The Bafut Manjong Cultural Association – Los Angeles (BMCA-L.A) is a group of Bafut people and its sympathizers based mostly in the Los Angeles vicinity, California, United States of America. The Bafut people come from an arid region of Cameroon about 11 miles north of the city of Bamenda, capital of the North West Region of Cameroon.

In Bafut, partial development is dotted all over but a vast area is still totally virgin undeveloped land. Children walk bare feet on rocks and gravel for miles to fetch water in calabashes. On the way back, may stumble over the rocks or gravel and break the calabash. They walk for miles to attend any form of schooling in a classroom without tables or benches. These are the lucky ones because some assemble under trees to learn without a classroom. But every morning they endure the harsh morning cold to school on bare feet and sometimes wearing tattered clothes. There are very few or no textbooks for them to use, nor are there adequate well equipped teachers to direct the children. The parents are poor petit farmers who do everything possible to make sure the children get some education. The children at night are unable to study due to lack of light sources except the fire burning in the kitchen to be used in cooking food. Some children are able to use candles or cylinder with oil and wick for illumination called hurricane lamps.

The hard work of these poor parents has yield some fruits as there are now a good number of first generation college graduates. These first generation college graduates are now leading the effort to make our Fondom a better place for the next generation. Some of them are the Bafut people based here in Los Angeles. After struggling in Cameroon, they have braved the challenges of the western world with the hope of bettering themselves while obeying the laws of the United States of America and driving the effort to develop the Fondom they left behind. The Bafut people in the Los Angeles area have been longing to come together as a unified group since the late 1980s and early 1990s. They used to gather at late Dr. Ndiyobs residence from time to time, particularly around Christmas. The difficulties they faced were long distances between individuals and the small number of Bafut people in L.A. area. In the late 1990s and early 2000, the number of Bafut Citizens in Los Angeles became significant and their proximity to each other was less of an issue.

In October 2003 at the residence of Mama Veronica Mabifor (mother of Fons) and Anna Manna, the Bafut Manjong Cultural Association-Los Angeles (BMCA-LA) was born. The Bafut citizens living in the Los Angeles area, their supporters and sympathizers decided to start the group and meet monthly to find ways to promote our culture, bring resources to our people and improve the socio-economic status of the Bafut people. Their goal was to extend such resources to people around the world, thus improving living conditions for other human beings. As a non-profit organization, Bafut Manjong Los Angeles has been doing its part to achieve that goal by supporting other groups, disasters, electricity projects, water projects, orphanages, etc. We are thankful to our supporters for helping us achieve a broad range of activities around the world.

After the formation of BMCA – LA, the next step was to incorporate the organization. This was done with the Secretary of State of California. We then applied for a non-profit status. We were granted the 501C3 status for public charity by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). We are a fully functional non-profit cultural organization with rights to accept free will donations. Free will donations have been our main source of support in carrying out our activities. Your donations are tax deductible