A week in the life of a Bambui EWB volunteer

Okay so I’ve been utter crap at updating my blog even though we have done some fantastic things this week, but we have so much going on it’s hard to find the time to tell people about it so here goes.

Monday

We had our very first staff meeting (suggested and organised by me) we thought it would be a good idea to keep BAWA updated of what we are doing. We planned to have it in our office thinking it would be two or three people…then more and more turned up until  we had all the BAWA staff, some board members and the chairman all squeezed in our office. But it was a good chance to talk through things. Even if I talk too fast and nobody can understand me. We went through our timetable was and any concerns we had 

Tuesday

We had our very first day off. I know I can here you, everyday is a day off and you only have been working for a week. But let me tell you it is exhausting assimilating to a new culture and constantly thinking about water engineering. So we decided to do some shopping for handcrafted pieces for the new Reignite shop, we went to Ndop a village about 1 hours drive away. There we went to the market, then found this lady who makes hand-woven baskets.

We also went to visit a ceramic production facility, where they gave us a tour round and showed us the traditional way they make the pots and figures. They had an amazing guest house and all their pieces were amazing. If you want to have a look, they also ship to all over the world 

http://prescraft.com/

Then it was the drive home where we stopped off at a waterfall and I had a bit of a paddle to cool my feet.

Wednesday

It was back to work on Wednesday with a boring day in the office. We did bump into the chairman whilst out and about and he came and had lunch with us at our usual. Where you have rice, tomato veg sauce and chicken for around £1.50

Thursday

It was back up to get measurements for the gravel and sand filters and I got to do some mapping of the river using pooh sticks. We all got a bit wet but luckily I brought my wellies to Africa. I got to visit one of the farms for my irrigation and took a soil sample, then it was back home to mess around with it and try and do some testing. I sat outside the house and a few people popped round to find out what I was doing because I must of looked like a crazy person squeezing mud and looking in a textbook.

We also stopped by the quaterheads compound on the way back and I saw my first pineapple plant and the cutest pig. 

Also during the night there was lots of banging of drums and singing just around midnight, which was down to the Kwifor. The Kwifor is a secret society of Bambui people who monitor the region, nobody knows who they are but they have greater power than the King and have on occasions sacked the reigning Fon. We still don’t know what they were saying.

Friday

So today we were doing our final walk around the mini cities, new apartment blocks that are being created to meet the demand from the new university being built in Bambui. This was mostly for Chris work on sanitation as many of these complexes have a small septic tank leading to a soak away. However the soakaway pits are far too close to the buildings and they have too small a capacity for the people. 

So that's all folks :D

Field Visit Day 2

So the second field visit was to see the other two water sources for the irrigation project. These were a lot more remote and as you can see from the pictures required some serious trekking.

At the first stream, they had created a rudimentary dam using sandbags but they wanted to build a more substantial one linked to an intake chamber. This is where my GPS machine came in handy as I could take altitude measurements. So we could tell if the damn needed to be higher, although it may be more difficult, if there wasn’t enough pressure at this location.

I just want to add how easy it was to fall over as most of the floor was covered in leaves and debris, you can see below me looking up for picture, not looking at the floor and me almost falling over 

All I could think of during this is that we were just visiting the sites, if construction was to take place material and pipes would have to be transported to these locations. However there was talk of using the rocks around as building materials to reduce the amount needed to be transported to site.

Then it was more jungle walking to reach the second water source

We also visited the farm that belonged to the BAWA technician who accompanied us on these site visits. He seemed very happy with the opportunity to grow during the dry season. Whilst we were there we discussed the different types of irrigation systems that can be used in the farms. I worry that there won’t be a fit all approach as all the farms are set up differently. Also location altitude etc. will be different in each case. 

Finally we were taken to the springs which also form a part of the water supply system for the village. They were describing the measures they take to protect the water sources but I think that the area which needs to be improved in monitoring as many of these places will revert back to farm land if they are not protected, threatening the quality and quality of the water supply. 

Finally after all this engineering here is a picture of me with some giant papayas :D Which I usually have for breakfast, it’s very strange to see most of my food growing around me. I have yet to see a pineapple farm but I’m looking forward to it

Field Visit day 1

 So tired!

So this weekend we have been off visiting the different locations for my proposed irrigation water capture sites. This would have been easy if they weren't in the middle of nowhere! The first stop was the intake chamber for one of the water sources for the community.

There Mr Crythantus showed me his ideas for where he wanted the new system to be built to harvest water for the farms.

It utilises a simple damning technique where the natural flow of the stream is slowed and allowed to settle, then a pipe siphons water away from the river and houses it in a chamber, which is then attached to a pipe for transport.

The pipe borne irrigation system will be used for typical farms, as shown below. As at the moment, due to poor access to water during the dry season, many farmers don’t plant for half the year missing out on revenue and food.

Whilst we were walking I was using my GPS system to mark where each of the water treatment and storage was located. As currently they are using a rudimentary map based on the Bambui quarters

From this I was able to create a cross section for the water supply system using altitude Vs distance

This shows the head between the different points and will allow calculations to be made for the distribution capacity of the water, as the land here consists of many hills and valleys.

I’ve added some pictures of the terrain we had to cross to get access however this was quite easy going compared to today’s walk :D

A traditional Bambui experience

How can I describe today...

We started at the office at 9am, where I began the task of organisation using large sheets of paper and drawing up our plan for the week 

Then we had the BAWA chairman coming to hear our presentation on our plan of work, we have been giving them individually to the most influential people in the village starting with Mr Crythantus. He seemed very happy with what we were saying although I started talking too fast.

Then we came home and set out for the palace at 12.40 for our 1pm meeting with the quarter heads, as Bambui is split into 36 quarters. They are on Africa time so turned up at 2pm. We gave them our presentation which went down very well. I have to mention that I was the only women in a room of 30 men!

However this coincided with the celebration of the passing of the queens mother so they invited to stay. We were given drinks and luckily they had Fanta.

After this they started to just talk as it's very rare that you get so many quater heads in one location. They were discussing issues from their quarters, all of this was done in local dialect.

then things started to get weird.  At one point a juju came in who acts as the royal jester and we were taken outside to see the traditional death celebrations. This was very odd, it consisted of the king hitting a man with chickens and spitting wine on him. 

Then we returned and had catucatu chicken. Where during the earlier meeting a chicken was brought into the room and it was sitting under the bench. After the meeting whilst we were all talking it was taken, slaughtered and cooked and brought back where they lay them on a stone and palm leaves and cut the chicken with a machete , bones and all. It was then placed in a mixture of spices and was served to us on palm leaves with foo-foo a type of corn mash and green vegetables. This was all eaten by hand. 

We finally left at 5.30 after been invited to visit all the quaterheads, which is a great honor.

On another strange note I was also offered a child, to take to England, I politely declined even though I’m sure they meant it as a joke. Also she doesn't look to impressed about the idea too :D

An amazing Bambui man

So today I had the pleasure of meeting on of the most interesting men I have ever encountered, his name is Pa Bonu. As a dedication to his golden jubilee of 50 years of marriage he wrote a brief biography of his life, which he shared personally with us today.

He doesn’t know when he was born as his parents were illiterate but working from his baptism certificate he took the date as 30^th December 1932 making him 87 years old. He was lucky enough to go to school for 8 years a great achievement in this time and went on to train for an additional 3 years to become a teacher, and later a Headmaster. He married his wife at 27 and had their first baby called Abongmechi meaning “knowledge is better than strength”. He had seven children and educated them all. As well as sponsoring the education of some of the most influential people in Bambui and Cameroon today. He was awarded a scholarship to come to reading university in the UK to study agriculture and here is where he learnt about bee keeping, he didn’t know that they could be reared and cared for like other animals, and brought this knowledge and a selection of second-hand  books to help the Bambui people to start bee keeping. After starting a successful teaching course on bee keeping he retired in june 1991 when I was just 4 months old. He also helped set up water protection centres and help lay the pipes that now bring water to the main city of Bambui.

This incredibly man is an inspiration to all Cameroonian people about the importance of education. He is also an avid study of anthropology and has compiled information on 300 years of Bambui traditions which was turned into a book. He is one of the first people here to talk about the limitations tradition places on development. He talked about the reluctance of people to marry outside their tribes as they are afraid they will lose property and belongings but he also talked about cross pollination and how it strengthened flowers and crops, this is true for people as well. He said that people who marry relations will go on to study arts subjects not sciences which are better, this especially made me laugh. I brought from England some bee friendly flowers to encourage his bees to produce more honey, and bring a little bit of England to Bambui.

The word of the week is "Welcome!"

So I have finally made it to Cameroon and baring a slight mishap, where Chris missed his connection in Paris, we made it to Bambui (only 1 day late). We are having slight problems with the internet as a storm knocked down one of the towers but it’s being slowly fixed, as they say in “African time” which will probably be 2 weeks. We have also been rushed off our feat with everyday a new meeting. On my arrival it was meeting Mr Jude and Mr Polycarp two presidents of quarters in Limbe and Douala. I have also visited the king AKA the Fon, the police, the Brigade(more police), the lord mayor Mr Sofa etc. As well as meeting all the team from BAWA the Bambui water authority.

When we are not on the road (which is very bumpy) we are in the house. Everything is much bigger and spaced out here, but somehow it’s still warm and inviting. Teresa and Fernando are like a work mum and Dad. They look after us and cook all our meals. They have been giving us tours round the village. The food here is great. Everything is fresh and the meals have been amazing. I have a very nice bedroom and my own bathroom, I am really enjoying sleeping under a mosquito net. However there are no hot showers so I’m washing with a kettle and jug.

We went for a tour around the office where we will be working this summer which is basic but the people are so enthusiastic and innovative with what they have that I’m sure it will be fantastic. I feel like a foreign dignitary, everywhere we go we are giving a speech and introduced with shaking hands and welcomes. When we leave we also have to shake hands. We gave them a british flag which will be erected outside the office to show our partnership. There have been so many photos of us going about our work. 

We have had our first meeting where we sent out our plan for the 3 months, and it seems like we have no time at all! Hopefully I will be able to keep up with everything and be able to post photos soon 

At the airport

So i've managed to check in, at the right airport on the right day. As someone who hasn't done a lot of travelling solo this is a big deal. My loving brother and Dad drove me to the airport and hung around till it was time to check in. Surprisingly there wasn't any teary goodbyes, just my dad yelling at me to contact them every 3 days, limitted internet access means nothing to him :D so just a shot hop over the pond to Paris and then meeing up with Chris. So far so good :D