South to North - Joshua Konkankoh & The African Way
Portugal is a country that has become a hub for those who are are participating in an alternative approach towards modern living. It is a place which attracts many intriguing characters, for reason that I cannot entirely explain. Joshua Konkankoh, an indigenous African elder, is one such character. The difference with Joshua however, is that he is not an expatriate from a different European country, looking to escape urbanisation and reintegrate with nature. His background is a stark contrast to most of the non-Portuguese residents that find themselves here. It is story that many of us in the West will never be able to relate to, yet many of us need to hear.
“There has never been a greater time to live than now. We have all the tools, we have all the solutions. We have everything, because nothing is created and nothing is destroyed.”
Originally from Ambazonia — the English-speaking region of Cameroon in West Africa, Joshua found his way to the Portuguese countryside through necessity rather than by choice. In 2017, a civil war erupted between the English and French speaking regions of Cameroon from a struggle known as the Anglophone Crisis. A conflict borne by the residual tension of colonialism, thousands have died and hundreds of thousands have been displaced. It was because of this civil war that Joshua sought refuge, after his eco-village in Bafut was looted and burned by the Cameroonian army.
Now located on a herdade near the Portuguese town of Montemor-o-Novo — the mission of Joshua may have changed in direction but seems to have only increased in purpose. He sees the parallels of self-destruction that our modern culture has created through a disconnect with nature, how the damage we cause to the environment is also the damage we do to ourselves. It is his indigenous perspective, derived from a genuine life-long connection with nature that enables him to see the flaws in the ways of the West, in a way that is far beyond the awareness of our political leaders, often motivated by their own self-interest while pretending to care for the greater good. The indigenous way recognises interbeing, the understanding that we are all inextricably connected. It is the way that our ancestors lived, and it is the way that we must come back to.
“Education is broader than the single-track minded education of one thing moving from north to south, and never from south to north.”
He shares how this sense of connection is known in Bafut as the Spirit of Ndanifor, or the luxurious mystery of the future that grows from the Earth. It is this ancestral story that is the driving force behind Joshua’s mission. In the Global North, we have lost touch with our appreciation for myth. I would argue that when the word “myth” is talked about, the general interpretation is that it refers to a widely held but false belief or idea — but this is not the definition that I refer to. When I speak of myth, I refer to the notion of “a traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or explaining a natural or social phenomenon.”
It could be also referred to as folklore or a tale. The essence of myth is more allegorical than literal, it binds us intellectually and emotionally with the wisdom of the past. With our gradual decline into a hyper-materialistic and reductionist culture, we have lost touch with our sense of mystery. These stories and fables once helped us to navigate the world, and we need to bring them back, as Joshua is doing, to help us in re-establishing our sense of connection with nature.
“When we cannot appreciate other people’s systems, we cannot also appreciate that the indigenous systems have maybe a solution for the decay of our society.”
One of his observations is that there are patterns in our global problems that exist beyond specific continents. He shares how our economic incentives have severed people’s connection to the land, amplifying extractive agricultural practices that are eroding topsoils and compromising the lands ability to produce.
Our current method of modern agriculture is merely a reflection of how we are nowadays conditioned to live — prioritising short-term gain, encouraging an attitude of being profit-oriented in purely financial terms, instead of the wider profit and benefit to our society and of our planet.
This the purpose of regeneration — to give back, to reciprocate. We cannot talk of sustainability when it comes to practices that were never regenerative in the first place. The indigenous wisdom that Joshua brings can serve as a guide that will point us in the right direction, one that is not linear but circular, coming back to our roots, back to the Earth.
