By George Abang-Tawoh | Commissioner of APWCR
In our last update, we reported that we had decided to spend the money raised through Global Giving to expand cultivation on the plantation, so that we could increase the yield and hence, our income, while we save and fundraiser for the 4x4 that we know will be the key to maximizing the potential of the plantation and sustaining our human rights work.
Since our last update, we have cultivated, planted and also broken new ground with our human rights work.
On the plantation:
We received £1,619 from Global Giving in two installments in August and November, and this has enabled us to purchase 1200 plantain suckers, together with tools such as cutlasses, gloves, spraying cans and insecticide. Over the last three months, our amazing volunteers have cleared one and a half hectares, dug holes for the planting of suckers, planted 1200 plantain suckers in the newly-cleared area, and clearing the trees from around the planted crops in order to let the light get to them.
The greatest problem that we faced was tree cutting. As you can see from the photos, this is heavy and difficult work. We have previously been forced to do it with our hands and cutlasses, which has often led to injury and strain. Due to the kind donations of people like you, however, this time we were able to hire a sawyer, which made the job much easier and enabled us to focus productively on other tasks.
Last time we updated you, we reported how we had been working with Buy’em Selem, the women’s group working to address local food scarcity. Recently we have been working alongside another local group called Towe Struggling Boys. The group is comprised of students and apprentices, who come together during the holidays to raise money for their school books, school fees etc by doing physical work. They worked alongside our volunteers in rain and shine and, as a result, not only were we able to complete the work, we were able to give them money towards their educational needs. Eko Thomas, one of the young men said “I am proud to be able to pay my school fees through the Global Giving/APWCR plantains project and hope to work for them again during the holidays.”
We are now continually weeding the crops and maintaining the plantation as we raise more funding to clear more of the forest and plant more suckers (planned for the period between April and September 2011).
Our biggest concern at the moment is that we may very soon become victims of our own success. As we move closer to an increased harvest, we are pondering how we are going to transport the plantains the 7km to market? Please, therefore, continue to help us towards our goal of getting a 4X4 vehicle for transportation of our crops. This will also be used for the important work of tracking down children in the border towns and villages in Cameroon. If you have fundraising suggestions or can help us in any way, we would love to hear from you.
Back at the office:
In October, we coordinated the first ever national monitoring programme of the Cameroon police, in partnership with Cleen Foundation (www.cleen.org) and Altus (www.altus.org). We recruited 40 visitors (see photo) to visit 13 police station throughout the country. The stations were assessed for their physical condition, their community orientation, whether they treated people equally, their transparency and accountability and their detention conditions.
It took a great deal of perseverance on our part to obtain governmental authorisation for this work but the project was a big success. Our final report is attached and the detailed results will be soon be published, alongside reports from ten other African countries in Altus’s 2010 Police Station Visit Week Report on its website. This is a very important move in the direction of better relations between community and police and greater accountability.
Summary
We continue to move forward slowly, balancing our plantation work with our human rights goals. We need your support, whether that comes in the form of ideas or funding. Our eyes are still focused on the 4x4 and ways to achieve this before we start to harvest the results of your previous generosity. If you can help APWCR with another donation, then you are helping us to build a better Cameroon, from the bottom up.
Thank you for your interest and support. It means so much,
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