cameroon ekondo nenerainforest projects

90 people enjoy Cameroon Meal

2011-08-20T13:14:00.001+01:00

This year's Cameroon Meal fund-raiser was a great success. We raised £900 from the meal tickets and raffle. Ifa and an enthusiastic team worked hard to produce an array of traditional dishes and there was a real buzz in the beautifully decorated Dartington village hall as people met up and chatted with new and old friends. Thank you to all who came and contributed, in particular those who helped with preparingand serving food and clearing up afterwards.

Cameroon Meal on Saturday 16th July

2011-06-24T18:04:00.000+01:00

This is an invitation to eat and party with friends and family at Dartington Village Hall on the 16th July from 7p.m.onwards. Tickets for a meal with dessert and non-alcoholic drink are £7.50. There will be a raffle and music. Please come along and help people and forest in Cameroon.
R.S.V.P. to Rosie and Ifa on 01803 868384 if you are interested and book your meal.

Jumble Sale 2011

2011-06-24T17:58:00.000+01:00

Our fund-raising effort in May was very successful, raising £700 towards this year's visit to Ekondo Nene.
Thank you to all those who helped on the day and to those who contributed jumble and cakes. It was fun too!!

Fund-Raising 2011 Any Ideas Welcome!

2011-03-28T13:51:00.000+01:00

Spring is here and it's time to start fund-raising for Ekondo Nene Rainforest projects!
This year we need to raise £4,000 for maintenance of boundaries of conserved forest land, support of Hotpec Orphanage, distribution of mosquito nets and provision of ongoing education support and maintenance for a number of children.
Ideas so far include: A jumble sale at the Methodist Church Hall, date to be confirmed , a fund-raising breakfast, a ceilidh, a salsa evening, an african meal with entertainment, a musical cabaret, and a talk by Ifa. All to be arranged and dates confirmed . Please get in touch if you can help in any way!
Rosie-01803868384

Land Registration Completed Successfully 2010. Children continue to make good progress

2010-08-29T14:17:00.003+01:00

We made it!!!£5000 target reached!!!
Thanks to donations and support from family,friends and Totnes community the land registration project in Ekondo Nene has been completed successfully and children in our care assisted in schooling.
Ifa returned on 18th August from another challenging 4 week visit to Ekondo Nene during the rainy season during which he assisted in sinking concrete pillars in the rainforest to mark boundaries for land for registration and completed the required legal processes. It is now illegal to cut down any timber or exploit the land in any way and villagers, particularly the women were delighted that they will still be able to collect nuts, fruits, roots and kindling from the area. Other villages also offered land for registration for the same purposes and we will be looking into sources of funding which may be available for this.
Mary is doing very well at school and reports highlight what a resourceful, cheerful and popular child she is. She seems to know everyone at the Baptist boarding school of 800 by name and has a range of friends who have become her family. Eyo is recovering from malaria and typhoid and has worked the land in Mbonge formerly worked by his grandmother and is making a living from growing plantains and doing small mechanic jobs around the area. Misha has recovered movement in his arm and grown a lot taller. Arrey has become a christian and is hoping to become a minister one day. Emamanuelle is still teaching, Nawa is preparing for her 3rd year at secondary school, Levis is still crafting pots and Hugo still needs care as he suffers from the after effects of cerebral malaria. A number of other children were helped with small donations towards schooling, medicine or clothing and Ifa contributed a number of sacks of sand for building an extension at Hotpec Orphanage. Grace Mesembe and the Catholic Women's League were delighted to receive another contribution towards their essential work providing food and cleaning for for prisoners in Kumba Prison.
Thank you again for the fantastic support we have received. It has all made a big difference to individuals in South West Cameroon.

Cameroon Meal 2010

2010-08-29T12:54:00.000+01:00

Another enjoyable Cameroon Meal at Dartington Hall raised over £500 this year. Ifa, Ray, Roseanna, Frankie, Heather, Ben, Fembe, Jan, Luke, Evie, Barabara, Philip and a number of last minute volunteers for washing up contributed to a relaxed and fun evening. Thank you everyone who came along. Every effort is appreciated.

2010-04-27T18:20:00.012+01:00

Siga la Salsa Cameroon Dance Benefit 2010
The Salsa Fund-Raising Dance Event with live band Siga la Salsa and DJ Jon on 22nd May was a great evening. We raised £1,300 in total, so now we are only £2000 away from our target for this year. Thank you to Kevicc, to all the helpers, the students, teachers and dancers for making it such a lovely evening.

2010 Land Registration Appeal.

2010-04-16T21:55:00.003+01:00

This year's fund-raising has focused on raising £5000 to enable Ifa to register a 6 mile square area of rainforest land traditionally belonging to the village of Ekondo Nene so that it remains in trust for the village as a conservation area.
Following a deal, signed in 2009, more than 3,000 hectares of Ekondo Nene forest land has already been ‘handed over’ to Pamol by the village chief acting ‘on behalf’ of the villagers. Pamol, now a national company, have been operating in Cameroon since the 60's and their extensive palm oil plantations are replacing the last remaining forest lands in this area and changing livelihoods forever. The villagers, formerly hunter gatherers and traders, have been promised a school and a medical centre as part of the agreement. Logging of 1,000 hectares has already taken place and so far no medical centre or school has been built. In 2001 when we visited Ekondo Nene the elders and village regent chief agreed to set aside 1,300 hectares (5 sq. miles aprox.) for conservation. However, land must be registered legally if we are to help protect it from the 'land grab'. Surveying of the conservation has already started and Ifa will complete the registration process during his visit this August. We will continue to support Mary, Arrey, Eyo, Nawa, Emanuelle, Misha, Levis, Ellisha and Hugo in training and eduaction as well as contributing to Hotpec Orphanage's efforts in improving buidings and facilities.

JUMBLE SALE FOR CAMEROON April 2010

2010-04-05T16:04:00.007+01:00

The jumble sale for Cameroon held at the Methodist Church Hall, Fore Street,Totnes on Sturday 24th was really successful. Thank you for your donations of jumble. Thank you everyone who supported on the day and made it such an enjoyable event. We made £490!!!
All profits will go to children in need in Cameroon and the Land registration appeal.nanjirowe@ukonline.co.uk Donations to : Money for Cameroon (Ekondo Nene Project)
We operate as a small local charity following the Charity Comission guidelines.

2010-03-03T18:03:00.006Z

2009 Making links with the orphanage in Buea . Pamol begins logging around Ekondo Nene.

2009-12-29T20:17:00.003Z

This visit focused on supporting children in need, providing moquito nets for villagers, supplying mattresses for local clinics, setting several people up in small businesses and making a link with Hotpec orphanage in Buea with a view to providing some ongoing support. Pamol have also secured a deal with the chief in Ekondo Nene since Ifa's last visit and logging of village forest land is now changing life and livelihoods forever.
http://illegal-logging.info/approach.php?a_id=67
See archive for full story Link at bottom of page

2008 The elephant is moving. Children continue to do well in South-West Cameroon

2009-12-29T16:09:00.003Z

Memories of this year's fund-raising efforts centre on the vision of Frankie's paper-maché elephants, created to collect money to support Mary's transition to secondary school in Buea. Mary showed great courage as she travelled back to Kumba (100 miles) to sit her primary school exams and then travelled back to Buea. A short time later, she received notification of her fantastic exam results, enabling her to get a place at the boarding school in Buea.
See archive for full story Link at bottom of page

2006 and 2007 Direct support for children, provision of training , mosquito nets and beds for local clinics

2009-12-29T15:16:00.002Z

In 2006 and 2007, we continued to provide for the needs of young people in our care with funds for schooling, apprenticeship schemes and basic living expenses. In 2007, Mary, aged 10, moved to Buea to complete her primary school and then move on to the Baptist boarding School there where friends can keep an eye on her progress. Arrey was sponsored for a year at St. Joseph's boarding school in Buea, near his younger sister, by the Julian School in Rossshire, Scotland. There were difficulties in coping for some of the children and over the next two years we admired their strength in adversity and watched them navigate turbulent waters in townships without more than basic support.
See archive for full story Link at bottom of page

Caring for children 2005 and 2006

2009-12-28T16:17:00.002Z

In 2005 and 2006 a number of children directly related to our family here in Totnes need our support following the deaths of their parents.In November, 2004, Ifa's brother, Wilson, died after a prolonged illness leaving behind his wife who has cerebral malaria and six children. Then in July, 2005, we heard that his sister Angela was very ill. Four months later, in November, she also passed away.
See archive for full story Link at bottom of page

2001-2004 Beginning of the Journey. Building a well.

2009-12-28T16:08:00.005Z

In November 2001, our family waved goodbye to our home in Totnes and headed to the airport and our flight to Cameroon and then, once there to the rainforest area of Ekondo Nene (Ekondo means world and Nene means great). It was an opportunity for our daughters to see where their father had grown up and where their grandfather had been chief until his death a few years earlier. It was also our intention to start a project there as local villagers had asked for our help.

Ekondo Nene is a rainforest village near Mt. Cameroon in the south-west region of Cameroon, West Africa. The rain forest here is hot and humid and hardwood evergreen trees including ebony, mahogany, obeche, dibetu and sapeli grow to more than 300 ft. There are large numbers of orchids and ferns and a host of medicinal plants, tubers, nuts, twine and palm trees. The forest is inhabited by many different species of primates: green monkeys, chimpanzees and mandrills as well as rodents, bats and rare birds – from tiny sun birds to giant hawks and eagles. The river Ewu Ya Ebonge (meaning bowl or basin) runs to the west of the area, joined by streams and seasonal rivers.

Ifa returned to Cameroon in May 2002 to organise the sinking of a well in Ekondo Nene, as requested by villagers on our previous visit. It was a tremendous effort. The well shaft was 15metres deep and the well workers who were very experienced had to go through solid rock, 2 metres deep in places.

The tools used for digging and clearing rock were shovels, buckets and two steel rods. String and weights were used for plumb lines and strength and skill were the other essential requirements. To soften the rock, old tyres were brought from the nearest township and burnt through the night down the well shaft. The following day, the well diggers cleared out the bottom of the shaft and managed to break up the rock and haul pieces up to the surface. Concrete rings to line the shat were cast on site from local sand.

The following year, during his visit to Cameroon, Ifa researched suitable, durable pumps and in 2004 after a fantastic local fund-raising effort a pump was installed and the well completed. A few of the younger villagers were trained in maintenance of the pump. At the time of this visit reports were confirming an increase in logging in the region and Ifa presented his proposal for the registration of forest as a conservation area to the local chief.
See archive for full story Link at bottom of page