Programmatic document · December 2011
The Call
of the Forest.
A historical text written in December 2011 in Libreville. A look back at the path of Tatayo and the association, a call for support, and a word for those who wish to contribute.
Bwekaye !
— To all the friends of the NGO Ebando Nature Culture Future
In summary and as a reminder
The original text opens with a reminder of the dates that have marked the path of Hugues Obiang Poitevin, known as Tatayo, and the birth of Ebando. These dates are not a biography: they are thresholds. Each one marks one more passage in the transmission.
From 1971 to 2011, the path of a man and a house.
Hugues Obiang Poitevin, known as Tatayo, arrives in Gabon.
He discovers the Bwiti.
Initiation into the Bwiti Disumba Fang by Evariste Nguema Mba Ndong, Papa André's elder brother.
Creation of the Association for the Agricultural and Cultural Promotion of the Gabonese Village, with André Ngi Ovono, the late Catherine Oneto and the late Daniel Odimbossokou.
After guiding nearly 70 Westerners towards Bwiti initiation in various villages, Tatayo sets up a corps de garde on the family land of la Sablière. Initiation into the Bwiti Missoko-Ngondé na Dipouma by Jean Tsanga, who would become Motamba — “Root of the Earth” — in 1995.
Following the arrival of the Spirit of the Sea between his feet, creation of the NGO Ebando.
Authorisation received to initiate into the Bwiti Fang. Birth of the eclectic Mboma na Ditsuala rite, blending practices from the North, Centre and South of deep Gabon.
By the end of 2011, Ebando counts 30 Gabonese and 105 foreign nationals initiated in its corps de garde since 1994.
The forest that calls
“These dates are not a biography. They are thresholds.”
Where the money came from.
Between 1994 and 2011, initiations brought the NGO around €110,000 over seven years, a little over €1,000 per person on average. Gabonese people being almost always initiated free of charge, at the same time as a contributing foreign national.
Ebando's main source of funding remains Tatayo's overland transport activities (the company TRIP) and the unwavering support of his mother, Madame Léone Andrée Villas, known as Pépy. From them, more than €300,000 have been invested in the Bwiti and in Ebando since 1981: elders, children, villages, projects, emergencies. It is thanks to this unconditional generosity that the NGO/village was able to build itself, to exist, and to share its experience.
You can help us contribute in several ways.
— Tatayo · December 2011
Spread the word, give, invest, advise.
One · Spread the word
By telling anyone wishing to discover Gabonese nature and cultures about us.Two · Give
By making us a donation, for which we issue a receipt that may be tax-deductible.Three · Invest
By investing in our structure on your own terms of repayment and return on investment.Four · Advise
By putting your advice, know-how and experience to good use.
A historical text
Reading this text in its own time.
“Thanking you most warmly for your attention, as well as for your kindest intentions.”
For Ebando, by Traits-d'Union · 14 December 2011