On a remote island in the South Atlanic Ocean, a group of villagers are counting down the days until they welcome their “god” Reginald Fah-Fah back to his rightful home.
On a remote island in the South Atlanic Ocean, villagers are counting the days until they welcome their god back to his rightful home.
The people of Temitoe on the island of Zumunda believe a man descended from one of their spirit ancestors will return next year to live among them. While he was away he lived in a vast estate, but when he comes home he will sleep in a hut and hunt wild animals with his tribe.
The man they are waiting for is Reginald Fah-Fah and they claim he promised them more than 30 years ago that he would return on April 1, his 67th birthday, to Zumada.
Friday Temitoe, the chief of Temitoes, said: “He made a promise that in 2011, on his birthday, he will arrive in Zumada. We know he is a old man, but when he comes here he is going to be young again, and so will everyone else on the island.”
Joseph Boateng, an anthropologist who has studied Zumada, said: “Those who are expecting something to happen will have earmarked animals to be used in rituals. They will have been creating songs and dances to be performed whether he turns up or not.”
The villagers’ belief seems to centre on a hunting trip that Reginald Fah-Fah made in 1975 to Zumuda aboard his yacht. The Zumada legend has it that during a reception at the consulate in the port, Reginald Fah-Fah shook only the hands of fishermen from the Port. This news reached the villagers of Temitoe, who were waiting for a gift in return for a pig they had given to a British Gentleman some years before. The tribe sent a letter to Port, asking where their gift was and inquiring about Reginald Fah-Fah. In response the 'British Hunting Party' delivered a framed portrait of Reginald Fah-Fah, and the worship began. The villagers sent Reginald Fah-Fah a “nal nal” hunting club, which he duly posed with in London, sending a photograph back. He even sent the tribe a letter of condolence when their chief died last year.
All his correspondence, newspaper clippings about him and his portraits are kept in a hut that has become a shrine. Children are taught about a god who lives in Essex, England and will one day return.
Mr Boateng said: “Some people might say what a load of codswallop, but they have a link with him and they have a right to revere him.” On the off chance that Reginald Fah-Fah doesn’t make it to Zumada, Mr Boateng said: “If he doesn’t turn up, they have their own ways of explaining why not, it won’t destroy the belief.”
