Sea Hearts for Hope, Working to Better Lives

Sea Heart for Hope, Working to Better Lives:

Initially I thought I would not write either of these stories because there is such tragedy involved and the stories are so personal but here goes.

Kesu:

Early in our time with IDF, we visited a ’Promoter ’ in Wum who had pigs. She enthusiastically showed us her pigs, introduced us to her Mother and showed us her yams growing well assisted by pig manure.

About two weeks after that, disaster struck. Her pigs died. We did a little investigation and feel that they might have been poisoned by feeding cassava. Being HIV AIDS positive, the grief of losing her pigs caused her to be in hospital five days.

Oussematou heard of her tragedy. She called her and said we were having a bead workshop, would she like to come and stay with her and take the workshop. She arrived (four hour bus trip) and stayed four days. Following training, she set to work and made 100 necklaces with the Sea Hearts. She was thrilled when I paid her 30,000 CFs for her work. She immediately said she would put some in the bank. Thank God, Thank God for the opportunity to make these beads was her reaction. She said that farming is such hard work. She just loves working with the beads. She is very creative. Each necklace is different. You will notice in the second picture below, she is straining to see. I took four pair of magnifier glasses from dollar store. She just loves hers!   (Kesu looks different because her hair is done in a different way.)

When Oussematou received an order for pottery beads and needed a reliable worker to help, the first person she called was ‘Kesu’. Kesu is the name she has chosen to make her beads under. It is the name of her village. When I asked her to label each package with her chosen name, I noticed a page where she had practiced writing Kesu many times!

Mimi’s Mother: We met Mimi at the hotel. I liked her, felt she had real potential but made no plans. I did tell her we worked on the 4th floor of the tallest building on Commercial Street in Bamenda and that my bosses name was Oussematou and that we worked for IDF. With that info, Mimi found us. I immediately introduced her to Oussematou and Mimi wrote down for me her contact information which I gave to Oussematou. Mimi and I worked on designing some necklaces, experimenting with different beads, different finishing. Oussematou was concerned about Mimi. She interviewed her and called her mother. Her mother had not had contact with Mimi for months and was very worried about her. Mimi’s Mother agreed to come in to meet with Oussematou. That was a very difficult meeting (many tears). The following day, Mimi’s Mother returned for a meeting with Mimi and Oussematou. A plan was discussed. There had been no money for Mimi to go back to school in the fall. Mimi had left home and was living with bad friends. Mimi’s Mother was sick with concern. The above picture was taken the day Mimi and her Mother were reunited.


Oussematou invited Mimi’s Mother to take part in the beading workshop. Both Mimi and Mimi’s Mother took the bead training. When at the workshop, Mimi and her Mother were both coughing a lot. Oussematou asked them to go to hospital for testing (TB and HIV AIDS). Recall that they are from the Boro tribe and this tribe does not follow conventional immunization. To our surprise, they did go for testing. They have a very sick uncle that they are caring for in their home (TB and HIV AIDS).

Results? At the send off they did for us, Mimi’s Mother publically told everyone that she tested positive for HIV AIDS. In order for her to go on antiretroviral drugs, she must have several more blood tests (C40) and then she must pay for her drugs. She is most appreciative of the bead training and the opportunity to be paid for making beads. She would like to earn enough to buy fabric to make dresses and to pay Mimi’s school fees and her drugs. By taking the drugs and taking proper care of herself, she has a good chance that she can live a rewarding life.  

Bana Funeraille

Bana Funeraille is held only once in the lifetime of a King. One our first visit to the King, Sa Majeste SILAM Happy V  gave us a special stamped invitation to the event.

 The Funeralle celebration parade was incredibly colourful. Family groupings wore traditional dress. Hats, beads, fabrics, hand carried symbols all very significant to the people. Families had enlarged pictures of loved ones who had died since the last Funeralle .

One band with a central ceremonial drum played during the entire parade. Special fabric was designed for the event, the design very traditional.

Women carried foods of significance, cassava, yam, maise and one added an oil can (palm oil is used for cooking!)

Traditional head dresses .....

Then came the parade of the ‘spirits’, the ‘secret society’. People paid to fire black powder guns.

 

Bana was the home of Oussematou’s parents so this area is very special to her. Everyone is expected to take a gift for the King. We put together a very special photo album with pictures of our previous visit, a transcription of his message in French and a summary of the Conservation Agriculture workshop held in Bana.

A Visit to Sabga, Cameroon Ramadan Celebration

A Visit to Sabga to attend the beginning of the celebration of Ramadan.

By Mimi’s invitation, we decided to attend Ramadan, the celebration of Abraham equal to our Christmas in Moslem tradition. John Baptist from IDF accompanied us and we were driven by Julius, IDF’s driver. Stephen rented his car to us for the day. The village is about 30 minutes from Bamenda in distance but traditionally is still adhering to its ancient tribal ways.

We were greeted by Mimi who quickly took us to her home. Mimi’s family garden has maise, beans

We were warmly greeted by her mother, grandmother and great grandmother as well as sisters and relatives. This is a real gathering time for families. Mother was busy in the kitchen. We were told that we must make our way to the central village area as the festivities were about to start. The parade was already making its way along the village road to the common area.

Soon the chief arrived to the sound of the drums and the trumpet made from a cow’s horn.

Because the language was not ours, we were not listening very intently. Suddenly people around us said that we had been called by the chief to come forward to greet the chief. He wanted to know where we were from and wanted to invite us to his palace upon completion of the ceremonies. So, after the ceremonies, the horses galloping through the village common, the speeches, the drums and horn band of three, we were ushered through the gate to the palace compound, lead by the horn trumpeter and the drums.

Inside the Palace area there is a burial shrine, a thatch roofed round building and the Chief’s Palace.

Seeing that everyone had removed their shoes, we removed our shoes at the door only to be told once seated that women were not to remove their shoes. Afraid to move, Lydia’s shoes remained outside for the duration of the visit. This shoe taken off at the door is intriguing, locally made from cow hide no doubt.

We had to duck to go through the door. The inside had only the natural lighting from the door so was quite dark. Almost immediately, food began arriving in pots. A beef in spicy liquid, cassava and warm Sprite and Fanta brought in a pail. Mimi, the chief’s grand -daughter, served us. The chief and elders watched as we ate.

Guests books are very important. The chief invited us to sign the guest book. When Lydia took out the only pen we had with us, he thanked us very much. When she took out a little day timer, he thanked us and asked for the 2012 version. He requested that we send him prints of the pictures taken from Canada. He said he would like to visit us when he comes to Canada. 5

After the visit, we were again accompanied by the band back to the common area. We were then free to visit Mimi and her family. Four generations of women live in one house. Below you will see Mimi, Mimi’s Mother, Mimi’s grandmother and Mimi’s great grandmother. Note the treadle sewing machine behind Mimi’s grandmother. It was on this machine that Mimi’s mother made Mimi’s new dress, especially for Ramadam.

Of course they had a great meal of bitter leaf, cassava (fufu) and boiled beef in a delicious sauce ready for us all (driver, Jean Baptist, Allan and Lydia). But we had just eaten. Never mind, eat again.

Outside, bitter leaf drying and two grandmothers drawing intestine through water to prepare it for sausage making.

Mimi went with us in the car, travelling up the path to the grazier areas.

Twenty minutes from Bamenda. Another world.


A sad note. At the end of the visit, Mimi invited Lydia to visit her sick uncle in bed in the last room of the house. He was sitting up, eating but his body is so wasted. His shoulders mere knobs. His arms bones. He was a text book picture of someone dying of HIV AIDS. Mimi said TB. The internet says that TB is very common in this area of the Cameroon and often is a later problem arising from an immune system compromised by HIV AIDS. Oussematou says that this man can be treated with drugs and that many have come back much worse than he. He has been two months in hospital and four months sick at home. Oussematou asked what his hospital book says. Lydia did not go past the threshold but just having finished the Nutrition workshop where we practiced interviewing HIV AIDS patients, the questions came easily. Eating, yes. Skin covered with tiny bumps all over and itchy. No energy. Barely able to walk, only with assistance. Drugs? Diagnosis? Lydia was not aware of the hospital book and did not receive a clear answer about whether this man is taking drugs that were prescribed. Oussematou says that many have come back from a state worse than this and with proper drugs, good nutrition and care, can lead a healthy, productive life.

Lydia Sorflaten

Money Put to Good Use

Money Put to Good Use

When our cousin’s husband passed away, we decided to donate something here that would be helpful. IDF has a projector but no screen. We were showing power points, pictures and videos on the wall. The image was very faded and unclear. We asked if a screen could be purchased. ‘Well, not here but in Yaoundé’. They weren’t long locating one and transferring the money by phone! The screen was here the next day-came on top of a bus no doubt.

We set the screen up in the conference room, admired it (it’s a big one) but didn’t realize its incredible value until we travelled to Bana for Allan’s workshop, Conservation Farming. Here is the room before the transformation began, after they had unloaded the tables from a truck. Where would you project an image?

They used a table cloth to cover the side window. Another time it would be better to take a heavier cloth for a window cover. They used the screen to tape their flip chart prewritten outlines. (Another time it would be better to reverse the screen and use the back side for this to avoid touching the pebbled screen). As you will see, the third slide shows that Allan’s presentation was in French. It took a lot of effort of his part to translate the power point into French, then practice with Oussematou for the presentation. Boo, an agricultural extension officer followed up each slide with animated discussion with the group. Allan’s entire presentation was hand written in French on flip chart paper in case there was no electricity.

Another quite interesting aspect to this was transport of the screen to the remote location. On top of the car of course! Ideas are being put forth as to how to waterproof the screen’s box for transport. The journey was three hours one way and this time without rain. At night, the screen was brought into the hotel room for safe storage.

The screen will be a great feature to enhance conference room rental, to generate much needed income for IDF.

Another income generator has been set up. When we were in Winnipeg this summer, Gail (Allan’s sister) wrote us a cheque and said, ‘Here, put it to good use in Africa’. Again, Oussematou said IDF must survive in order for all the programs to run properly so it was decided that the best approach was an investment that would bring in income for IDF. The decision was made to buy 1200 quality chairs to rent out, mainly for funeral celebrations but also for weddings or other events. The chairs were delivered to IDF in less than a day. 92 steps up to the fourth floor-no elevator here folks! These chairs will be travelling to Wum where they will be rented out from the IDF office in Wum. Wum is a thriving community 3-4 hours from Bana. The last 1/3 of the road is challenging driving to get to Wum. There are no chairs like these in Wum. They are going to rent out the chairs at 75CF each. The chairs cost 12 Canadian each or 5000CF. The quality of these chairs is far better than we buy in Canada. Each chair will have its own number and IDF’s name on it. They have their first contract to rent out the chairs on the Sunday after our send off.

Bana Workshop in Conservation Agriculture/L'Agriculture Naturelle

Bana Workshop in Conservation Agriculture/L’Agriculture Naturelle

Madame Oussematou organized and coordinated all of the required preparations for the two day Conservation Farming (l’Agriculture Naturelle) Workshop held November 10 and11 in the Village of Bana. The purpose of the Workshop was for us to expose Bana farmers to the basic principles of Conservation Farming and to gauge their interest in being the core group to spearhead a long term CF pilot project for the area.

Conservation Farming (L’Agriculture Naturelle) Workshop Venue
Bana itself is a distance of about 150 km. south from Bamenda in the West Region of Cameroon. At the outset, some explanation about a few points to do with Cameroon rural life as they relate to Bana may prove useful; for instance, the real meaning of the term ‘village’ in Cameroon culture, traditional structures of Village authority, the nature of peasant farming (l’agriculture paysan), the meaning of conservation farming (l’agriculture naturelle ) or as is referred to in some African countries (e.g. Zimbabwe) ‘farming God’s way’. A few comments also are included on French/Pidgin communication barriers and the need for input in this regard from the local Ministry of Agriculture technical specialist.

A village in rural Cameroon typically refers to an area or tribal district with a traditional royal family and a King who is of royal dynasty or lineage in what is largely a tribal culture. So in Bana the area/village is Na and the prefix Ba simply means ‘people of’. We are informed that Bana is a larger than average size village in Cameroon, covers quite a large area and has a population of about ten thousand.

As appears pretty much the situation for most countries of the African continent, a preponderance of women do the farming of Bana and in fact are the backbone of ‘l’agriculture paysanne’. The imbalance is reflected in the gender mix of participating farmers who attended the workshop, 11 females and 4 males.

The workshop presentation was based on the CFGB Conservation Agriculture power point provided by Alden Braul to the Sorflatens during their visit to the CFGB office in Winnipeg during mid-August 2011. The Bana audience turned out to be totally French speaking (as well as Pidgin) and which we realized long in advance would be the case. I translated and adapted the Conservation Agriculture/ l’Agriculture Naturelle power point into French with assistance from Oussematou, the IDF Coordinator, so as to give it the right Cameroon French flavor.

Further assistance in delivering the presentation (which lasted about three hours overall including follow up discussion) came from the local Ministrie de l’Agriculture extension person, Jean Wouapi (N’Buh which means a highly placed Village Notable). Jean (above right) is a career employee with the Cameroon Ministrie , an agriculture engineer and slated for retirement in two years. Jean was well able to convey all of the more subtle nuances contained in the presentation, especially using Pidgin dialect mixed in with local French idioms of a highly contextual nature. If the Bana proposal takes hold and moves forward, an agricultural specialist and facilitator like Jean Wouapi will be required for successful implementation.

The CF Workshop and presentation was a resounding success! From everything that we could see and hear during the wrap-up at end of day, participants unanimously endorsed the proposition of a pilot project for Bana Village. Day 2 of the Workshop with its tour of several representative farms was an appropriate follow-up. The tour illustrated very well some of the
prevailing cropping practices and the resulting low levels of productivity in some cases, particularly of primary food crops like corn/mais. Workshop participants agreed that the need for farming practices in Bana based on conservation farming principles is evident.

Programme Agenda Planning the Farm Tours

The workshop was excellently planned and coordinated by IDF staff and all participants were well provided for, so much so that there were even a few interested onlookers. These two village elders were actually guests of ‘Matou and seemed to enjoy the proceedings as much as the farmers themselves.

Workshop Day 2

Most of the Workshop Day 2 was devoted to farm tours and viewing the farms of several participants from the previous day. In addition, we also visited the Royal Palace and met with the traditional Chief or Fon (King) of Bana and also the Office of Mayor (l’Hotelier) where we met with the Director of Administration.

The tours were of four farms in total, two of them farming livestock (pigs) and one of those with a few vegetable crops, pretty well entirely for family consumption. The two pig farms were one and two sow operations, one of them feeding out the weanlings and the other selling weanlings to another farmer for feeding out. The pigs, sows and feeders, mostly get to eat the green part of the cassava plant, other plants, and kitchen scrap. As it turned out, based on our further research it just so happens that feeding uncooked cassava to pigs is highly problematic for the health of the pig in the same way as it is for humans on account of the toxic nature of the cyanide product contained in chemical makeup. Our little bit of on-line research here was prompted by the untimely death of some pigs that we were advised of in Wum.

The other two visits were of crop farms, one of them operated by a woman doing corn/mais and Irish potatoes on a few hectares (at more than one location) and the other by a fellow (named Victor) with quite a large area of horticulture, maize and root crops (about 4 or 5 hectares). Victor’s range of crops (extended family production actually) is quite diverse and the mix includes corn, coffee, Irish potato, banana, okra, oil palm, beans, ground nuts, cassava (white and yellow or sweet), yam, cocoyam, melangin, plum, and farmed fish (talapia) from the on-site farm pond.

Visit to Traditional Chief (Fon) of Bana

After completing our farm tours early afternoon of Day 2 we made an obligatory visit to the Kingdom of Bana Royal Palace and were honoured to have an audience with His Royal Majesty Sikam Happi V, the traditional King (Chefferie Traditionelle) or Fon of Bana. By Cameroon standards we were told Sikam is very young to be in such a high position. He is perhaps around 30 years of age, possibly a little less and became King 7 years ago upon the death of his father. Even though he has more than one wife, his values as a young King, we are told, differ markedly from the more traditional ways. For instance, he doesn’t lay back on his laurels waiting for his subjects to support him, but is enrolled in university and pursuing higher education. We each made short introductions about ourselves (in French) and I observed that in her comments ‘Matou spoke of the Conservation Agriculture Workshop to which the King responded with a sincere nod of his head.’

In those regions of Zimbabwe that were evaluated in the tri-partite CFGB project, local government and traditional leaders were considered to be important participants leading to success of the projects. The importance of maintaining healthy working relationships with local leadership was emphasized. The report said that "CF projects must coordinate and consult with all relevant stakeholders so as to to minimize challenges and conflict during the project. This should include working closely with local and regional government authorities, government agriculture extension services, local elected and traditional leaders (like the Chief) and other NGOs working in agriculture and community development" (e.g. like IDF).

All of our company were honoured when HRM Sikam invited the five of us to be his guests for dinner. In all, we were; Thérèse Oussematou of IDF, Josef Tafrey (our good friend and rice farmer from Menchum Valley/ Wum), M’Buh Jean Wouapi (agricultural engineer and Bana extension specialiste, Ministère de l’Agriculture du Cameroon and Noteable) plus CESO VA’s Lydia and Allan Sorflaten. The menu included goat meat, corn foufou, cassava and plantain and a choice of pop, beer, or wine as beverage. The wine was a superb 2005 Bordeaux, not really standard drink in this part of Cameroon and served in juice glasses. After eating (not actually with the King) we met him again on the steps of the Palace (an excellent photo opportunity), chatted for a few minutes and exchanged gifts (white Canadian ball cap and small flag of Canada). His gifts to our party were individual invitations to a special Royal event, a ‘fantasia’ being held at the Palace Sunday November 20, 2011, ‘La Reception Que Nous Offrons a l’Occasion des Funerailles des Reines, Princes, et Princesses.’ As the event promised to be very cultural and replete with traditional singing, music and dance, we decided once again to make the long trek from Bamenda to Bana on that day. (Note: at the time of writing this blog, we’ve now just returned from that event and indeed it has exceeded all expectations)!

Visit to Local Government Officials

A further official visit was made during the Day 2 workshop afternoon to the Bana town hall and a short visit with the Secretary General or chief administrator of the local government. ‘Matou told him about the

Conservation Agriculture Workshop just completed. At its conclusion she was exceptionally pleased with the visit as it resulted in her being provided with a municipal document that she’d been trying to access for a very long time. She suggested in all seriousness that it was the presence of a couple of Canadians who influenced the release of the long sought after document.

Soil Fertility

Officials with the Canadian Food Grains Bank recognize that after years of cultivation using poor management systems and few if any inputs such as fertilizer and organic matter, the soil fertility in parts of Sub-Saharan Africa is at a record low and on the decline. This is as true for the Cameroon, and in particular the area around Bana, as it is elsewhere on the continent. As further stress is put on the soil resource from increasing populations, economic conditions and reduced fallow periods, soil fertility continues to decline. The soil environment, the poor local economy and the largely indigenous farming systems that characterise Bana make the sizeable agrarian population extremely vulnerable to changing weather patterns, increased poverty and food insecurity. The overwhelming poverty among most farmers makes it difficult and next to impossible to deal in a meaningful way with soil fertility issues. We were told that these days it is just about impossible for a farmer to relocate to another site and expect any crop to grow on account of the widespread soil infertility. Manufactured fertilizer is just about impossible to secure for reasons of cost, as is also the purchase of livestock manure from the outlying graziers. If soil fertility does not begin to improve, the region is doomed! However, with the possibility of moving to more sustainable (CF type) farming practices (some of which is already happening in a number of African nations) and a glimmer of interest by some national governments in CF principles, there is reason for hope! We hope there is hope as well for Cameroon.

What Was Learned From the Farm Tours?

 Bana small holding farmers are practising very few if any of the principles associated with CF, generally no ‘zero tillage’, no mulching as a rule, though from what we were able to ascertain from the farm tours, perhaps some limited crop rotation practice.

 The soil is extremely infertile and most farmers do not/cannot apply fertilizer amendments. There are little if any applications of manure purchased from livestock graziers for reasons of cost. Around Bana, the fertility issue seems to have been dealt with over the years and right up to the present by abandoning one plot after it has been used for a time and allowed to run out and then moving on to another location. In this way the downward spiral repeats itself and the farmer moves on to another location for a time until this land too becomes depleted. Unfortunately, it is becoming more and more difficult to find suitable locations on which to farm in such desparate fashion.

 Soil ph considerations and the need for correcting soil acidity with lime was a non-starter even among the Agriculture Ministry extension person.

 Even among what I consider is the most progressive farmer we encountered among the group, it still was extremely surprising to see Victor and the others consistently planting field crops in rows running down the slope rather than across the slope in a terraced fashion and in what I suspect should be standard practice.

 Even where large accumulations of potential mulching materials have accumulated, no thought or effort seems to have been made to consider it as cover for the soil and the benefits from mulch that can accrue as with CF principles. Even in that seemingly productive area north of Bafoussam (note: our visit with Paul Ymele of the Bafoussam



Rotary Club), field after field of this ‘baysage’ was simply accumulation from the previous crop’s clean up being readied for burning.

 There is a medium height fern-like weed that farmers appear to encourage the growth of in corn and other of their row crops. They explained that the shade from its rather plentiful canopy discourages the growth of other weeds. I am extremely doubtful of any net benefit that can accrue to whatever crop is at risk here (we see it purposely left in corn, potatoes and beans, etc.)) on account of the net nutrient uptake differentials that are likely to occur. A clean cover of mulch may be the more desirable alternative.