticed that he was not experiencing any pain from his wound. Afterward, I sat him down to ask him frankly about his tramadol use. He admitted to taking several pills that morning. I explained to him that his drug use had caused his accident and that his body would be suffering more effects from the drugs and alcohol that he used with such frequency. He described to me the situation that he and the other boys were in, that they were supplied with food, clothes, shoes, drugs and alcohol. I expected that he would see this accident as an opportunity to leave a difficult situation, but he instead voiced gratitude for the generosity of his benefactor. I tried to get him to see reason, but I don't think he understood. I presented the Gospel to him. It is true what Paul says, that some plant and others water, but only God can cause growth. Finally I invited some others to join me in praying for this young boy and his friends. We bathed the situation in prayer and offered some advice.

Please pray for God's divine intervention in the lives of those who are affected by drugs and alcohol. Pray for the young men who are abusing tramadol. Pray for those whose lives are ruled by alcohol. Pray for wives who suffer the abuse of a drunken husband, intoxicated couples who engage in mutual domestic violence, and children who suffer both neglect and abuse at the hands of alcoholic parents. Pray that God would give the Baka wisdom to know how to escape the enslavement of drugs and alcohol. Pray that we, as missionaries, would faithfully present the truth of the Gospel as God has called us to do. Pray that God would show us how to love the Baka well. Pray for more workers to join us in the Baka ministry.