Baham Bird House

8 APRIL 2023

Betina had let us know that friend of hers had invited us to stay in his guest house on the days of our trip. She had indicated that this was an open invitation to stay in his Baham house as he would be travelling back to Yaounde straight after the funeral.

Betina had suggested that we just leave a monetary gesture with her to pass on to Clement Kamguia when we leave. I was not at all expecting what we found.

Baham Bird House is Clement's dream project manifesting itself in the hills of his village. He bought the land and then brought in the architect and grounds designer couple Jule and Julie Courcelle Wokam to create the concept of a bird watchers hive filled with art and books. An art house in the countryside - sitting side by side with the small houses of the villagers.

Here were examples of Koko Komegne's scultures, Salifou Lindou's charcoal sketches of faces, and Justine Gaga's art pieces. I loved the design and art work within this building. It was stimulating, restful, ideal for contemplation and inspiring. Needless to say we had many philosophical conversations about the justification of building something like this in one of the poorest parts of the Cameroon.