Fun in the city

What an amazing start to the week!

Monday we had the opening of the Ecotourism and Craft center. This was great as it was one ceremony that had nothing to do with us so no impromptu speeches where required. 

Dancing by the Youths 

Traditional flags were used in the performance

It was really interesting firstly I met a guy called nelson who is on the Agroforestry committee he wanted us to come visit his nursery. He was also one of the most touchy feely men I’ve met here. But on a plus note it seems Cameroonian men are about the right size for me 

Me and Nelson

Today we went to Bamenda to do some shopping, we were taken by one of the fons son Kizitor who as well as being a prince drives a taxi. Also again just the right height. 

Me and Kizitor

The whole city was so noisy and busy, however it was surprisingly clean and apart from the occasional cry of "white man" we were left to wander and not hounded too much.

Commercial avenue, Bamenda

We saw a great master at work in Kizitor, who refused to let us pay full price for anything. Also he had a great local knowledge so took us to this amazing stall in the market place where there was a man who made traditional crafts 

Traditional craft stall

I was very tempted by one of the juju masks but I didn't think I could pull it off.

Juju mask used to bring good luck and ward off bad spirits 

For lunch we went to this nice restaurant that had as their special greek salad and had cappuccinos! We of course left and found a back ally where we had rice and meat like any good Cameroonian. On our way back we headed up the mountains where we could see one of the waterfalls, 

Waterfall

and after a bit of a climb a panoramic view of the city 

the climb

Bamenda

We finished off the day by eating fresh coconut and showing off our new purchases to Teresa and Fernando. 

Second Day off

For our second day off in Bambui, we decided to take another trip to the neighbouring villages on our search for African crafts for the new reignite shop, which opens this Monday.

We found this old man who makes picnic baskets, it’s amazing what people make and it’s just sitting on a poll outside their house by the side of the road.

Then we continued to Fundong  (from around Bamenda) where we decided to see the palace. The previous Fundong Fon was famous for having 100 wives.. The palace is situated on the top of a mountain, a good strategic position but very difficult to access. Whilst we were climbing we encountered some villages herding cattle with horses, the horses were terrified of the car so we had to stop and pull over whilst the horses where dragged past. When we finally reached the palace we were met by a queen who asked if we had anything for the king… we had totally forgot so used the baskets we had brought earlier that day and then we bought some alcohol from the queen to put in. I also had to borrow a strip of fabric from the queen to use a skirt as I was wearing trousers which I couldn’t wear in front of the Fon.

The palace was amazing, really old and had lots of wooden carvings all over the place. We were taken to this courtyard to meet the Fon who was sitting down. He was very old at least 80-90 years old meaning he was probably the son of the Fon with 100 wives. He only spoke pigeon so we had to use one of his wives as a translator. He then invited us to sit down and share some food…. And hour and a half later we had something to eat. The whole time we were in silence, or near to it. It was a very strange experience sitting still for an unspecified time, at one point I thought there was smoke coming down but it was actually a cloud moving over the compound, as we were so high up. We finally left after a photograph, and a promise to tell our Fon we had met as they are old friends. He told us he would hit our king when he saw him as they were very old friends.

First Farm Visit

This week I visited Atunibah to see some of the farms that are working during the dry season. The first person I met was Ameil, who has been a farmer for 7 -8 years and is actually the younger brother of the BAWA manager Mr Valentine who is 1 of 20 siblings! When he is not farming he is at the University of Bamenda studying accountancy. Their parents farm maize during the wet season and then he farms perishable garden vegetables during the dry season.

I was intrigued to see how they managed to get water to the plants during the dry season. Firstly they built a canal that brings water from the streams up in the mountains to a river near the farms. Then they will damn this river and move the water into a series of hand dug channels which direct the water to the farms.

Stream from uplands canal

Canal to farms

canal to farms 

When the water reaches the farms it floods the lower sections and is transferred to the hills by a plate, making it very inefficient.

I talked about the two different options of sprinklers and a pipe doing drip irrigation and they seemed to favour the pipe borne irrigation as they say one of their problems is the expensive pesticides they use and when it rains they have to apply this more frequently. 

pesticides

Ameil took us to his nursery for the tomato plants, this is next to the compound. The beds are covered by leaves to stop the heavy rain damaging the plants. They will be ready to plant in November ready for the dry season.

Nursary

I then met Mr Tangang Rene who has been farming for 17 years. He told me about some of the land that has to have been abandoned for 3 years as nothing can grow. This is an issue when similar crops are grown year after year. He told me that all the farmers live near the farmland meaning that they can get to the farms easier. They visit the farms everyday, even on country Sunday when farming activity is prohibited. On that day they simply look at the crops to see if everything is okay. This is good news for my project as I was worried that the days off would affect the irrigation schedule for the plants.

We also visited a plantain farm, the trees are so big and separated that they tend not to irrigate during the dry season and the trees die. 

Plantain farm

New Plantain tree

 We met another farmer named Victor he had been farming for 3 years growing tomatoes and huckleberry. The maize on the farm had recently been harvested and he was preparing the farm for the new crops.

Victors Farm

After this a group of farmers turned up to answer some of my questions about farms. There was; (left to right) Madam Teresa who is a BAWA board member, Victor who has been farming for 3 year, Zavier who had been farming 3 years, Adof who had been farming 8 years, Kisitor my driver, Elise who had been farming for 7-8 year, Rene who had been farming for 17 years, Julius who has been farming 6 years Lisi Crythantus who had been farming 4 years

Farmers

They brought up some of the following issues;

·         The youths have is that they don’t have any land to farm. The land that they use belongs to their parents who grow during the wet season so the only income they have is for 4 months in the dry season.

·         There is other land available but they will be in areas where there is no stream to bring water. This is where my project will come in we need to be able to provide access to water for these areas during the dry season so that more land can be used for farming.

·         Although they use fungaside and pesticides, but they have been having problems with insects damaging the ripe fruits, they think it’s white fly.

·         They say the soil is good but it is expensive to buy manure to fertilise the land and improve crop yields, this could be a good cross over point for Chris project as the human waste when treated can be used as a fertiliser. If you could install composting toilets in these compounds near the farms it could work out well.

·         They were all members of BASSUG the Bambui farmers association, this means that they get to share their knowledge about crops and issues. They have a meeting every week and they all said how useful they found it.

·         They also said they have a problem with the volume of water during the dry season as there is enough water but they can only water one farm at a time because there is not enough volume. I suspect there is a lot of water lost as the beds of the channels which are mainly just cut out from earth and they travel very far leading to absorption by the ground. Also there could be water lost by evaporation during the dry season.

·         They also were facing problems with the markets, they say that the transport of the crops they get damaged and it’s very expensive. Also although they have good quality products, the market is swamped with cheaper lower quality crops which people tend to buy meaning that they can’t sell all of their crops. They are interested in ways to preserve their crops or make use of the damaged crops. 

What I have learnt from my time in Cameroon

So I’ve been here almost a month so I think it’s time to share some information I have learnt from my time in Cameroon. What I miss most from England and what I don’t miss at all :P

15 things I have learnt about Cameroon

1.      Oranges are green. It still throws me off every single time

2.      Everyone will tell you “you are welcome”, and actually mean it

3.      There is no such thing a road safety, or car maintenance. If it has a windscreen with no cracks, tires and lights it’s a good taxi. Also forget about seatbelts or minimum number of passengers I Once saw 6 people and 2 kinds in one 5 seat car!)

4.      Anything can be carried by a taxi or bike. I swear on one day I saw a motorbike carrying another motorbike!

5.      Food shopping means driving down a road and then stopping when you see someone selling what you want.

6.       Always wash your hands after handling money, always. All small notes are dirty and they smell odd.

7.      Being full/not thirsty isn’t allowed. If someone offers you food or drink you take it smile and say thank you, even if you are so full you think death is coming quickly.

8.      Horns are used far too much, they will honk at you if you are walking as if to ask “would you like a taxi” or if a car is there to say “hey I’m driving here” or sometimes for no good reason at all. It made me jump every time for the first week.

9.      Lights and water aren’t constant; you just work with what you have. Even if that means having a cold shower in the dark because the power is out and you can’t boil a kettle.

10.    You see the food you eat, growing, walking around or on trees. Sometimes they are in the same room. For example when we had cati cati chicken the chicken was chilling in the room till it was removed and an hour later we had our lunch

11.    The weather is unpredictable, you need sunglasses and an umbrella at all times.

12.    When people here your from England they will start talking about when they went to Germany or Norway, to them Europe is all the same place…I suppose it’s payback for us saying Africa :P

13.    No one has any concept of time, someone will say good morning to you at 3pm. And if people are less than 1 hour late it’s not bad.

14.    The clothes are amazing, there is no such thing as dressing for occasion (apart from traditional rituals) people will wear a full on going out dress during the day. People mix colours like crazy and the hairstyles use lots of colour too.

15.    There is no right side of the road, there is only the path that avoids the most potholes even if that means driving on the wrong side of the road with other cars coming towards you.

Top 5 things I miss from England

1.     Carpets – I really miss having carpets so that you don’t have to wear shoes all the time

2.     Cheese and onion Crisps – you can get pretty much anything here but there are no crisps  

3.     Cheese – there is no cheese anywhere, however we did manage to find dairylea triangles and it was EPIC

4.     Bacon – they have pigs but nobody has bacon.

5.     Flat roads – the roads here are bumpy, like riding a bull bumpy.

(Obviously my friends, family and zac (my dog) are at the top of the list but that’s just a given)

Top 5 things I don’t miss from England

1.     Having to cook- I haven’t cooked anything here, all my food is prepared for me

2.     Having to do washing – All my washing is done for me and ironed and folded and placed outside my door (although that does happen when I’m home)

3.     The stress – Here there is no rush for anything, you have complete freedom (apart from actually having to produce a report by the end of three months)

4.     Public transport – there is no public transport so everywhere you either walk or get a lift.

5.     The British scenery- now don’t get me wrong there are some beautiful places in England even in Sutton Coldfield and Birmingham but  the scenery around here is amazing. Every time you go anywhere you see the mountains and hills and the lushness of the earth. The buildings have great architecture and the people are so colourful and welcoming. 

Typical Work Day

So all I seem to be commenting on are the exciting outings/work days. So I thought I would let you know what a typical day is like. (yes I know how boring lol)

So every morning I wake up to Damion my pet rooster running to my room to crow, this is usually around 6 am. Unless it’s a special occasion I usually go back to sleep till 7 or 7.30. 

My room, messy even in Cameroon :P

My bed and mosquito net

I then get up, find my way out from under my mosquito net and put on my flipflops (as with no carpet your feet get really cold)

I then wander into the lounge where my breakfast awaits, it’s usually fresh fruit and toast or bread, even cake! And homemade jam and honey :D 

It appears like this everyday, i just turn up and eat

Then I get ready and me and Chris walk into work. We normally see a million people all who like to say good morning. 

The view from the house

Then when we get into the office, we set up, check the calendar I set up to see if we need to add change anything, then it’s just work or occasionally talking to other people around the office. 

We work till 12pm Then it’s off to 4 corners for some food, it’s very basic there seems to be a lack of nutrition. For people who grow an amazing variety of vegetables and fruit the basics are beans rice, and meat. A meal for two ranges from 700 CFA - 1500 CFA which is about £1.00-£1.50.

Chicken, red sauce and rice at Horizons

Plantain, rice and goat? 

Then it’s back to the office, which normally closes at 2.30. 

BAWA

So we head back to the house and report back to Fernando and Teresa what we have been up to. 

Dirt track to the main road

Main road

Main road

Our Corner shop at the CHS junction

The dirt track to the house

Our House 

Then it’s work or reading till dinner at 7pm. Then we usually have chats till about 9 ish. Then it’s a shower using; a boiled kettle, a bucket of cold water and a jug. Surprisingly it works fine. 

My bathroom 

Then it’s off to bed at 10pm. 

The week normally goes like this punctuated by visits and meetings, and the occasional day off.

Back to basics engineering

So what do you do when you have no equipment and you need to gather technical information? You go old school.

I wanted to find out the flow rate of the stream, so firstly I measured the width of the stream. However as a valuable commodity I wasn’t actually allowed to wander over the stream so my helpful BAWA technician Anthony got to do all the dirty work.

Then we had to measure the depth at intervals across the stream to get a cross section, as the tape measure was no match for the stream this required the use of a stick and then for the deepest section measuring how far the water went up Anthony’s leg. 

Then get the surface velocity, I used pooh sticks and timed how long it too for them to reach the other side of the damn. Then I measure the distance to the damn and how far across the stream the sticks went to get the distance. 

Then it was time for testing my soil sample. I took a handful of soil from one of the farms where the irrigation project will be implemented.  By using my trusty textbooks ‘Soil mechanics’ by G.E. Barnes and ‘Hydrology in Practice’ by Elizabeth M. Shaw I was able to gather some basic soil information like colour consistency even an approximate soil type by observation and feel.  We also managed to calculate void ratio for a fully saturated sample as we measure how much water it took to saturate a 100ml sample of uncompressed soil.

On a funny note, when trying to calculate the flow out of a pipe you can use a simple bucket measurement and stopwatch approach. However make sure that you’re not measuring something that later turned out to be a 28 litres a second outflow with a bucket that has only 12 litre capacity or you’re going to get wet