M Fongbeh Konneh is a citizen of Bondowalahun #2. He is from the Gbandi tribal group. M Fongbeh is passionate about his heritage and often narrates interesting stories about his homeland. In this article, M Fongbeh Konneh reflects on the old days when boys and girls of rural villages/towns gathered to play traditional games of all kinds during regular moonlight play. Below are his thoughts about the traditional Gbandi games he thinks have been forgotten too soon.
I was born and raised in Hembeh, in the Gbandi land. Growing up as a child, I played many forms of traditional games with my friends for entertainment, education or socialization.
We played games that have lasted and passed on from generation to generation. These games were quite interesting and wide spread in various tribal communities in Lofa county.
One of the most interesting things was that we could play these games anywhere be it in the house or outside. We played with our barefoot with tear-butt trousers, which was a normal thing in many tribal communities. We also had our little men group where we used to cook grandmothers’ chicken without their consent.
Examples of some of these games were, Hide and Seek, Tee-Tattoo, Touch the Body, and other games. We played gamble with snails’ shell or sometimes sat in circles singing and praising our own girlfriends. We used green oranges as football especially under the rain and did girls and boys play in the moonlight with slight touches. No boy dared touch a lady so deep. Said person would be chastised and considered social deviant among innocent young people.
I want to refresh your memories; can you imagine your days before you became who you are today?
I think we all remember very well the days or nights we would gather to play under the moonlight when our grandmothers could later call us to go to bed.
We could play our games in any yard without being disturbed because the tradition was that “child does not belong to one person”. These games were free and required little or no money to pay for equipment.
We used natural materials and trash to make toys. Example, dry bamboo branches were used to build airplanes and green leaves as engine. We could also make houses, bed and toy guns. We used snail shell for dishes for food, where young girls among us could start practicing how to prepare food.
We could use old cars tyres as “Borbor Takee-kay pick up to go” to Halipo City. “Borbor Takee-kay” was a mad man in Kolba City from way back until 1990.
Through these traditional games, some of our friends developed hands on skills and began to construct beautiful arts. The Hide and Seek game were used to develop the children decision-making and security skills in the Gbandi community. Some children develop the skills of singing and dancing.
I must say that today, these games and their values are slowly dying. Some of our Gbandi cultures are tied to them. We can clearly see that these games and values are somewhat on the verge of extinction.
Oh yea! We have forgotten to know that many of these fire-heart stories and traditional games over the years made most of the Gbandi children innovative and socialized. We need to do something about it to preserve some of them for our future generations.
May our ancestors’ spirits of Halikambai Voo and Kaiha-wa guide us through this process of unity.
M Fongbeh Konneh
Concerned Gbandi man
