Female ‘Njangis’: Where Members Are At Home With Themselves

Savings and thrift gatherings are ample avenues for women to discuss their issues.

Delphine Mokosso belongs to a Yaounde-based all-female ‘njangi’ or savings and thrift group that meets every month. “After collecting savings, dining and wining, members sit back to discuss lighter issues. These include sharing personal challenges, plans to carry out a charity project, relax in a local restaurant, visit a body massage salon, engage in group sports or any other relaxation activity,” she explains.

“Though our outings have so far been to locations in Yaounde, I know of ‘njangis’ whose members go as far as Douala, Kribi or Limbe, just to have fun,” says the journalist. It is also common for members to engage in gossip, share family challenges like sick relations, “trouble-making” husbands, etc. Others use the opportunity of such gatherings to sell wares such as clothes, shoes, jewelry, cosmetics and other personal effects, Delphinine notes.  

Not unexpectedly, Delphine Mokosso’s savings and thrift colleagues are wont to engage in “negative competition” by purchasing trendy cars just to be seen to be up on the social ladder of “well-to-do women.” On the ot...