Project

A – INTRODUCTION

Proverb: “Ah po’oh zehmo’oh ghoh teh nkouet lehpou’oh” in language Baleveng means One Hand cannot tie a package by itself. This very old proverb is often used in Cameroon by the Bamileke people during family gatherings and community meetings to remind everyone of the importance of team work and to promote openness to collaboration, inclusion and respect of others.

A collaboration between Kengmo, Earlham College , Baobab International (a community based non-profit organization (NGO) in Menoua-Cameroon), and Community Key leaders in Cameroon might do way more than promote those precious values. Beyond “tying a package”, the combining efforts of those involved in project NTSIIH has the potential of bringing one of the most needed improvements and laying the foundation for a positive unforgettable history in the communities served.

 The lack of Water, Electricity, and employment are right now the main causes of young people and men drifting away from the land to crowded and poorly managed cities in the country.

In most parts of USA , water is taken for granted. While most elders, children and young people in the United States are used to turning on the faucet to get as much water as needed; Elders, children, and young adults in rural Cameroon are traveling ½ mile to 2 miles to bring home a few gallons of water for drinking, cooking, and bathing.

Because of the lack of clean running water and electricity, Menoua villages are prematurely deprived of its young people and men; many of whom end up in prisons, prostitution, below poverty level, or very low income jobs. Men leave their families behind in rural areas for small jobs in the city and very few of them return regularly to spend time with their families while most women are left alone with the children

Local health clinics don’t help much since they do not have running water or electricity

During dry seasons, schools are very hard to attend. Thousands of school children must hold their thirst until they get home or to the next stream sometimes over a mile away. Schools, K-12 grade, are built and cannot function adequately because of the lack of one of the most basic yet most important human needs: water.

The streams are no longer as clean and safe as they used to be. People have been forced to use chemicals on their farm and those are then washed into streams and rivers by the rain, making it harder to stay healthy.

WATER WELLS WILL PROVIDE MANY ADDITIONAL BENEFITS such as:

-To help fight consumption of alcohol and sodas. Many people become dependant of alcohol and spend their small family revenues in local bars, blaming their condition on the lack of drinking water, especially during the drying seasons.

-To help make the Dry seasons easier on the community life and healthier.

-While working side by side to provide the communities with the most needed element of life, students, Baobab International, and people in Menoua-Cameroon will experience a healthy and deep cultural exchange.

   -Providing people in West Cameroon who live in compounds with water wells which will serve a minimum of five people daily and as many as 50 family members.

-Help obtain more peaceful and productive community gatherings.

-Animal husbandry will become easier and highly beneficial to communities. ------Sales of organic animal products will help generate financial resources to support families.

The water table in most places in Menoua varies between 25 Meters (about 75 feet) and 100 Meters (about 300 feet).
Hand dough wells are often initiated, many of which are not successful and always constitute a constant danger from day one in their environment and to the community: accidents of community members especially Children and domestic animals fatally falling in them are common and traumatizing to communities.

Proverb: “If you let me go hungry today so that you can provide me with a plow and show me how to grow food, I will thank you greatly for you are providing my family and all those who will come near me with enough food for a lifetime”.

Our goal with Project Ntsi’ih will do just that by providing drilling Equipments and showing people in Cameroon how to:

1 - Use it to drill thousands of water wells in order to overcome many health problems (malaria, diarrhea, skin problems, etc…).

2 - Preserve communities (stagnation and drifting from the main land),

3 - Improve the overall living conditions of the people in hundreds of schools, clinics, and thousands of family compounds in Menoua – Cameroon , Central Africa .

4 - Project TSI’IH will be ongoing for as long as needed to serve the more than about 800,000 villagers in great need in Menoua-Cameroon before moving to a different region of the country.

1 –  COLLEGE STUDENTS

  College Students will apply for founding which will enable purchase of drilling equipment to be taken to Cameroon by the group(s) and at least one faculty member of each school and Kengmo. They will constitute “The USA Project Team” that will collaborate with a Cameroonian NGO: Baobab International (a community based Non profit organization).

 2 - MENOUA

 Communities in West Cameroon are safe and the people hard working, open minded, respectful, and welcoming. We will use cultural arts to enroll key leaders of every community in ways that they will fully get involved in the project and help facilitate collaboration and insure sustainability of all water wells.

3 - PROJECT TEAM

The US College Students, Kengmo, Baobab International, and community key leaders of each community in Menoua-Cameroon will discuss and agree where the water well will be drilled to better serve the people. 

4 – THE LEARNING PROCESS

Kengmo will coordinate team relations and facilitate communications and understanding among all as students, make history, witness the community appreciation, and learn great lessons from the process and from the community as a whole.

Kengmo and Baobab International will help prepare the community key leaders to take charge of well supervision in their respective community. They will work with their community members to provide hand pumps and the pipes necessary for water wells in their community.

When students go back to USA , Kengmo and Baobab International in collaboration with community key leaders will continue to make water wells until the end of August 2004.  before leaving the continuation of the project to Baobab International.

5 - BAOBAB INTERNATIONAL

BAOBAB INTERNATIONAL is a non-profit community based organization in Baleveng-Cameroon, dedicated to improve the well-being of all people. Goals include teaching Cameroonian youth the wisdom, the philosophies, the culture, and traditions of their ancestors, introducing American, European, Asian, and world audiences to African wisdom, art forms, and history, helping improve healthcare, educational systems, and living conditions and protecting the native environment which has been threatened by uncontrolled modernism. This is accomplished through the efforts of Cameroonian people and their collaboration with local, national, and international organizations and supporters.

This organization was founded by Kengmo and a group of individuals interested in using alternative and creative solutions to preserve and promote the culture, and provide effective, affordable, and sustainable community development in rural Cameroon .

Some responsibilities of Baobab International will be:

a - To identify, contact, and prepare key leaders from at least 5 communities prior to the arrival of the USA project team in Cameroon ,

b - To insure the safety and maintenance of the provided drilling equipment, 

c – To help organize all the logistic for the USA project team including picking up and taking back the team from and to the Cameroonian Airport,  securing lodging, helping for meals, guiding anyone with health issues, and helping coordinate cultural activities and excursions.

d- B.I.T. (Baobab International), along with key leaders of each community involved, will meet and strategize on how to implement the sustainability and the maintenance Plan.

6 – PREPARATION IN USA

Arrangements will be made so that Kengmo and students who are going to Cameroon for the project can learn how to use the drilling equipments before traveling. Kengmo will meet and have deeper informative discussions with students, professor(s) and any administrative personnel involved or interested. Discussions will provide more information on food, economy, life style, weather, landscape, the people, the culture, housing, etc… Communication will be kept open between the team and Kengmo at all times.

Hand-held equipment are affordable but very difficult to move from one location to another, furthermore, the goals will be harder to achieve and take more time, due to the lack of transportation and the very poor conditions of the village roads.

Small truck- mounted drills may seem expensive and require better training, however are more effective and will help achieve the goals set at a faster pace.

Thereupon, we are open to any ways of helping progress on this project.