visit to Muyuka

After Kumba, we went to the nearby small town of Muyuka. We connected with Meg, our RELUFA contact for the trip, and drove in her truck to visit Michael and Agnes.  They founded and run an organization called Domec that provides help and training for orphans, widows and people living with HIV. Meg has known them for awhile, and they may be applying for a loan from the CAP program we work with, so we were there to meet them and get material so Ann can write an article.

Michael and Agnes started Domec on their own, and do a lot of work in different areas to help people out. Here are some pictures of their work, and of Domec's clients. Once again, we found ourselves received with kindness and hospitality. The adults were friendly, eager to explain their activities, and talk about the adversity their clients work to overcome. They kids were shy and quiet, and curiously followed us around everywhere on our tour. Everyone seemed happy to share their story. Ann's articles are for the Joining Hands newsletter, and/or the RELUFA website (see links in sidebar at right), and we will post them here as well.

I've tried again to share the faces of some of the people we've met, in spite of the small size of these images. So there are quite a few pictures this time.

Ann, Meg, and Meg's truck.  This was a pleasant change after the bus ride to Kumba.  The road between Buea and Kumba, where Muyuka lies, has not been fixed in 20 years, we heard.  It looks as though it's been shelled by artillery, and is unpaved and really dusty.

Domec's sign.

Domec teaches sewing.  Their program is three years long, and teaches several practical skills.  This is unusual here; we have been told that formal schooling basically prepares people for civil service jobs, of which none are available.

Ann and Michael.

The computer lab at Domec, where kids learn typing and computer usage.  That chalkboard describes what a mouse is and how to use it.  Seeing this in the US, I would have immediately asked myself why there are not more machines here.  I'm a programmer by trade, and I know how easy it is to find used computers in the US.  People in San Francisco actually dump them by the side of the road from time to time, just to get rid of them.  But that's not the problem.  The problem would be to get them here.  Muyuka is far up a bad and dusty road in a corner of Cameroon.  And first you'd have to get them into the country, which would be very expensive, for transport and then taxes.  And once they're here, the heat and especially the omnipresent dust in this part of the country would mean they wouldn't last very long.  

Domec does lots of agricultural training.  This is where they raise snails, which the residents eat for protein.  There is also a piggery, but the pigs all got sick and died, so it is empty for the moment.

Domec's tree nursery.  The plastic-covered frame contains saplings.

Michael explaining something on our tour.

The sign painted on the side of the boys' dormitory building.  

Ann sees her first growing pineapple.  It's the brown knob on the top of the plant she's staring at.

Michael explains how Domec trains the students in agricultural grafting techniques.  Citrus fruit is grown by grafting branches from an existing tree onto another plant, sometimes a different kind, itself grown from a cutting.  This particular tree, Michael is explaining, will produce both lemons and oranges.  They also grow grapefruit, and gave us some to take with us.  Like the pineapple in Cameroon, the grapefruit is not acidic, but mild and sweet.
 

Domec's yam cultivation project.  This is a bed of damp woodchips in a shed.  They purchase yams, then cut them into small pieces and put them in the woodchip bed.  These pieces develop into full-grown yams, which can then be sold at a profit.

A group photo out front, before we left.  The top row, from left, is Meg (our RELUFA contact), Agnes (who started Domec with Michael), four clients, and Michael.  The kids in front of Ann are all students.  The little one in pink trailed around with Agnes the entire visit, so we assumed she was a family member.

Ann and a lady who is living with HIV and runs the program there for women in her situation.  She has several children, who also live there.  We saw pictures of how she looked a year ago, ill and emaciated.  She has made a wonderful recovery since then and is in good health.  

Michael and me.

Students.

The lady who runs the program for women with HIV.

Michael again.

Micahel's wife Agnes, cofounder of Domec.  She insisted we have some drinks before we left, and that we take a bag of their grapefruit with us. 

Agnes's companion throughout our tour.

Some of the ladies look on as Ann gets an explanation of where pineapples come from.

Some of the kids whose mothers are in the women's program.  Many of these children, says Ann (who worked with HIV clients in the Bay Area for years), are probably themselves positive.

More kids with mothers in the women's program.

Students trying not to laugh.  I sternly insisted that everyone be serious for the picture, to try to make them smile.

Some of the ladies from the women's program.

Michael and Meg.  Meg's organization in Buea, called CHAMEG, is a RELUFA member NGO.  Except for the trip to Kumba, we went almost everywhere with Meg, although she left us alone for interviews with loan clients so that people wouldn't feel pressured.  She took good care of us.