Candid Cameroon: Les Refugees

Let it be said-Africa is an adventure! Yep sure have been confronted with a lot of realities of life in Africa as of late, but I still can’t imagine my life anywhere else at the moment. There is no way around it, death is a poignant topic. One that has obviously not escaped me during my time here. Kind of gnarly, eh? I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to put the subject behind me!

I can't say it enough, the second time around is where its at. Things are flowing smoothly enough that its all moving so fast now I can barely keep up! Never been so in love, so invested, and so established in this experience as I am now. Since I’ve conveyed the challenges of finding work, I thought it time to share some of the fruits of my labor and projects that have been occupying my time. The agriculture and youth development pcvs who arrive in Batouri in December told me they were excited at all the work opportunities I showed them during their recent site visit! Particularly, my favorite project, working with Central African Republic (CAR) refugees. First a little background.

Central African Republic is a mineral rich, landlocked country in central Africa that garners little international attention. The political situation has been unstable as of late. Sometime in the mid-2000s there was an unsuccessful coup d’etat against the president. This launched the country into a kind of war between rebel and presidential forces, which unfortunately caught innocent civilians in the middle. The west and northwestern regions (or those bordering Chad and Cameroon) were particular regions of insecurity. I do not know whose forces were predominantly responsible for what, but in a war it goes without saying the stories left in its wake are anything but cheery.

The Mbororo ethnic group in the CAR is particularly known for owning livestock. In rural Africa, a lot of one’s wealth is in their livestock. It’s what people inherit and plan to pass on to future generations. It’s also what makes up a lot of bride prices. This ethnic group was specifically targeted for just that very reason, and when the entire livestock is seized by force…

As the refugees started coming into Chad and Cameroon in step international organizations such as the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to process and organize the refugees and the World Food Program (WFP) to provide food for them. This provided for their acute needs and now that that critical stage is deemed over the WFP is focusing on more sustainable development where food is concerned. They sponsor an organization in Batouri to help in its Food for Work program. What that means is the WFP provides the seeds necessary to grow the food, but the refugees and local Cameroonians clear the fields and do the planting. In exchange for the work they are given food rations in place of money. This will continue until the fields start producing crops. In Cameroon, the refugees are placed only in the Adamawa and East regions and I believe they number in the 80,000s.

With the help of this organization in Batouri, now in steps this Peace Corps Volunteer. We have chosen two small villages east of Batouri where the hope is to work with these groups to help teach them how to market some of the crops harvested from these fields. However, my true function has been working with some of the refugees and Cameroonians in these two villages to organize themselves into groups so I can start what are called Village Savings and Loan Associations with them. These are savings associations that allow groups to save and in return give the possibility of credit to its members in villages without any formal banking sector. As the WFP has told me, this falls under their Food for Training program. The East hasn’t been without its challenges, but this work has made me realize how perfectly placed I was in this region to have this opportunity to work with refugees. It’s intriguing work to me and quite the opportunity to sit and chat with them about their experiences that brought them to Cameroon.

Getting set up for food distribution. What's on the menu? Palm oil, salt (maybe sugar I forget), legumes/split peas, and then either rice or corn. This month it was corn.

In the Work for Food program, Katherine works closely with the Refugees and follows the progress of their work. At the end of the month she calculates and adds up how much rations of each item they will receive based on the number of days worked. Everybody sees her first to sign their name before receiving their ticket and standing in line.

Refugees starting to line up. Took this picture before myself joining in and helping measure and distribute corn. Can you imagine living off these types of food rations each month? I don't think you can, I sure couldn't! While I'm like 97.2% against putting the sponsoring country on any aid supplies, I was proud to see my two countries representing! Palm oil - Canada, split peas- USA.

The WFP buildings in Batouri.

A look inside.

Me with the Director of the WFP in Batouri.

Chillin' with Mbororo women en brousse.

The meetings for my bank's business associations are held in members homes. I prepare my presentations beforehand and tape them up wherever available - this time a door in the living room. This days topic was introducing the concept of marketing before diving into talking specifically about product to a women's association that mainly sells food on the side of the road before. In the simplest terms possible, I tried to discuss with them the importance of having a quality product, why its good to differentiate it, and giving examples of improving their presentation/packaging. If you are familiar with the marketing mix, yes Peace Corps in my training did tell us to add an additional 5th "p" here in Cameroon. Personel/employees and customer service, which gets its very own catergory, can always use a boost here! The bank employee who works with the associations told me the animated conversation that followed was a good thing.