The Baka are hunter-gatherers living in the Cameroon rainforest. 1 in 5 children die before the age of 5. As their forest is exploited, they are forced to live in roadside villages, where their access to clean water and traditional forest medicines is severely limited. Being some of the poorest people on Earth, they can't afford even basic medicines. We intend to reduce child mortality and improve the general health of the Baka community at Gbine.
For over 20 years there has been a program to relocate Baka from their forest home to roadside villages. Here the Baka's access to both traditional forest medicines and clean water is severely restricted. Child mortality is high, mainly due to easily treated causes such as diarrhoea, and to earn money for basic necessities the only option is hard physical labor in plantations which leads to a high incidence of hernias. In the absence of health facilities any problems in childbirth can be lethal
With your support, we will sponsor a Baka woman to complete her midwife training and work in the Baka community, greatly improving safety in childbirth and the health of babies and young children. We will pay for operations for those who have suffered hernias lifting heavy sacks of cocoa. Through the construction of a clean drinking water system we can significantly improve general health, for young children in particular. We will also ensure the provision of vital medicines such as antibiotics.
Having a midwife in the village will enable knowledge to be passed on to other women as well as providing a role model for girls. Safe drinking water and access to medicines will increase general health, enabling individuals to be more productive members of their community. Our charity is also working to preserve the Baka's sustainable forest lifesyles, which hand in hand with these crucial projects, can help to support the long-term well-being of this unique and gentle indigenous community.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
