Oku is a region in the Northwest Cameroon. The term Oku also refers to the people who live in this region and the primary language that they speak (although English is also widely spoken). Oku is a rural area containing about thirty-five villages. The nearest really large city is Bamenda, but Kumbo, which is closer (about 18 miles from the village of Keyon, or about seventy minutes by car), is large enough to have telephone lines and a Baptist-run hospital. Oku is also relatively near to the Nigerian border, and travel across the border is common, as many people in the region have relatives in Nigeria.

Geography and climate

Oku is a very mountainous region, around four thousand feet above sea level, and thus rather cool considering its latitude. It is not cold enough for snow, but at night temperatures drop below human comfort range. The region is an important one for biodiversity, especially the Kilum-Ijim Forest.

There is a crater lake in Oku which has been the subject of some research by Westerners. Quantities of gas build up in the lake and occasionally are released; being heavier than air, they pour down the mountainside and can suffocate entire villages. Some of the locals believe that a god lives in the lake and must be appeased.

Oku has few good roads, and none that would be called good by most Westerners.

Economy

Oku is characterized by subsistence farming. There is a shortage of arable land, and the people farm even the steep hillsides. A typical practice is to plant beans, corn, and potatoes together in the same furrows.

Religion

The religion of the region is predominantly a mixture of assorted local traditional beliefs (cheifly ancestor worship, also animism and paganism) with diluted forms of Christianity (mostly Lutheran and Catholic, but also Baptist and Charismatic; the Brethren are also represented).

As of 2004, the current Fon (i.e., the traditional king of the people, but with no formal political power), who has a Baptist background, is attempting some religious reforms, to move the people away from some of the more un-Christian traditional practices; these reforms have met with considerable resistance.

Sources

• Some information contributed by a personal friend of Bill & Adele Crabbs, residents of Bucyrus, Ohio who have also lived in the village of Keyon, Oku for several months at a time on more than one occasion.

Geography of Cameroon

Oku