Dolls (1) - Beads, Wood - Cameroon

The Ham Pilu Fali doll is a doll filled with African beads. When a young man gets engaged, he would sculpt a little wooden doll (Ham Pilu) and decorates it with hair, beads, and little objects.
He offers it to his betrothed who will carry it in a dorsal baby sling. The doll symbolises their marriage obligation and represents their unborn child.
The man allocates to the doll the gender that he desires for his newborn.
The young woman then takes care of it until the birth of the desired child.
Once the child is born, the doll is carefully put aside.