Blog Moves To Streamlined Hope Equity Web Site

THIS BLOG HAS MOVED. It can now be found at the improved, user friendly version of Hope Equity . We think you will appreciate the changes to the Web site, and we hope to be updating the blog more frequently with stories from the field, previews and reviews of events Hope Equity takes part in around the country, and information on we can help you support your Micro-Endowment.

This new version of Hope Equity better serves our donors, partner organizations, and all those committed to ending hunger and poverty and caring for the Earth. This is the Hope Equity that we had envisioned from the beginning and we are excited to share it with you. We have listened to and worked with our members, partners and others in the non-profit arena to create an online giving tool that empowers individuals to support a wide spectrum of causes that fall under the movement to end hunger and poverty.

We’ve simplified the process to make it easier for our users to provide sustainable, long-term support to causes, countries and charities they care so deeply about. Through our new Micro-Endowment (M.E.) program, Hope Equity users can track how their charitable dollars have grown, how much goes to each specific cause they have selected, and how the money is being spent in the field. So go to Hope Equity to start your very own Micro-Endowment today and see what the upgraded Web site has to offer.

Hope Equity Back In NYC With GOOD

Hope Equity returns to the greatest city in the world as a sponsor of GOOD Magazine's Choose GOOD Greenmarket @ Solar One in Manhattan on June 7. Any Hope Equity supporters or those interested in sustainable, green initiatives should come out for what GOOD describes as "Food. Drinks. Music. Community." All proceeds go to the Council on the Environment of New York City, which promotes environmental awareness and solutions to environmental problems. You can expect "Live bees, mozzarella making, local farmers, bamboo t-shirts, edible seedlings, greenmarket, a photobooth and much more!" Also, performances by Jacques Renault and Dave Prince.

When:
Sat 07 June • 5 pm to 10 pm (5 hours of education and party)

Where:
Solar One
2420 FDR Drive, Service Road East, 6 train to 23rd, L train to 1st Ave
New York, NY 10010

How:
This is a 21+ event and for subscribers of GOOD Magazine only. You can subscribe either online at GOOD Magazine or you can purchase a subscription at the event.
For $20, subscribers get:
(1) 6 issues of GOOD
(2) Entry to a GOOD party & free drinks
(3) And all $20 goes to support Greenmarket, a program of Council on the Environment NYC (CENYC.org)

Hope Equity + SXSW + GOOD Magazine

Video of Hope Equity at GOOD Magazine's SXSW Event.

Choose GOOD Austin was a daylong event – in the middle of SXSW Festival & Conference – featuring green businesses and non-profit organizations, as well as a distinct line-up of musical talent. Among the many performers were the Noisettes, Mason Jennings, Langhorne Slim and Kimya Dawson, whose music has recently gained mainstream notice thanks to the Oscar-nominated film Juno (she’s in the video above). Over the past year, Hope Equity has helped sponsor GOOD Magazine events in New York, San Francisco, Washington D.C and Los Angeles, with the latest Austin event being one of our favorites so far. More than 1,200 guests attended the event and we made in excess of 750 contacts by exchanging Hope Equity bamboo t-shirts for business cards/information sheets. Notable contacts included representatives from Microsoft, YouTube and Google. But it was the great mix of families, musicians, artists and socially conscious individuals with a genuine interest in our mission of ending hunger and poverty through sustainable means that made the event such a success for us. We look forward to seeing many of you at the upcoming GOOD Magazine event in New York City on June 7. Check back for event details in the coming weeks!

Renata, Greg and Jeremy take a break to pose for the camera at the Hope Equity booth.

Greg chats with one of the many attendees who stopped by our booth throughout the day.

The Noisettes changed the tempo of the day with their Blues meets Psych rock vibe.

Hope Equity To Attend GOOD Magazine's Celebration Party at the SxSW Festival in Austin, TX

Hope Equity will be exhibiting at GOOD Magazine's Celebration Party to be held Wednesday, March 12 in Austin, TX at the SxSW Festival. For more information on the event, click here to visit http://www.goodmagazine.com/events/austin08.

Come talk to us and get a free Hope Equity bamboo t-shirt!

A Better Tomorrow

The women of Achoubong Group in Bafou, Cameroon sing a song thanks and safe journey to the Heifer Cameroon staff and I.

Days 6-8

January 6

We traveled an hour and a half to the hilltop village of Bafou. It is a much more pleasant climate in the Western Highland province than in the more southern provinces of Cameroon.

We arrived first at Martha Nandog’s home where I sat on a bench outside and spoke with her through an interpreter named Ali. She told me that she was a nurse working in the city and living with her husband, who was the breadwinner of the family.
“We came back to the village and we were empty handed because he was a diabetic,” Martha said. “Here, to manage a diabetic patient you need a lot of money. He died in 1995, leaving no food, no money and the children dropped out of school.”
Martha found herself living a “life of borrowing,” by having to constantly ask neighbors and family for food and money. During this time, one of her children was in the hospital for two years and went through eight operations. To pay for the operations she had to lease out the land they owned.
“When I came back from the hospital, I can only thank god that Heifer came to our community,” she said. “I was one of the first people to be assisted here.”
Martha received four piglets and training on how take properly take care of them. She said the training in agroforestry, composting and integrating livestock and agriculture has increased the production on her farm.
“I have been able to pay all of the debt and I have taken back our farm land that I leased out,” Martha said. “I now own our farm again.”
For two of her sons that dropped out of school, Martha used her profits to purchase them motorcycles so that they can make money by providing transportation. She has five grandchildren that now live near her and she is the one that provides their daily food.
“I am very, very happy. I have been able to take care of my family,” Martha said. “I don’t have to go here or there to ask for help.”
She said other women in the village now come to her to learn how she takes cares of her pigs and farm. She has also Passed on the Gift of four piglets to others.
“When I think about how I was before and look at where I am now, it is good to also give an opportunity to someone else to see how there life can also change. I am copying what Heifer has done for me,” Martha said.
“I feel like a man now. It is true that the husband is gone, but Heifer is my second husband.”

Next, we head back down the dirt road to a home just around the corner from Achoubong Group meeting house. Here I meet Louise Zamgue, a woman who has experienced many trials and hardships. Her first husband kicked her out his home when she could not get pregnant after five years of marriage. She then returned to her father’s house and in less than a month she was pregnant by someone she was seeing.
She then had a couple of children by a man and was forced to leave her father’s house.
“I was forced to become a crop farmer and I got nothing out of it because I did not know you could use manure to improve yields,” Louise said. “I depended on my father and relatives to take care of my children.”
Louise eventually remarried, but her second husband died when she was pregnant with her fourth child. But before he died, she had begged him to buy her a small piece of land of her own and he did.
“We did not have enough food to feed all the mouths because the crop yields were really poor because we had no knowledge of how to improve,” Louise said. “It was a problem having food all year round.”
In 2004, Louise got involved with Heifer International, receiving four piglets and learning agroforestry, composting, animal husbandry, ethnoveterinary treatment, gender issues and leadership skills.
“There were certain things I didn’t know I could do to improve my life,” Louise said.
“Before there were some socially constructed rules around the village where certain functions were abundant to men. I was always having problems because I expected my brothers to do the work and they didn’t do it. With the gender training, I understood that I could do it.”
With the profits from her farm, Mary took care of one of her son’s medical problems. She also began buying materials a piece at a time for the eventual construction of the simple home she lives in now.
“I am so very happy because I was reduced to a beggar, but presently I am able to take care of everything and provide for my children,” Louise said.
Before she could not care for her children or pay for their school fees. The children lived with relatives until she began to see a profit on her farm and were able to bring them back home.
I then ask Louise if in the past could she have imagined everything that has happened in her life since becoming involved with Heifer. She replied with a question.
“How could I imagine it when I had nothing?” Louise said. “I could not have even dreamt of having a house of my own. I thought I would die without having anything my own.”
We then toured her home, including the small seamstress room and a kitchen she recently constructed. Louise has a infectious smile the whole time she is showing me her home.
We then walk back to the meeting room where a spread of fried plantains, roasted nuts, fresh fruit and some Cokes has been laid out. When I set down with my plate, all of the women in the group, including Martha and Louise, dance down to the front of the room where I am sitting and begin singing a high-spirited song that is directed toward me and the Heifer Cameroon staff. It is a song of thanks and safe journey and I am beyond touched by the gesture. As soon as they finish, I ask if I can go get my video camera out of the truck and could they all sing it all again. They are more than happy to oblige, and what I have is the short clip above.

Louise Zamgue works part-time as a seamstress in the home she constructed with profits from pigs and farming.

Martha Nandog, a widow, has been able to take care of her children and grandchildren with the money she has made raising pigs.

The night before I leave I have dinner with the Heifer Cameroon staff at Sister Rose's in Bamenda.

February 7

Mary has taught many members of her community the skills she has learned from Heifer.

I could barely hold myself up today. A nasty cold as well as eating all of the spreads of food at the different projects finally caught up with me, as I spent a miserable night with stomach issues of the highest order and some hardcore congestion.
For my last project visit, we went to a place just outside of Bameda to visit Mary Sirri Ndikum, who is married to his Royal Highness, The Fon of Akum. This is the very first interaction I have with traditional African royalty (on the local level). Mary is youngest one of five wives. I arrive at the compound feeling so incredibly weak. All of the wives have a string of white beads around their head to designate their status.
I am introduced to the Fon, whose hand you never shake. I am shown a bow and clap greeting that everyone gets a big kick out of when I introduce myself to the Fon. I film an interview first with the Fon, who tells me how Heifer has help his village so much. He praises his wife, Mary, for her skill at managing the farm in his absence. He then takes his leave and I interview the very charming and industrious Mary. She has become a real leader in the community thanks to the training she has received from Heifer. She provides for all the Fon’s children and helps other families learn how to take care of their cattle and crops. Before we leave she gives me a couple bottle of yogurt and some tubes of ice cream she has made. Check back in to this blog in the near future for a short film on Mary’s life.

What has been most surprising to me is how gender equity instruction has seemingly transformed families and entire communities in Cameroon. Men who once left their wives with no money and allowed them no say in family decisions now treat their wives as equal partners who can be trusted to handle any issues that may arise. And what makes sense to many of the men is how much more successful their farming operations are when they work with their wives as a team. Decisions are now made together as a family – a huge leap from the traditional Cameroonian family structure.

February 8

I am somewhere over the Sahara Desert sipping white wine and watching The Darjeeling Limited on the overhead screen. A few hours before I left Cameroon (after a six-hour drive to Douala), we checked into the Royal Palace Hotel – for the third time this trip – so I could shower and eat a meal of skewered fish and fries, while I watched Cameroon play host Ghana in the semi-finals of the Africa Cup. Humphrey met me at the front of the hotel at 7:45 and told me I had left a folder at the offices up the road. The driver whisked me back down dead streets lined with shack bars and open-air restaurants that were packed with still, silent crowds watching the final minutes of the match. There were tiny 20-inch television sets all along the street with anywhere from 5 to 50 people gathered around. It was pure poetry.
We made a quick stop-off at the office, where several employees were watching the final seconds tick away after a late work meeting. We hit the road again just as the match ended. The silent streets erupted with the unfettered joy of the Cameroonian people. Where only moments earlier everyone had been frozen in silence as they awaited the 1-0 win, they were now hugging, dancing and drinking in celebration. People were running with flares, honking any horn that could be found, and emptying back into the streets to relish the victory with everyone else.

–Jeremy Glover

Leaders of Vekovi

A short film on Cyprian Lukong, a dynamic leader in Vekovi, Cameroon.

Day 5

February 5

Excerpt from an e-mail I sent to my family, friends and co-workers late that night:
"Where to start? This has been a really unforgettable experience so far. Overwhelming some days. I have seen SO much of Cameroon in only four whole days. I travel anywhere from 3 to 6 hours every day. All of the projects/villages we visit treat me like a dignitary. Today we traveled through some breathtaking hill country on the worst possible dirt roads to the town of Veloki. I was given two large sacks of carrots, 3 two-liter bottles of freshly made yogurt, a sack of potatoes (Irish is what they call 'em), and a sack of Kola Nuts, which are supposed to give me good life, and an old woman, whose son had dramtically changed his life and was able to pay for her dire operations through money made with his Heifer dairy cattle, gave me a photo of her in the hospital after her surgery. I gave all the goods to the Heifer Cameroon staff to split up. Every group we visit has a big spread of huckleberry, rice, carrrots, chicken, plantains, roasted nuts (I ate 'em), etc, but I haven't really ate too much until today because Hilda thinks it will upset my stomach (she's kind of motherly). I'm proud to say I haven't had any stomach problems - yet.

Today, I met with Philip's family and Cyprian's family. These two men have learned so much from Heifer and applied it to their lives. They spoke of gender equity, HIV education, and how they feel obligated to pass on their gift. Philip and Cyprian now treat their wives as equals and are respected in their community for the knowledge they happily share and how they conduct themselves with their families. To us these people would have nothing, but for them they are doing better than they ever imagined. Cyprian and his wife take in and feed orphans and go around to other orphanages to teach. With healthy cattle and farming, Cyprian employs other men in his village who had once beat their wives, drank and never worked, but who now have learned to treat their wives as equals and have taken the money they have earned and bought their own livestock. They are so proud. This is not limited to this village, I saw it in Manjo yesterday and Buea on Saturday. These people speak of what Heifer has done for themselves, their families and their villages in such a way it would melt the coldest cynics' heart."

 

Two boys outside the Dzekwa Group's meeting house in Vekovi.

The small, close-knit mountain village of Vekovi is located in the Northwest Province of Cameroon, far away from the bustling cities. It was here that I met Cyprian Lukong and Philip Sahwai, the first two members of the Dzekwa Multi Purpose Farmer’s Society to receive livestock. In 1997, they both received a pregnant purebred Holstein dairy cow.
Before immersing themselves in dairy farming, Cyprian had been a contract teacher on a minimal salary and Philip had been involved in the small-scale buying, fattening and selling of local beef cattle. Cyprian had a wife and children and Philip was an orphan who had to take care of his six younger siblings. Each man barely made enough money to feed themselves, much less their respective families.
In 1999, Cyprian decided with his wife that he would one more attempt at taking a year-long course to get a government teaching job. When he returned to his home and had no luck getting a government job, he then decided to leave teaching once and for all and devote himself fully to dairy farming. With the training in zero grazing and other dairy management strategies, Cyprian dairy farm has flourished with 12 offspring, including his very first Passing on the Gift in 1999.
The milk from his dairy farm is consumed by his family, shared with his neighbors and sold to surrounding communities. The profits from the dairy have allowed Cyprian to realize many dreams he had for his family.
“It is through the dairy project that I am able to educate my children,” Cyprian said. “One of them is in the second year of college and another one entered college this academic year.”
His third child, Emily, has been ill since she was 3-years-old and her continuing treatments are paid for with profits from the dairy. Last year he was also able to construct a new home for his family.
Cyprian has reached out to others in his community, employing them on his dairy farm, yet in a way where they can eventually generate sustainable, lasting income. Cyprian works with his employees to identify their needs, such as purchasing livestock of their own, establishing an account in a local credit union, or building a home for their own family. He also shares the gender equity teachings, AIDS/HIV education, and other life lessons that he gained from Heifer with his employees.
“Since we have been taught by Heifer Project, particularly on gender issues and family involvement, my wife and I agree before we carry out anything in our lives, like the education of the children, projects and so on. And, for that reason, I want to think that Heifer Project has given me a gift, which is a long lasting gift. In spending money, we agree before we spend it and in that way I see that we are really succeeding.”
Cyprian’s mother had experienced chronic stomach problems that became critical in 2007.
“Her operation was the same year I was constructing the stable, this house and the other employee’s house. In that situation I really faced a lot of difficulties,” Cyprian said. “But I really thank God because if not for the dairy project, my mother would not have survived.”

Cyprian's mother (left) and these orphans have both benefited from the dairy project in Vekovi.

Philip Sahwai with his newborn and 4-year-old daughter.

Philip Sahwai, much like fellow group member Cyprian, has experienced many hardships and struggles on his way to sustainable independence. Not long after receiving his first pregnant dairy cow from Heifer, his mother died, leaving Philip to care for all of his younger siblings. A desire for a better life for himself and his family led Philip to pour all of his energy into the dairy business. He soon learned from Heifer how to make yogurt and cheese and was able to sell his products in nearby towns, where he soon developed a reputation for having the finest yogurt.
The profits from his dairy allowed him to continue to pay for the fees and books for his siblings still in school. His first cow from Heifer has given birth several times, allowing Philip to Pass on the Gift to others in his village, including his younger brother who has joined him in the dairy business. His income from the dairy allowed him to get married and he is now the proud father of a 4-year-old and a 3-month-old. For his growing family, Philip constructed a new home just last year.
Philip proficiency in making yogurt and cheese has brought people from other villages and cities across Cameroon to learn his methods and he has traveled to the city of Bamenda to instruct priests in a Catholic church who wanted to learn from him.
“I am happy to share the knowledge because I received it from Heifer for free,” Philip said. “I feel I have an obligation to share with others”

Seeing first hand how leaders like Cyprian and Philip lifted themselves and their families out of poverty and then, in turn, provided the same support and education that they once received to others in their community demonstrates the effectiveness Heifer’s continuing mission. But it is not only neighbors and surrounding communities that have taken notice of the life-changing work taking place in villages like Vekovi.
The private sector has invested in a new dairy processing plant outside of Bamenda, where Heifer Cameroon’s central offices are located. Mr. Kamga overheard a news report on the successes of Heifer’s dairy initiatives in the Western Highlands and after investigating it he decided the cooler climate would allow for better production than his current facilities in the south. He has since brought in a number of local farmers to be shareholders in the new dairy plant, providing them some stewardship over the operations of the facility.
A cooling station is also being constructed so that Vekovi and other villages far away from the plant can sell their milk as well. The plant opens for production on March 15.
“The quality of life for these farmers will greatly improve in the coming years,” Mr. Kamga said as we toured the grounds of the new facility.

Entering the village of Vekovi.

This story of lives and a community forever changed is not limited to the Vekovi. You could find variations of these stories in many other places where Heifer Cameroon’s initiatives have taken root. And I am positive that every one of these places has their own Cyprian and Philip; individuals that have not only affected positive change in their lives and their community, but also now serve as ambassadors of Heifer as they reach out to others struggling to survive and make their own way in this world. It is an every widening circle that empowers individuals to reach their full potential and it is something that all supporters and donors of Heifer can feel a part of.

–Jeremy Glover

 

A group of Orphans gathered outside of Cyprian's home.

Road to Bamenda

A young boy eats bread outside the AJEN Group's meeting house.

Day 4

February 4

In the village of Namba, near the town of Manjo, is where we visit the Association des Jeunes de Namba, or AJEN Group. Namba is in a French-speaking province, so an interpreter, Rochelle, has come along with Humphrey, Hilda and I. This stop is a little less than half way to Bamenda, where Heifer Cameroon’s headquarters is located. After we visit the group, Hilda and Rochelle will return to the Douala offices where they are hosting the Heifer Senegal group this week. Humphrey and I will continue on to the Western Highlands, where I’ll spend the next couple of days visiting projects. I am told the people from the Western Highlands are the most industrious and hard working in all of Cameroon.
The first person I visit in Namba is Walter Atoh, treasurer of the group. He has a simple wooden frame house with tin roof and dirt floors. Inside the main room of the house is a long bench, a couple of chairs, and at the back of the room is his new motorcycle and his beat-up old motorcycle.
I talk first with Emmanuel Youyep Yonko, president of the group, who stops in while we are sitting down to talk to Walter. Emmanuel tells me before getting involved with Heifer, the members of the group were doing the most rudimentary farming with only a few pigs.
Heifer’s training on the very basics of how to properly feed and care for the pigs has had a transformational effect on the pig farmer’s who have adopted the practices. The farmers in Namba used to feed the pigs only cassava yams and some grass instead of the mixture of feed they now process on their own. The group used its profits, along with a government grant, to purchase a grinding mill, which is utilized to create a surplus of feed for group members at all times and also sell to the local community for affordable prices.
From Heifer, the group members also learned to use elevated pigsties, which are better for maintaining the health of the pigs and also lessens the impact on the quality of the community’s environment.
“Before Heifer came, each of us had only one or two pigs. Now days some have up 30 pigs, 40 pigs,” Emmanuel said. “The pigs of six months old today are bigger than the pigs of two years old then. The difference is real and it’s tangible.”
Like most of the group, Walter has a young family. From the sale of his pigs, Walter was able to pay the dowry to his wife’s family so that they could be married and two weeks after that he purchased a motorcycle for transportation for his family and for business use.
“Without Heifer Project I would not have been able to do any of these things,” Walter said.
“Nutrition has really improved for my family. We are now able to now eat meat every month.”
Walter said the experience and knowledge they have received from Heifer they have in turn used to help other farmer’s that have not been exposed livestock and agricultural techniques.
“This is very important,” he said “We are taught in trainings that the knowledge you gain you have to share with others. We respect the Heifer Cornerstones of sharing and caring.”
The AJEN group has Passed on the Gift (POG) of 40 piglets to other members and groups since its inception.
Serges, a delegate of Cameroon’s Ministry of Livestock, stopped by for a visit while we discussed the expansion of Walter’s pig operation to newer stalls that had just been constructed. Serges said the government can help provide the technical support to the areas that Heifer projects areas that
“It is a good collaboration [between Heifer and the government],” Serges said. “What Heifer has done is just like dropping oil into water and it expands everywhere. I am here in these communities seeing the results.”

Walter Atoh and his wife at their elevated pigsties.

The grinding mill that the AJEN Group purchased has saved farmer's money and been profitable for the group.

Emmanuel and one of his twin sons inside his chicken coop.

Emmanuel and his wife and son near their elevated pigsties.

Next, I visit Emmanuel’s home and surrounding farm. We first stop to look at his pigsties, and then we go to his chicken coop, which is part of his plan to diversify his livestock.
From the profits from his livestock and farming, Emmanuel has installed indoor plumbing to provide fresh water for his family, something I haven’t seen in any of the homes we’ve visited so far. He has also been able to purchase furniture, a television and even a satellite dish.
“With the dish we have all the channels and there are things on the TV that interest children very much,” he said. “My children don’t go to the neighbors now. We now have the latest information from around the world.”
Like any good mother, Emmanuel’s wife gets out all of the family photos for me to see. Emmanuel points out how thin and unhealthy he was just a few years ago.
“When Heifer arrived here we were all so slim,” he said. “But now we are healthier – we look nice.”
When I ask Emmanuel is his quality of life has improved, he tells me that he does not need to speak about it, that it speaks for itself.
“The chairs and table are all that I inherited from my father. All of this I have acquired through Heifer,” he said.
“We have been able to pay children’s school fees.”
The group members experienced a change of mentality, Emmanuel said, when they received the training from Heifer and then were able to visit other projects to see the progress that had been made.
“The exchange visits we had near Bamenda helped a lot,” he said. “We saw what the other farmers there are doing and we understood we were not really working hard. We then came back here and expanded the size of our work.”
Another major change came about from the gender equity training, Emmanuel said.
“We learn how to treat our wife at home. How she can be involved in activities. We have really changed our behavior at home,” he said.
“Relations have improved and everything has changed because we were taught that some jobs are not only reserved for women and women can also do work men do.”
It is not only the relationships at home that have changed for Emmanuel.
“Thanks to Heifer, I am able to be acquainted with the big government authorities in the area. I can now discuss issues with livestock delegate or the agricultural delegate,” he said.
All of the life-changing experiences that have taken place with the AJEN Group over the last decade have been shared with surrounding neighbors and groups.
“We have trained the POG (Passing on the Gift) group that Heifer is working with now,” Emmanuel said. “We have trained other groups, non-Heifer groups, that are around. So the community has become stronger.”

The AJEN Group have made tremendous progress in the decade they have been involved with Heifer Cameroon.

Like the Signal Hill Group in Buea, the AJEN Group has prepared a lunch spread of fried plantains, fresh fruit, roasted nuts and freshly baked bread. We join about 20 of the group members in the meeting room where they introduce themselves and thank me for what Heifer has done for their community. I feel humbled by their warmth and appreciation and in turn thank them for having me in their homes and sharing their personal stories. They think of me as Heifer – a representation of the entity that has helped them – and it is difficult to explain that I am merely a writer and photographer here to capture their stories.

Hilda has been cautious of what I eat at the different projects, as I was also warned beforehand about the dangers of eating food prepared in rural areas. Hilda has been motherly to me on this trip. She was surprised when I told her I was 27. She told me that I am still a baby. She packed me a lunch for the day, but I won’t eat it until later that night when I arrive in Bamenda at the hotel, with its barely functional rooms, strange lounge and bar area, and lack of clean towels.

–Jeremy Glover

Some children in Namba getting water from a pump.

The Day Off

Here is what I look like in front of the Heifer Cameroon offices in Douala.

Day 3

February 3

I have now been here a little more than 50 hours and I am almost at a loss for words when trying to describe my experience so far. Today was a wonderful day spent exploring the botanical gardens near the ocean, swimming in the ocean, and relaxing on a rust-colored beach. Humphrey grew up in Limbe and said he after school he and his friends would go to the botanical garden and eat the fruit. The best part of the gardens was a natural amphitheater that is somehow hidden up a path in the middle of the gardens. When we walked up to it, two men we’re sitting in a wooden structure at the far end singing hymns.
Later, on the way back from the beach, we stop and buy some freshly cut sugar cane from the side of the road. Unpeeled, its tough to eat, at least for me. Hilda told me how little children will slip into someone’s patch of sugar cane and tie a string around several stalks of sugar cane. Then they’ll sneak back out and take off running while pulling hard on the string, bringing fresh sugar cane with it. That little story sticks with me all day.

The Limbe river borders one side of the botanical garden.

The natural amphitheater was used for wrestling and plays, and later for religious ceremonies.

A sign on a run down greenhouse at the botanical gardens.

From left: Dr. Humphrey Taboh, assistant country director; Dominic, driver for Heifer Cameroon; and Hilda Mbungai, zonal manager.

We stopped briefly to look around a church that's just a few feet from the rocky coast.

I wanted to go in the church and take a whole card of photos, but instead I settled for just one outside the door.

(Later that day)
I just finished a late dinner of grilled fish and chips at the Royal Palace Hotel’s restaurant. After we arrived back in Douala, I got high hopes that the Super Bowl will be broadcast on one of the 30 or so channels that show sports (soccer). I took an early evening nap so I’ll be good to go if the post-midnight broadcast happens.

(Writer’s note: Just after midnight I find a French telecast of the game that’s amusing and impassioned.)
Patriots just went for it on 4th and 13 just outside the red zone in the third quarter, leading 7-3. Could be the turning point. It’s almost 3 a.m. here in Cameroon and I am having a one-man Super Bowl party.
Tom Brady just got waylaid in the end zone and the French announcer exclaimed: “Ooohhh la la la la la!”
Priceless.

Tomorrow we travel six hours to the Western Highlands province to Heifer Cameroon’s headquarters in Bamenda. On the way we will stop in Manjo to visit a group.

–Jeremy Glover

Lives of Others

A shantytown at the edge of the tea plantations in Tole'.

Cameroon: Days 1-2

January 31 or February 1

Currently, I am just off the eastern seaboard, somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean, unsure of the exact date and time after a brief nap. I’m guessing the date is the still the former, as the eight-hour flight departed just a few hours ago.

So this is it: A trip into the unknown. This is the very thing that so piqued my interest last spring when I applied for this job. I am to spend the next seven days in Cameroon with my tape recorder, digital camera, video camera, journal and notebook, where I’ll be collecting stories, thoughts and impressions for my employer, Heifer Foundation.

I couldn’t be more pleased. But what awaits? That’s always the best story of all.

Exposure to a people and a way of life that is completely removed from all I’ve known. I’ve been told I won’t come back the same, and I believe it. I feel a little like I did as an impressionable 20-year-old spending the summer studying in Europe. Life is certainly for the living.

After 22 hours of traveling, I arrived in a foggy state of mind. Upon landing, I was immediately struck by how Douala International Airport looked like a bombed-out war relic that has since been reclaimed and was barely functioning. It had a stained, dingy appearance, with no air conditioning on the inside and a long stretch of pointless walkways leading to a police and customs, which was the calm before the madness, at least in my jet-lagged state. Dripping with sweat, I staggered about reading unfamiliar names off of signs people were holding. The baggage claim was a barrage of people with signs and aggressive drivers who would almost force you to ride with them to the city. I fended off one before forcing my way outside to find the friendliest people I had seen thus far waiting for me behind a barricade, which may or may not have been put up to keep back the raucous parade of youth who were banging drums and bells and waving signs that said “Welcome Prince!” – a Cameroonian pop star who was on the same plane as me. The carnival atmosphere was a surreal first impression to say the least. But my welcoming party of Dr. Humphrey Taboh, assistant director of Heifer Cameroon; Hilda Mbungai, zonal manager for the Humid Rainforest Program Zone; and Dominic, our driver, was warm and pleasant and they had a large bottle of cold water for me.

Douala is the financial capitol of Cameroon, which is why some of the squalor and lack of sanitation was surprising. Many of the shops are nothing more than a 10-foot wooden shack selling cell phones, drinks, snacks and jugs of gas. The roads are all crumbling and the streets are teeming with people selling fruits, vegetables and other goods. Children are at most intersections balancing impossible looking amounts of fruits on their heads and coming up to your window to see if you are interested. While the lack of sanitation is striking, it is far outweighed by the occasional glimpses into Cameroon’s natural beauty that pop up throughout the city. We arrive at the Royal Palace Hotel, which is not quite what the name would have you believe, but it still has an otherworldly charm with its heavy, dark wood lobby with arch shaped mirrors along the walls.

My first impression of the Cameroonian people is that they generally have a reserved, friendly nature and a natural sense of style. Later that night while waiting to meet with Humphrey and Hilda in the lobby of the hotel, a man in wearing sunglasses at night came in sporting a candy-striped conductors hat with matching sleeveless, button-up shirt with a denim jacket slung over his shoulder. So where do I get my candy-striped conductors hat?

February 2

A little rest can do wonders. I’m in Africa. When I woke up, I got that sensation of fully realizing a situation. Today, we have an hour drive to the town of Buea where I’ll visit the Signal Hill Pig Farming Group. On the roads, small Volvo taxis are everywhere and motorcycles are even more abundant with no apparent traffic laws or fear of death. Honking governs the road. A honk can mean anything: I’m passing, let me in, why did you not let me in, please go around, thank you for not hitting me…

Just outside of Douala, there is a junction in the road where a stream passes under a bridge. When we pass the trash-littered stream, it is being used by a family to clean their motorcycle and wash their clothes, while the children played nearby. Soon after this we pass a bridge that is a physical symbol of connection between the French and English speaking provinces. As we cross the river lined with fishing boats and women and children washing cloths, I begin to contemplate how life for the people of Cameroon would be different now if not for colonialism. In what ways? I’m not sure, and I know very little so far about this country.

We drive past miles of rubber tree plantations and massive fields of bananas that are owned by Del Monte while listening to Christian reggae with one song’s chorus repeating “I’m on the lord’s side.” Everyone in Cameroon speaks Pidgin English, which reminded me of the Patios I heard in last year in Jamaica. Humphrey tells me there are more than 200 dialects of Pidgin and since they are from different places that he could not always understand our driver Dominic and that he can’t really understand the youth who’s Pidgin has been influenced by the slang of one of Cameroon’s pop stars.

Oben Andrew Bessem at home with his granddaughter.

The first person in the Signal Hill Group I visit was Oben Andrew Bessem, president of the group. His home is up a short trail on the side of a hill. He and the fellow group members received their training and first piglets from Heifer International in 2002 and the difference it has made in his life and the lives of his family is quite obvious when talking to this older man of short stature who has a beaming smile. Before becoming involved with pigs and farming, he worked in the private sector until 1980, when he lost his job due to his involvement with trade unions. This when he decided to become a farmer, which he hoped would be enough to provide his young children with all the food they needed as well as pay for their education. He did not know any modern methods of farming or animal husbandry and struggled for years to provide for his family of ten. For many years his dream was simply having three meals a day for his children.

The training on proper livestock management and agricultural integration meant increased profits on his farm.

“With the knowledge I have gained from Heifer I can be independent,” Oben said. “At first, we didn’t know how to go about doing anything. Now I know how to compost manure. I know when a pig is not well. I know how to go to a bush and cut the leaves to give to the animal if they have a problem.”

When I ask what it has meant for Oben’s family, he tells me that I would be surprised just how much it has changed their lives.

“With these pigs I have been able to send four children to the university,” Oben said. “A fifth one is there now.”

He then tells me of one of his sons who studied botany at the university and now has a job in London, a trip he helped pay for through the pig farm. One of his daughters is majoring in environmental science and hopes to be a teacher. Another daughter works with the forestry delegation and another studied management and is now working with an uncle.

Oben also points out the leadership courses he received from Heifer as well as the gender equity training, which he said has made a happier home.

“I have been a leader of this group for seven years,” he said. “With the knowledge I have gained, I have also been managing a group outside of my group.”

Oben has also constructed a new toilet for his family, but said his future goal, after all of his children are out of school, is to construct a solid permanent home where his wooden home now stands.

Madame Foretia (center) with her family at their pig farm.

We leave Oben and drive down the road a few kilometers to meet with Madame Emilia Foretia and other members of the Signal Hill Group. Usually, when you interview people, you are not the center of attention, but in this case I am treated as a guest of honor (something I’ll have to get used to during the coming days).

We walk past Madame Foretia’s elevated pigsties to a small wooden meeting room where I sit in the middle of the group and ask them about how their involvement with Heifer has affected their lives.

Peter, the secretary of the group, sits to my right with a two other men who are a little chattier than most Cameroonians I had met. Peter speaks enthusiastically about what Heifer has meant to his life.

“So much impact,” Peter said. “Heifer has changed my life tremendously. When I started on my own, I was realizing nothing, because the training was not there. As soon as Heifer gave us that training, everything was perfect. From Heifer, I have been able to send my children to school.

Peter then listed the training Heifer has provided including proper sanitation, animal husbandry, leadership approach, bookkeeping and gender equity.

“Without knowledge, you cannot do anything,” Peter said. “When I started keeping pigs on my own, I was having a mortality rate on a yearly basis. The mortality rate was so high. But as soon as Heifer came to us with the training there was a zero mortality rate.”

Heifer’s Cornerstones of sharing and caring is something the group continually practices, Peter said.

“We always go out and give education to those that are interested,” he said. “Right now, we have a group we are trying to pass on our gift to.”

The group was preparing to pass on piglets to another group in the community who were involved with Heifer.

“To pass on the gift, to pass on the knowledge, to pass on everything you have learned – you have a great joy,” Madame Foretia said.

She also speaks of the “great change” that has taken place in the life of her family since becoming involved with Heifer’s various trainings and teachings.

“The knowledge that I have right now… to live well with my neighbors and to make the production grow well – I have a lot.”

Her son Denis is now in Medical school in New Jersey, which she said brings her “great joy.” She was able to help pay for his visa and flight to America through money she raised from her pig farm.

Her son, Ivo, who is still in secondary school, has opened an account at the local credit union with the money he has made from the pigs.

“He has an interest in the pigs so much and also farm work,” she said. “He bases all his interest on that. We started an account to motivate him to work harder.”

Ivo now wants to study to be a veterinarian to continue the trainings and teachings Heifer had provided to his family.

Other families send their children to stay and learn from Madame Foretia. It is a task she fully embraces.

“I do it free of charge,” she said. “I see it that as they have trained me and I should also help other people. I should not keep the knowledge within me. That does not help anything.”

She sees this instruction as providing a future to the youths that come to stay with her.

“If the child has enough interest he can then take what he has learned and make his life in that way,” she said.

Before leaving the group to go to Madame Foretia’s new home, the group sings a song about Heifer to express their appreciation. It is sung in Pidgin, so I cant’ make it all out but the chorus is, “Heifer is a friend, a friend that doesn’t let you down.”

When I asked if I could take his picture, he put his sunglasses on to let me know I could.

Back in the city of Buea is the home the Foretia’s first began building nearly 20 years ago, but were only able to complete last year with money that their son sent from America. Instead of the wooden frame house with dirt floors I had seen so far, her new home has concrete floors and walls. Madame Foretia gets out a box of glasses, cups and saucers that she was able to purchase for when they have guests over. She also shows me a griddle she bought so that her children can fix quick meals before and after school. They had also a bought a very small television to keep the children around the house more.

Madame Foretia then pulls out her record books to show me how she plans for the upcoming years pig sales based on her past figures. Hilda tells me recordkeeping in not traditionally part of the Cameroonian culture, but it is something Heifer Cameroon teaches in order for the recipients to see their profits and plan for the future.

“If you do not record it, you do not realize it,” Madame Foretia said.

Our driver had to returned to the farm to pick up their children so they can tell me about what Heifer has meant. After speaking with Madame Foretia and her husband Stephen for some time, I began to get anxious as I thought I had everything I needed to tell Madame Foretia’s story. I was wrong and it was the last time I would be anxious for the rest of the trip. When their children arrive, they are all noticeably nervous to talk to me and hesitant to even utter a word. Ivo finally talks about wanting to be veterinarian and another boy who is staying with the family shyly tells me what he has learned. Regina had not yet spoken. When she tried to speak she began to cry. Her father asked why she is crying. Hilda interjected that she was happy. She fought through the tears as she spoke of everything her mother had done for their family.

“My mother started with one pig and now my mother has 22 pigs,” Regina said. “She pays our school fees and gives us transportation. Everything that my mother works is in the pigsty.”

Hilda had to wipe away her tears. It was the first and not the last time I would have to hold back my tears.

We continue past Buea and before I know it we are skirting across some of the most gorgeous countryside I have ever seen. It is the tea fields of Tole’. The serene rolling hills filled with tea plantations provide a stark contrast to the living conditions of the tea field workers in the shantytown that runs alongside one of the larger plantations. Here is where a nascent snail project is underway. As the leader of the local snail initiative shows us the snails, he starts talking about finding good prices for the snails at cities farther away. This leads to a very interesting conversation between him and Humphrey about first building up a local market and supplying the local people with snails to better their nutrition. Humphrey repeatedly points out that he should not neglect building the local markets first before expanding to other areas.

Before we leave, I attract the attention of some of the boys who were hanging around in a field. I take a few pictures and then talk with them some. I tell them to “get down and show me how you do it,” and they start jumping around and posing.

They ask if I will be coming back. I tell them I will sometime in the coming years, which I know may be a lie, but I hope it is true.

We drive back through Buea and then down to the coast to the seaside town of Limbe, where we will stay in small one-room bungalows just a few feet from the rocky coastline. There are strange Europeans camping beside the rooms and there is an open-air restaurant with football (soccer) on at all times. That night, I order some fish and chips and talk with Hilda about different foods in Cameroon and the possibility of going to church tomorrow morning.

I then go sit in a plastic chair on the edge of the small cliff and listen to the waves crash and watch the moon twinkle on the water. The old night watchmen who lets people in and out of the gate late at night comes and sits at the next plastic table. He asks me if I am going to the club that night. I tell him no, that I’m just here to listen to the waves.

–Jeremy Glover

Strife in Cameroon

Children gathered outside Dzewka Multi Purpose Farmer's Society meeting room in Vekovi, Cameroon.

Today was supposed to be the start of my daily journal from Cameroon (not in real time as we initially planned, as the amount of time I spent in the field made that impossible). Over this past weekend, I received an e-mail message that stated: “There was a serious strike in Cameroon, which grounded all businesses and a lot of destruction (human and material) and our offices were temporarily closed down.”

As with many African nations, democracy and democratic reforms are tenuous at best in Cameroon. Many of the Cameroonians I spoke with while I was there felt the current government took illegal measures to maintain its hold on power.

From the March 2, 2008 edition of New York Times:

Calm appeared to be returning to Cameroon after rare violent demonstrations inspired, in part, by frustrations over the president’s recent announcement that he wanted to amend the Constitution to allow him to run for another term.
President Paul Biya has been in office for 25 years and critics say he has allowed too few freedoms in his efforts to maintain stability.
Up to 20 people were killed last week after riots in the capital, Yaoundé, the main port city of Douala and several western towns, according to news reports, but it was unclear how they died. The reports said that government soldiers had fired bullets and tear gas at demonstrators.

From the March 3, 2008 edition of The Epoch Times:

YAOUNDE, Cameroon—At least 20 protesters were shot by Cameroon police last week after a fuel strike descended into outright violence.
A transport union strike against rising fuel costs descended into anarchy as anger flared over President Paul Biya's announcement that he would change the constitution to allow him to run for another term.
Looting and burning of private and public property has swept across the usually peaceful country in situation is getting worse especially in the economic capital of Douala, as well as Yaoundé, the nation's capital.
The trouble started when strikes were called in five of Cameroon's ten provinces last Monday (25).
The Syndicate of Transporters in Cameroon barricaded streets with taxis and buses primarily to protest a drastic increase in fuel prices.
However the protests became increasingly political after President Biya announced that he would be amending the constitution to allow him to run for another seven-year term in the 2011 elections. Under current laws presidents are not allowed to stand for more than two terms.
Protestors have blamed Mr. Biya for the increasing fuel prices, which many compare to European prices.
"What we have today is more likely to get worse if the Biya regime insists on pushing ahead with the constitutional amendment," one protester wrote on an Internet message board. "Cameroonians have more grievances than the issue of price hikes."


While traveling across Cameroon I never once felt threatened or that my safety was at risk. However, some of the countries that Heifer is now working in have had a history of instability and, like Kenya and Cameroon, have recently experienced political unrest. At Heifer Foundation, our thoughts and prayers are with Heifer Cameroon’s staff and their families, as well as all the other country programs that face hurdles and obstacles that we cannot imagine.

My daily journal, complete with stories, photos and video, will begin tomorrow.

–Jeremy Glover