If it’s worth having it’s worth fighting for!

After two months, I have come to the end of my time in Cameroon.  I have made the obligatory rest-stop at Kribi, (almost) en-route to the airport.  Kribi is a small town along the Atlantic coast, not far from the border with Equatorial Guinea.  The name Kribi comes from the word ‘Kiridi’, which translates as ‘small men’ the ‘Pygmies’ who were the original inhabitants of this region – although I’m not sure if I have seen any here!  Kribi is a great opportunity to collect my thoughts and wash off two months of dust and grime in the beautiful warm sea before I get on the plane home.  So as I’m having my last spaghetti omelette and Guinness (a typical Cameroonian breakfast) it’s time to reflect on my experience here.  I suppose that all the things that I imagined would be challenging haven’t actually been so difficult to cope with – I soon got used to the lack of running water and the constant power cuts.  Sharing a taxi with eight other people, a ton of bananas and a couple of goats, soon became normal.  Falling asleep each night to the sound of exorcisms in the church next door and being woken up by the noisy compound at five in the morning became my accepted routine.  All these domestic challenges of living, eating, sleeping and travelling are relatively easy to adapt to with time.  But I did struggle to adapt to the many frustrating contradictions of Cameroon – a country with so much resource and potential where bare foot and hungry children spend all day in the hot sun selling bananas instead of going to school while corrupt government officials are living it up in luxury hotels in Switzerland.  Another frustration being the typical personality of the Cameroonian people – so warm and kind to everyone they meet but at the same time sadly far too placid and accepting, refusing to fight or protest for a better deal, to the extent that they are constantly taken advantage of and exploited by both the government and the church.  As I ate my last spaghetti omelette in a fly infested ‘chop shop’ in Kribi, there on the tinny TV set, was none other than Cheryl Cole, belting out her (probably one and only) hit ‘Fight for this Love’: If it’s worth having it’s worth fighting for! Fight, Fight, fight…   How ironic that here in sub-Saharan Africa the person I hear speaking the most sense is Cheryl Cole.  Needless to say that none of the other people in the chop shop were sufficiently distracted by Cheryl to stop drinking their morning Guinness and take heed.  Perhaps a future partnership with Cheryl and Samuel Eto’o and this could become the new National anthem?  (JohnnyC – that’s my one and only football reference!).  So I leave Cameroon with mixed feelings – lots of frustrations about all the limitations but also feeling hugely privileged to have been so warmly welcomed into ordinary Cameroonian’s homes and workplaces; an experience I will never forget.

The orphans

One of the major programmes of work for BERUDEP is supporting local orphans.  These are children whose parents have died, or have left them, and according to the local Kom tradition, relatives usually take them in (they don’t live in an orphanage). Very often the relatives can provide only shelter and have no money to cover the other needs of the orphan.  BERUDEP connects these vulnerable children with outside sponsors who will support the child until the end of their education.  The support is delivered directly by one of BERUDEP’s field workers who ensure the children are attending school and their school fees are paid, that they have food and clean clothes and any health and social needs are taken care of.  Promoting education is an important feature of the programme with the view that this is the best way to break the cycle of poverty.  BERUDEP also provides an After School Education Programme (ASEP) specifically for the sponsored orphans.  The ASEP building in Belo consists of two adjacent school rooms, one for primary and one for secondary ages.  The children attend the ASAP building after school where they get extra tuition, play games and it also provides an opportunity to further check on their welfare and if necessary give them some extra food.  They also get fresh milk – a rare thing in Cameroon!  All the children in the orphan programme are great and they love to see a new face, following me around shouting “hello Mr Peter” and giggling a lot (I don’t take it personally)!  I have met some great children and I have been moved by some of their very sad stories.  I have been impressed with the way in which the programme is managed and especially that all of the orphan’s sponsorship money goes directly to the named child – it is never provided as direct cash to the carers but is used by the field workers to provide the necessary care, food, clothing, school fees etc. The programme has grown from two children in 2006, to now over 50 children. There are still some orphans in the area that could also do with support – if you are interested then visit http://www.berudep.org/cms/sponsor-an-orphan.html or sponsor-an-orphan.blogspot.com

Vote Cameroon!

That is Cameroon not Cameron!!!  Election fever is also sweeping across Cameroon and it is still a year away.  Here in Belo, the Government of Cameroon has even gone so far as to build a new polling station just to make sure things go smoothly – it sticks out like a sore thumb as probably the best building in Belo whilst most of the residents are living in mud huts – how to win over voters hey?  At least the election sign is providing a useful place to tether ones goat while doing a spot of shopping!  So if you are fed up of corrupt UK politicians then consider the system in the Republic of Cameroon, which has had the same President, Paul Biya, since 1982 and the constitution is rigged to ensure this continues – international observers have questioned the legitimacy of all recent elections in Cameroon.  In recent years, Cameroon has been classed as one of the most corrupt countries in the World.  Paul Biya is what is commonly known as a  ‘benign dictator’ and has even been ranked in the ‘top three worst dictators and tyrants in the world’ alongside Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.  Paul Biya and is his trophy-wife Chantelle spend the majority of their time abroad in France, Switzerland and the USA.  Despite the corrupt politics, compared with other African states, Cameroon is very stable with very little public unrest.  It is said that most other African states are envious of Cameroon’s political stability.  I’ve tried to understand why this is – why don’t the people of Cameroon protest?  My observation is that Cameroonians, are typically peaceful types and are not motivated to protest or complain about anything.  When Belo lost its water supply for three weeks, I asked why nobody was complaining (in the UK there would have been riots after 24 hours) – I was told by one local man that it is not right to strive for a perfect life in this world or we will not achieve perfection in the afterlife.  Is this warped logic at the root of Cameroon’s peaceful and passive character?  Whilst it may make for a relatively peaceful nation it does mean that people are easy to take advantage of and exploit!  Later this month, Cameroon will celebrate 50 years of independence in which time they have only had two Presidents.  Last week at a BERUDEP staff meeting, there was long debate about whether BERUDEP should join the Independence Day parades – there was some concern that if they didn’t then the  Government would punish the organisation.  Some of the staff questioned how ‘free’ they feel as citizens and didn’t feel inclined to celebrate – it was a really interesting discussion and finally the BERUDEP Director suggested that the staff can make their own choice but BERUDEP would not be taking part – I was so pleased!

Labour Day

Today, like many places all over the world, Cameroon celebrated Labour Day, an annual holiday that resulted from the labour movement, to celebrate economic and social achievements of workers.  So, with my colleagues from BERUDEP, we  set off to our Divisional capital, Fundong, to celebrate.   Fundong was heaving with hoards of workers, all dressed up in their chosen ‘team outfits’ and displaying the tools of their trade; it was quite a carnival atmosphere.  People lined the streets to watch us and the various street entertainers and dancers.  We were chaotically corralled into line ready to march down the main street past the dignitaries – this in itself was a major operation and various groups were getting quite agitated and arguing about the order of the procession.  Luckily the rain stayed off and we had brilliant sunshine for the march, with the rain coming just as we had finished but we were able to take shelter in BERUDEP’s Fundong office with everyone gathering for some  lunch.  I was served something called ‘Pap’ which is a special delicacy produced from maize and soya-beans and is particular to North West Cameroon – in appearance and texture it resembled puréed apple but it didn’t taste like it, more a strange savoury sweet flavour with a lingering after-taste of palm oil – I have to admit it was not my favourite Cameroon delicacy but I guess ‘when in Rome’!  This was washed down with the usual Fanta Orange.  When we had finished the ‘pap and pop’ there were various songs and tall stories.  All in all,  a very entertaining and fun day!

Isaac and the eye clinic

Today I spent some time with Isaac who runs the BERUDEP eye clinic.  The clinic is very, very basic and is just the size of a broom-cupboard – that’s because it is in a broom-cupboard!  Isaac, the BERUDEP ‘Eye Nurse’ performs weekly eye consultations in the BERUDEP branches in Belo, Fundong and Njinikom and he is usually inundated with patients queuing out of the door.  Isaac has no formal medical training, in fact his qualifications are in Agriculture and Animal Husbandry – he was trained to perform basic eye examinations about four years ago by an Ophthalmologist who was volunteering in Cameroon.  Isaac now keeps his skills up to date by regularly visiting the eye specialists in Bamenda.  Isaac provides a very basic eye examination and is able to recognise some key problems such as eye allergies and infections, poor-sight, cataracts and glaucoma.   He provides eye drops for the infections and is also able to issue recycled spectacles for the mild sight problems – so thank you to all those in the UK that gave me their old spectacles as Isaac was thrilled to receive new stock!   For the more serious problems such as the cataracts and glaucoma then Isaac will refer to the hospital in Mbingo, but unfortunately most of his patients are unable to pay the treatment costs.  At first this rudimentary approach to healthcare seems alarming but I have come to realise that if the local community didn’t have Isaac then they wouldn’t have any source of advice or treatment.  I have to say that in all my years working in healthcare, Isaac is one of the most dedicated, caring and enthusiastic clinicians that I have ever met – just over two weeks ago Isaac’s baby son, and only child, tragically died, despite this he was back in work after only a few days – he cares passionately about his patients and clinic.  Also, many of the BERUDEP staff, including Isaac, will go without pay for months, depending on the unpredictable income of BERUDEP.  Observing Isaac’s huge commitment and enthusiasm for his work, his broom-cupboard clinic and his second-hand kit – it is all very humbling!

And on the 8th day…

Every 8^th day the market comes to Belo.  The local market traders and farmers work an eight day week, visiting a different town each day with their wares and then on the 8^th day they rest.  This means that ‘market day’ in Belo moves along a day each week; this week it is Monday and next week it will be Tuesday and so on.  This is my favourite day in Belo and I wander around the market whether I need anything or not, but I always go early in the morning while it is dry as once the rain comes then it is a mud bath.  On market day the whole town is buzzing and it becomes much more lively and colourful than normal.  The market stretches itself from the ‘three corners’, which is the central cross-roads in the town, right up the hill as far as the council building, with most traders simply finding a spare bit of ground to lay their goods on a piece of old sack.  The market is far less organised than the daily market in Bamenda which has fixed pitches and proper wooden market stalls.  Almost anything can be found on the market in Belo, as long as you don’t mind second hand – here in Cameroon there is no concept of second hand versus brand new – if it works then it will do and most shops and market traders in Belo sell a combination of new and second hand goods.  All the clothes on the market are second hand and from what I can see they are British charity shop rejects so it’s not unusual to find two women fighting over an old Marks and Spencer blouse.  There is every variety of plastic bucket, cooking pot and dodgy looking electric items, all mixed together with the second hand clothes and food.  The food includes an array of dried pulses and grain, plus fresh fruit and vegetables and like all good markets everything is seasonal and nothing is imported from afar – the exciting news on the market this week is that mangos have finally arrived in Belo!  Mangos have been available in the south for the last few months and more recently they have appeared in Bamenda, but in these cooler parts they are have been longer getting ripe and now, finally they are plentiful – they are relatively excellent value compared to rip-off British prices, even taking account of the shipping – here you can buy a carrier bag full of mangoes (about 10 fruits) for the equivalent of 50p.  When you buy anything like fruit and vegetables on the market, rather than ask the price or haggle, it is best to say how much you want to pay – so I’ll ask for tomatoes and say “please give me 200 francs”.  The market trader will always give you a bit extra if you are nice to them or a regular customer – this is called a “dash” and I suppose is the local equivalent of loyalty points!  In addition to all the lovely fruit and vegetables there is lots of meat and fish which isn’t at all appealing – the freshly butchered meat is sat out in the open sun and is usually swarming with flies.  Some traders have huge barrels of dried fish which looks a bit like whitebait and it really stinks!  Both the smelly fish and rotten meat are very popular!  There are also plenty of traders selling fast food, which consists of meat on skewers, barbequed over smoky drums of charcoal and donut style dumplings, freshly fried in deep vats of hot oil.

Lake Oku

Today I took a trip to visit Lake Oku with Simon (who works for Belo Council) and Anita (who works for BERUDEP), we took motorbikes up the mountain, an hour long scramble that was a bit hair-raising in places; it would have been far more dignified and environmentally friendly on foot or horse, but I’m not sure we could have bared the searing sun for any longer than an hour.  Lake Oku is a volcanic crater lake and the crater rim is surrounded by dense virgin forest – more a temperate forest then tropical.  Here in the North West of the country we are in an area known as the ‘Cameroon Highlands’ which, because of the altitude, is much cooler (and wetter) than the hot, tropical plains of the south.  Apart from the banana and mango trees, this area can sometimes resemble Wales or Scotland, especially during a downpour!  Once we arrived at the edge of the forest we began an hour long trek to the lake, a really nice walk through the cool forest path, with an amazing background track of birdsong and monkey yells, all of which remained invisible.  Eventually we emerged out of the forest, onto the rim of the crater, the bottle-green lake appeared before us, eerily still and quiet, a perfect circle with the forest edging around and not a single building or person to be seen.  Lake Oku is considered sacred by local people and nobody will fish or swim in the lake, hence the complete absence of life.  It was lovely to finally find some peace and quiet in Cameroon, the country that never sleeps!

The day I met the Fon

Today I visited Laikom Palace where I was lucky enough to have an audience with the Fon, a traditional ruler of the Kom chiefdom.  In modern Cameroon the Fons no longer have any political power, yet most people remain in awe of their Fon, believing them to have hereditary magical powers.  Laikom Palace is not at all as grand as it sounds, consisting of a collection of sad looking, crumbling stone and mud-brick building topped with tin roofs.  The palace is perched high up the mountain above the town of Fundong which is about 45 minutes taxi ride from Belo.  Once you get to Fundong then you need to get a motorbike up the mountain track to the palace (or walk).  It was recommended that I wear traditional Kom clothing which was hastily made for me last week.  I was led into a rather gloomy courtyard littered with goat droppings where the Fon was sitting on his throne surrounded by various elders.  I was introduced to the Fon who wasn’t very talkative but he did say that I had a “peaceful face” which was nice!  I had been instructed to bring gifts for the Fon, specifically some money in an envelope and a bottle of fizzy pop, plus another gift of my choosing so I brought him some honey.  Once I had presented the honey, money and pop, then I was permitted to have my picture taken with him and then I was seated amongst the elders and I just sat there staring at the Fon for about 30 minutes which was very strange. The Fon is well into his 80s and I am told he has over 100 wives, although only 32 currently live in the palace (I’m not sure if the others have been mislaid or have just run off).  The youngest wife is only 13 which is quite worrying and apparently the oldest and most senior wife is the one who decides which wife is sent to the Fon’s bedroom each night.  The Fon also has over 100 children, some of whom I saw running around the palace with the numerous goats.  When a Fon dies then the new Fon will inherit the wives, which is the reason why a Fon’s son cannot become the next Fon or else his mother would become his wife!  Usually the next Fon is a younger brother or nephew.  After spending 30 minutes staring at the Fon I was led into a small room where I was served goat stew and fu fu corn and the same fizzy pop I had brought.  I ate a bit of fu fu but declined the goat!  After the food I was allowed to leave – all in all a very interesting but strange experience!

Making plans

I have just finished my three-day workshop with BERUDEP which has been for purpose of helping them pull together a long-term (five-year) strategic plan and a short-term plan for the priority areas they will be working on over the next year.  My role with BERUDEP is to encourage the staff and partners to lead this kind of work themselves, rather than me do it for them; I need to know that they will be able to use this process annually when I’m not here.  So, whilst I designed the workshop I asked the staff to lead some of the facilitation.  Also, the workshop needed to have a strong participatory element so the staff and partners really had to work hard over the last three days to come up with the ideas and solutions themselves.  BERUDEP faces the same difficulty as any not-for-profit organisation you might find in the UK in that it has huge ambition but minimal resources.  I was really pleased at how well the workshop went, especially how well the staff facilitated some of the activities.  The next stage for me is to share the plans with VSO who will consider what additional support they can offer BERUDEP towards the implementation over the coming year.

A nice cup of tea?

Today I visited the Ndawara Tea Plantation, high up in the mountains above Belo.  It was an amazing place, with acres of tea as far as the eye could see.  I also got to see the processing factory from leaf to cup which was really fascinating.   Considering Cameroon grows loads of tea and coffee, it is very hard to find a decent cuppa – the best you can get is Nescafe with powdered milk.    I don’t think that is because Cameroonians have preference for Nescafe it is just that Nestle has a stranglehold on all the marketing which everybody here says is due to government bribes.   It is a shame that the people who make the tea and coffee don’t get to enjoy it – any tea or coffee grown here is exported.  Similarly Cameroon has a huge potential for dairy production but this isn’t encouraged by the government as it would upset Nestle who want the country to keep buying its imported powdered milk.