Mr. Dagobert’s Magical Medicine Garden

Mr. Dagobert’s Magical  Medicine Garden

Allan has been in search of Cover Crops to enrich the infertile  soil.  Not only the newly cleared land in Bana but the farms of the participants where soil has been depleted of nutrients by continual cropping without adding nutrients back to the soil.  We were at the Vegetable Growers stall looking at their limited supply of seeds when a man at the counter introduced himself as Mr. Dagobert and invited us to his farm.  Thus began a very intriguing series of discovery visits.

The next day, we went to his home farm.  From the overview, one cannot imagine the hundreds of varieties of medicinal plants in this relatively small ‘mini’ jungle.  Mr. Dagobert slowly took us through the narrow pathways, introducing each plant, shrub and tree by scientific name, telling the medicinal use for the root, stem, leaf, flower, seed and sap.  Mr. Dagobert secured his intense interest by taking a course by correspondence from Canada.  From there, he has managed to grow hundreds of specific species.  He collects, dries and packages the seeds to sell.  They make mixtures of herbs for infusions (drinks).  Many people use these natural medicines for malaria, high blood pressure, digestive problems, whatever ails.    

I photographed each species, Mr. Dagobert spelled the scientific name for Allan to write down, then we videoed what he said about what they are used for.  Not only does he have the knowledge, but to have each of these species growing in his gardens! 

A few were familiar.  Echinacea (cone flower),  marigold (the ones here grow almost as a bush), pigeon peas (first saw them in Tobago, very common food source, add fertility to the soil) for example.  One interesting small red berry they use  to induce abortion! 

Allan has made a power point of the cover crops; the seed, what the plant or tree looks like.  We said the farmers will be adapt at identify each because they will know them.  Mr. Dagobert took Allan’s request very seriously.  Allan had put together a three pager on cover crop species identified by the scientific names.  Mr. Dagobert just loved it! 

The garden is alongside a river.  Every day the plants are thoroughly watered in dry season (now!).

Next visit, we went to Mr. Dagobert’s forest plot where he has many large trees growing in a very natural setting.  The highlight for me was seeing donkey eye growing.  Donkey eye is a seed we used extensively in Tobago in jewelry making.  Donkey eye grows on a vine.  One must be careful not to touch the pod because it will make the skin very itchy.  A relative of the donkey eye, mucuna, is well know as one to add nitrogen to the soil.  As I said, Mr. Dagobert took Allan’s search very seriously. 

Our next visit was to pick up the cherished seeds for cover crops but Mr. Dagobert was not home.  We phoned.  He was three minutes away.  He and another man arrived carrying a cutlass in one hand and a feed bag in the other.  They proceeded to get water and to put strange looking seed pods into the pail.  The man who had promised the mucuna had not brought them so Mr. Dagobert and his friend made a long trip to an area where they knew mucuna grew.  Remember, this is the very hot time of the day!  Anyhow,  Mr. Dagobert’s friend proceeded to make plastic covers for his hands out of thin black bags (a pair of good rubber gloves would have come in handy) and, taking his cutless, proceeded to  lift the mucuna pods from the water, split them open releasing the seed.  It wasn’t long before everyone was scratching.  This variety of mucuna has very itchy little hairs on the outside of the pod.  The itching lasts the better part of a day!

 After the seeds were all broken out and  everyone was standing around scratching,  Mr. Dagobert’s friend motioned for me to come look in the bottom of the feed bag.  A little wild baby rabbit!  After a bit, they took the rabbit out-it just fit in my hand.  Allan reached over and petted its head.  It growled.  I have never heard a rabbit growl!

Mr. Dagobert said he would like something from Canada.  He has a 5 year old dog-eared catalogue from Richter’s.  I looked it up on line, tried to download it several times but it is a large file and gets interrupted each time.  It has beautiful pictures of medicinal plants, offers seeds for sale.  From his five year old book he has written out all the seeds he would like to buy and starred the ones he would most like.  The pictures of the gardens on line have convinced us to visit their seed garden near Uxbride, Ontario. 

Mr. Dagobert’s son is studying in Canada.  He gave me his name and I sent him a message on Facebook which he received.  It is surprising that he is taking his PHd in Philosophy?  Great minds!  Mr. Dagobert’s other son wants to come to Canada to play football. 

Oh yes, did I say that Allan thinks he will hide the mucuna seeds because of the itch.  There is another variety that does not itch.  Another challenge for Mr. Dagobert?

Psychosocial Care to Children

Psychosocial Care to Children

I was invited to spend a day at a training session on psychosocial care conducted by the Monitoring and Evaluation officer, Ferdinand,  of IDF with a group of 23 women and several small children.  I would like to share with you my impressions of the workshop.

Before the workshop, I was asked a very interesting question.  ‘In Canada, which is worse, cancer or HIV AIDS.’  I could only answer from personal observation and reading.  I said that I felt  HIV AIDS can be managed with antiretroviral drugs and that some types of cancer are very difficult.  I said I felt both needed early detection and aggressive management.  What do you think of my answer?  Now for their next question, ‘Can cancer be prevented?’  Such good questions!

Because this was the second day of the workshop, once the women gathered (that took awhile), they were asked what they learned at the first day of the workshop.  Persons responded one by one as follows (in their words):  How to control my anger; Feed the child before child goes to school each day; Shelter is a fundamental right of a child; Cancer can be beaten;  Protect the child against violence and child abuse; Home should be a safe place, once not a safe place the child cannot function well;  Sexual abuse is not fair, Sexual abuse  before age of 18 is a crime punishable by law; Being cared for and not neglected is a fundamental right.  .   Behind comments being made, one can ascertain societal problems, statements like: Need to send the child to school;  Child needs a balanced diet; Bring the child along in a good faith so they won’t be prone to a new idea that is not good.   Take the children as friends so they will have a listening ear to your advice, all statements from the participants in relation to their learning from the previous day.

As Day Two of the training progressed, I continually reflected on the course content and how it was needed through my years of teaching.  I did not have this training as a teacher although we as Family Studies and Health educators  used to set up workshops to help each other with teaching materials .   What I am saying here is how progressive this training is!   I felt it to be well adapted to the cultural setting.  

The day’s first topic, Physical Needs of the Child began with the basics.  Only when you love can you support a child.  Give peace a chance.  Grow closer to the person.  We weren’t long getting into the problems faced.  Question:  What do you do when a child is raped?  The steps were clearly outlined: First, go to the hospital immediately, before going to the police.  A proper investigation needs to be done.  The life of the child is threatened.   The hospital will confirm, police will investigate. Gone are the days when rape was a taboo topic.  The child’s mind must be rebuilt.  HIV AIDS, Venereal  Disease, the child’s future is in jeopardy.   A report must be made so the child will receive counselling.  An environment needs to be build to avoid abuse.  Refer to the next person for proper action.  IDF handles difficult cases.  The participants in the  training  were identified as team members.  Don’t let 24 hours go by they were told.  Call immediately day or night while the child is in hospital.  Caution, sometimes police do not follow up.  Copy of the report should go to IDF, Plan and Social Affairs:  avoid bribe of police!  Think about an 11 year old girl pregnant-father age 40- well traumatized!   Child abuse  is everyone’s responsibility.     

A role play by the participants was enacted to show how trust, safety, confidentially should be built to help a child report sexual abuse:   What brought you here?  It’s alright to cry.  Keep the secret.  Avoid promising something you can’t give.  Let them tell the story.  Listen.  Take seriously.  Avoid why. Allow the child to tell the story.  Don’t argue, don’t preach, don’t impose, don’t give advice, give accurate and useful advice:  only encourage.    Let them talk.  Encourage hope.  Take to relevant authority.  Want to journey to a safe place.  Want to remove the event from the child’s mind.  Overcome the crowding of the mind-don’t want a grumbling mind.  (Don’t you love their expressions?)  Anger can destroy.  Want to avoid the negative diseases of the body, the spill over effect of anger:  depression and despair where a person cannot take initiative.  Aim is to overcome. 

At this point a participant said they were falling asleep and could they dance!  So, out came the drums ,(one is beautifully carved with the Plan logo set into the drum), another  a large gourd shaker and more).  They love to dance and sing and I love to listen and film!  Ferdinand has written a song that encapsulates the needs of children.  We hope to make utube.  Ferdinand told them they would now go International!

On to another heavy topic.  Disclosure.  Children, upon being told they are HIV positive, have committed suicide.  The mind must be prepared.  In hospitals, space must be occupied by professionals. Please refer to the next person who can handle the situation.   The world does not end.  There is hope.  Aim to have the child be able to say....’I am HIV positive, I take my drugs every day,  I am healthy!’  ‘I am useful, I can handle the situation.”  Watch for lost interest, tired always, withdrawal, always expressing anger.

Advice was given:  Teachers, don’t invite children to come and do housework.  Teacher relationship ends in the classroom.  (There have been a number of cases where students have been invited to a teacher’s house on pretense and the student was taken advantage of by the teacher.)  More advice:  Break the Silence, even if it is your husband.  Don’t protect the person.  Report abuse.  Share the knowledge.  She’s light for everybody.  Transform community.   Document.  Make recommendations to address the situation. 

Credos to Plan for the training program and to IDF for its implementation!   Too bad the program will end in one year.  The needs are so great.  Physical needs are one thing but unless the mind is cared for, where are we?

Oprhans and Vulnerable Children

Oprhans and Vulnerable Children:

Many of us in North America have had or now have adopted orphans from different through different programs. Integrated Development Foundation (IDF) takes care of over 2000 orphans in the North West Region. 319 in the Menchum/Wum are and 679 in the Kumbo, in Befut 615 and Mbejwi 650. Feb 10, 2014 the highlight of my day was meeting two sisters in the Orphans and Vulnerable Children’s (OVC) program. IDF first identifies a child as an orphan or in a vulnerable situation, does a needs assessment and gives the support they need: food, health (take them to the doctor and/or hospital), legal support (birth certificate), counselling if they were abused, educational support and psycho social support.

Oussematou arranged for two sisters to come to the IDF office on National Youth Day before and after they were marching in the parade.

Before I met them, Oussematou explained that they had been abandoned by their grand mother after their father had died of a stroke. The father was taking care of administration and finance at IDF. He helped for two years before his retirement and worked eight years as a volunteer with IDF. He lived four months after his stroke, dying three years ago. The children were left destitute abandoned by their grand mother and father’s family who sent away these children and their mother. The reason given was that this lady was not a native of their tribe and was not legally married. All the property was srized , she was not authorised to even harvest her crop from the farm and was told not to pass by this farm again. IDF tried in vain to convince this lady to go to Social Affairs , she refused and said that she will be killed with the children if she does so. She instead when to traditional authorities who did not solve the problem.  The lady went and hired a two rooms house where she stays with the children and IDF gave few chairs and tables. She also started a small business that helps her feed the children. The mother is cooking meals for them. The daughters  carry water each morning and help with washing. Oussematou made sure the girls were registered in school, had a school uniform and school supplies . They are now enrolled in the Orphan and Vulnerable children programme to benefit from various supports from time to time.  They are followed by a case worker.

First I took their pictures.



Ngum, age 9 Anoui, age 13



I gave each of the girls a paper with questions. They were so able and eager to answer the questions well. They knew exactly what they wanted to answer!

They had a friend along who was eager to help them!

Both girls feel that their education is very important. Ngum, age 9, wants to be a pilot. Anoui, age 13 wants to be a journalist. Both say that Mama Oussematou has helped them most, especially with education and dressing. Ngum is thankful for her health. Anuoi is thankful for her life even though ‘we don’t have but we manage with what God has given us’. Ngum would like to have good friends. One real good friend would be good. Anuoi would like to change her way of talking and dealing with anger. Anoui knows that God will change their lives one day.

The girls willingly sat before the camera telling us about themselves. They all enjoyed seeing the interviews on the computer. In the picture, Anoui is hugging her little sister as they watch themselves on the computer.

I hope you will be able to hear them speak on utube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qtbGIH0A9Q&feature=youtube_gdata

Douala to Bamenda

Trip from Douala to Bamenda:

Chocolate for the Road:

When we were on the outskirts of Bamenda, we made our first stop,  to gas up for the trip.  We paid.  After refueling, the driver took a container from under the seat and proceeded to ‘grease’ an area of each of the two front doors.  My jaw dropped when he began licking his fingers.  Chocolate!  Taxi drivers when in the city must display a registration number.  Travelling out to the country, he was turning into a chauffeur instead of a taxi.  Can you find the city licence covered with chocolate?

Police Stops:

We were probably stopped a total of 10 times.  They put out a road block sometimes using a pile of tires on each side, sometimes a spike belt, sometimes a striped bar.  Our driver had papers for outside the city, different from papers in Douala. The police stops have different requests aimed at money.   At our first stop, our driver said, ‘No speak.’   The longest and most difficult was when our driver refused to pay money so the policeman had our driver unload all the luggage on to the road, then put it back.  The funniest was when the guard went on and on and finally Allan produced a Canadian pin.  After that all was fine.  The village stops are easier because our driver knew exactly how much money to hand them.  But, at most stops all kinds of people surround and follow the car selling bananas, ground nuts, bread, vegetables, plums, etc.  Our driver bought a big bunch of bananas for his family whom we were going to visit along the way. 

Visit to the drivers’ family:

So our driver had not seen his family for more than a year.  He is number 6 of a family of 10.  Just before we headed down the road that looked impassable, we picked up his sister who would show us the way.  And just before that, he asked us to pay him in full for the trip which he immediately handed over to his mother. Sixteen hours driving time for him in one day.  Fortunately we declined the invitation to visit.  The two smallest grandchildren had chicken pox!  Here is our driver with his sister, two nephews and his Mother.

Welcome to the Sorflatens’

We were pleasantly surprised to be greeted at the hotel by an enthusiastic group from IDF, all dressed in their new shirts.  Oussematou in her ball hat, Norbert the driver, Evodia from Wum, Evelyn from Kumbo and Oussematou’s neice from Bana.  The hotel lobby served as a great spot to meet, quiet with nice chairs.  Here we are with Oussematou and Rotarian Paul Yemele from Bafoussam who just happened by.

   

We had a rough settling in.  Hotel Ayaba has not been well maintained. This hotel is government owned and run.   The rooms they showed us all had problems, the biggest being non- functioning air conditioning.  We sweated out the night determined to resolve the situation or find new accommodation.  By the next evening, we had a room with most everything working.  Seems the hotel has new flat screen TVs in every room that don’t work well, new electronic locks on every door but sinks and bathroom counter fallen away from the wall, generally poor maintenance.  Our present room is good.  Allan used duck tape to try and direct spurting water from the shower wall attachment into the tub. Since then hose to the shower has been replaced, the leaking toilet fixed, etc.   The hotel is very secure and we are comfortable.  The food can be very good.  Some dishes are very salty. We love the fresh fruit morning and night (papaya, watermelon and pineapple).

February 11, 2014.

Oussematou gave us warning  us to come early to the IDF office as there would be big crowds celebrating National Youth Day.  Thousands of children including university students marched past for four hours, all from Bamenda.  Here’s how it looked from our office window once we had made it through the crowds.  Every school in full uniform!  The second picture is nurses in training.

Cameroon; Rotary Seeds For Conservation Farming Demonstration Plots in Bana and Befang

Rotary Seeds For Conservation Farming Demonstration Plots in Bana and Befang

Our trip to Douala went smoothly.  The snow storm in Nova Scotia was well timed, ending around 4am.  Just in time to have the airport running smoothly and the main roads clear.  Our suitcases were checked right through to Douala.  We had to pay Air Canada $200 for our extra suitcase each despite our plea that we were volunteers.  Halifax to Montreal, on to Paris and then Air France to Douala.  Both long flights were 6 hours 35 minutes each.  Excellent really. 

One should really prepare oneself, if possible, for the airport in Douala.  Although much improved, it still is an experience.  Yellow fever check for the certificate is the first stop.  Then passport and visa checks.  All very easy, once you have gone through the grueling experience of obtaining the visa from the High Commission of Cameroon in Ottawa!  Temperature in Douala, 32 degrees and no air movement with our heavy clothes from Canada!  The flight was late (heavy winds in Paris) and the luggage was slow but it was so good to see that the suitcases had made the airport changes in Montreal and Paris and came through safely with us!  Once you have come through the characters waiting to ‘take you through the customs line’ once, you are prepared the next time to tell them you don’t need them!  Than outside the terminal, they surround you like flies to help with your bags (how is it we don’t need help anywhere else thanks to Allan).   Our loyal taxi driver, Euloge had waited two hours for us to appear.  He has a brand new yellow Toyota that he is so proud of!  He brings us to the Somotel Hotel where I have a nice swim and we enjoy supper and dive into bed.   No trouble sleeping.  We were 24 hours in transit.

Euloge was here to pick us up at sharp eight.  We go first to the bank where our TD and Scotia bank cards work well.  We bought a new SIM card for our Cameroon phone.  The new phone number is 237 52 50 37 97.  Then on to the seed store to buy seeds for Bana and Befang Farm projects.  Euloge takes us through the market to three seed stores.  Allan is looking for ‘Cover Crop Seeds’ that will increase soil fertility.  The seed store operator below sold him Morelle Noire seeds in bulk.  Allan carefully put the thin black bags full of seeds into his cloth carrying bag, first removing anything that might have a sharp edge!

 

     

We reviewed seeds at the next store, returning later to buy seeds that they had that the last and best store didn’t have (leeks, carrots).  The last store was great!  We bought two of everything, one for Bana and one for Befang.  Allan got several bulk bags of corn, containers of okra, pepper, tomato, basil, red cabbage, green cabbage, onion, beans, pimento and papaya.  We had the option of buying hybrid seed but it was very costly (10 times the price).  Seed containers varied from 4000 to 8000 each ($8-16.00 Canadian).  In total, we spent $200 Canadian leaving money to buy trees later.  We wanted to buy peanut and bean seed in bulk.  Not available so Euloge is phoning his mother who lives in Baffoussam who will go to the seed supplier today and buy peanut and bean seed in bulk.  We will pick that up tomorrow on our way to  Bamenda.  These seeds hold a lot of promise!