Feeding the hippos

Sometimes, development can be so easy! Our partner organisation RDF is a grass root organisation of Mbororo people, a nomadic tribe. They work mainly for their own community. I admire their passion and commitment, but also their projects.

For example, in one of their communities, there was no access to clean water. So they decided to install a tap where everyone can easily get water from. Once they installed it, they found out that the women of the (mostly traditional Muslim) community would hardly leave the house. They used to go to the river together to carry water and wash dresses. But now that there was water in the community, they didn’t have to go there anymore.

Instead of telling them; well you have clean water now you have no reason to complain, RDF saw a new problem here. The women were not able to meet each other that much anymore, they had to wash their dresses at home.

So, they installed a basin at the water tap where the women can wash their dresses. Sometimes they saw women who came to wash the same dress every day, to be able to meet the other women. But, at the water basin, there was no space to dry dresses. So as soon as the dresses were washed, they had to go home to dry them.

Again, RDF saw the problem and decided to solve it. They put a fence around the tap. If needed, they can tell the men of the village that they did it to keep the animals out (Mbororo people are keeping a lot of cattle). At the same time, the women started to use the fences as a place to dry their dresses. Now, they can spend a lot of time together, they have access to clean water, they don’t have to walk far anymore to reach the river, they don’t have to carry water from very far. But the social aspect of the river has just moved to the tap.

For me, this example shows how simple it can be. But it also shows how important it is to involve the local people. I heard a story from another partner organisation. They work with disabled people and someone in Europe decided to donate a wheelchair for one of their beneficiaries. Very nice of course and people here need wheelchairs.

Where it went wrong is that they sent an electrical wheelchair. Looking at the roads here, this is very difficult to use. And then, no potential beneficiary has access to electricity. And even if they would have, it might be too expensive for them to charge the wheelchair every day. So now they have a wheelchair which no-one can use while many people are in need of a wheelchair.

In Knowledge for Children we call this ‘feeding the hippos’ based on the great Ted Talk of Ernesto Sirolli (the first 5 minutes are great, the rest is of less interest to me). I believe that involving your beneficiaries, following up with them and looking at your projects and its side effects, is the best way. We keep trying!

Season Greetings!

New Year’s Eve 2011. I remember I celebrated that night with my cousin, her husband and some friends. At some point during the night, my cousin told us to write a (practical and possible) wish for 2012 on a paper and burn it in fire so the smoke would take the wish up. According to her, the wish would come true.

I remember my wish very well. I wrote that in 2012, I wanted to find myself a nice job somewhere in Africa. It almost came true, I got accepted to work with VSO in 2012, and although I left only in 2013, I think it still counts.

Now, it will soon be New Year’s Eve 2014. What should I wish for 2015?

I think 2015 will be an interesting year. I hope to continue the work we are doing here. Of course we will continue to donate textbooks to schools. But we also have a lot of new plans. Together with some partners we are trying to organise training for teachers in nursery schools and class one and two of primary school. If it all happens as planned, all over Cameroon over 2500 teachers will be trained and almost 65.000 pupils will benefit from that.

With Knowledge for Children we plan to start our so-called Leadership Program. The aim of this program is to make communities more pro-active, make parents understand why books are so important and get them to be actively involved in the education of their children.

Another program where I expect a lot of progress is the Income Generation Program. We will hopefully train women on some skills like soap making. We are looking at ways to use this also to increase the income of Knowledge for children.

Besides Knowledge for Children, I wish that in 2015 I will be able to keep working as a volunteer with my friends of the Rural Development Foundation. I wish that I could travel around the country a bit and see something more of Cameroon. I wish I will be able to share the beauty of this country with some friends from the Netherlands (Katja, Nima, Narges, Giuseppe, I’m waiting for you!)

I also wish for very materialistic things. I wish for the road to my house to be paved so I can safely walk to work in the rainy season, without fearing a car will hit me because the driver cannot control it anymore, and the dust which is hitting us now will be less. I wish for a constant supply of water. I wish for brown bread or just baguette to come to Kumbo. I wish for a reliable internet connection.

But most of all, I wish all of you a very happy, healthy and interesting new year. I thank everyone for the support I get from you, in whatever way.

I miss my family and friends in the Netherlands, in Benin and in Nigeria, but I am happy to be with my friends here in Cameroon. So maybe I am far, but in my heart I am still with all of you. Thank you for being with me, and I hope to meet you all in 2015!

Silence Kills! Talk to me about HIV and Aids

The first of December is World Aids Day. According to the Cameroonian statistics, about 3% of all Cameroonians live with HIV. UNAIDS is giving different numbers, according to them, 4,5% of all Cameroonians is HIV positive. (To compare, UNAIDS is giving the following numbers: Nigeria; 3,1%, Swaziland; 26,5% and the Netherlands; 0,2%)

Health Scouts of GPS Kiyan

In the North West Region, the hospitals try to test every pregnant woman during her fourth month of pregnancy. If a woman tests positive, they treat her to reduce the chances of the baby to be HIV positive.

Of all the pregnant women who do the test (what is the vast majority) 7,6% is testing positive. This makes me wonder how accurate the numbers of the Cameroonian government and UNAIDS are. Like in many African countries, the taboo on HIV and Aids is big. People don’t get tested. So I am wondering how many people live here who don’t know their status. In the end, these women don’t get infected by themselves…

Knowledge for Children, our partner Rural Development Foundation (RDF) and the two main hospitals in Kumbo came together to celebrate World Aids Day 2014. The hospitals were offering free voluntary counselling and testing. In this way, we hope at least some more people are aware of their status.

Two Health Clubs of Knowledge for Children schools were performing songs and sketches to sensitize people in the market. They sensitize about HIV and Aids, but also against stigmatization and taboo. One of the slogans they used was; ‘Silence kills! Talk to me about HIV and Aids’.

Health Scouts of GS Shisong

I am afraid they are right. Like in the Netherlands, people can receive treatment here for HIV. This doesn’t cure the disease, but allows you to live for long. But people are so scared, maybe especially because of the stigma, that they don’t get tested.

I will never forget the woman I met in Cotonou in 2006. She came to the hospital and told the doctor; ‘I have a problem. I am four months pregnant but my husband doesn’t know I am HIV positive. How do I get a healthy baby, without my husband finding out about my status?’ The taboo, the stigma, is preventing people from talking to their partners. They are scared to take the test, they don’t know their status and infect others.

The stigma is not easy to fight. But I think it is important that we try. Our Health Clubs are a way to make children talk about HIV and Aids, even before they become sexually active. Also for them and their teachers, it is not always easy to talk about HIV. But silence kills, let’s talk about it. Talk to your children, to your family and fight the stigma!

About drivers and teachers

In Kumbo, there are not many white people who drive. And, there are also very few women who drive. So, me driving a car is a strange phenomenon for many people here. So strange that people start shouting when they see me drive a car. If I pass a motorbike, the driver and his passenger(s) start pointing and shouting.

For me, driving in Cameroon is also quite an experience. Within Kumbo it is ok. The roads are not great, but most of them are doable. The road to the main city close by is very fine. Driving to Yaoundé is no problem as long as someone else drives in the main cities.

But, going to rural communities, that is quite an adventure! This week we trained teachers in two very rural communities. The first one was still ok, but reaching the second school was not so easy. The problem in the rainy season is that you don’t see how deep the potholes are as they are filled with water. So often you just hope you can really pass and will not get stuck in the mud.

Even more scary, very narrow paths, with very slippery clay, just enough space for your wheels and a pothole of a meter deep between your wheels. There is not much risk for heavy accidents in these roads, but I am scared to get stuck somewhere in the middle of nowhere! Fortunately, it all went well so far!

After the driving, the next adventure is to train the teachers. I knew not all teachers are very well trained. But still I am shocked. Teachers who think you write best with an a. Teachers who are really surprised when you tell them they should not beat a child with a book. Teachers who only ask questions to the entire class, being totally unaware of slow learners and individual differences. (If you want a child to answer ‘church’ you can ask Mary where she goes on Sunday morning, but Ibrahim will tell you he goes to the market!).

Like in Nigeria, the favourite teaching method is to have the entire class repeating the teacher; say after me; verbs! Again; verbs! Again; verbs! People don’t realise that in that way a child doesn’t learn what a verb is. I have seen that a lot in Nigeria. Classes full of children who can repeat the alphabet, but don’t ask them to come forward and point to p, they don’t know!

In the next few years, Knowledge for Children will focus more and more on training of teachers. Hopefully, at least some of them will get some ideas how to deal with their classes and teach effectively. And hopefully in that way, the children in the rural areas of Cameroon will get better education, will be able to read and write very well and will get many more opportunities in their lives!

Home(s)

Travelling — it gives you a home in a thousand strange places, then leaves you a stranger in your own land - Ibn Battuta

Ibn Battuta lived in the 14^th century. Of course, by that time it was difficult to keep in touch with home. Nowadays, that is easier. But still… I feel a bit similar.

I was in the Netherlands for almost three weeks. It was great to see my family and friends, to play with the dogs, to meet the daughter of my best friend and all the other babies born in the last year. It was nice to be able to enter a shop without the entire staff running to me (‘Chickpeas, is that like chicken?’), to walk in the streets without people shouting and staring at me and to see the great Dutch roads where people actually drive on the right instead of in the middle trying to avoid potholes. It was a culture shock to see white women driving a car or to go to a supermarket and see all these products.

Going to the supermarket was a crazy experience, there is so much choice! (Why do you need to choose between ten types of apples, or ten different spice mixes to cook nasi goreng? I never thought about it, but now I was really wondering why we need so much choice). At the same time, some foods are so much better here in Cameroon. Oranges here taste like oranges instead of water, bananas here smell like banana and avocados are so much bigger, tastier and cheaper here.

But most importantly, it was strange to see how little people smile, how much people complain about small things.  It was kind of weird to walk in town without talking to strangers. It was strange to buy things without having a talk with the lady selling the eggs, tomatoes or oranges.

I remember that when I left Benin in 2006 I quoted a song of the Dutch singer Stef Bos. In Dutch; ‘Diep in het zuiden ligt misschien mijn toekomst, maar ik ben zo bang dat ik het missen zal, het hoge noorden met zijn koude winters en de grijze hemel waar de sneeuw uit valt’.  (Roughly translated; deep in the south might be my future, but I am scared I will miss the north with its cold winters and grey snowy skies). It’s true, I miss the Netherlands while I’m here. But when I am in the Netherlands I also miss my African life.

I think I am home in several places. In the Netherlands, in Benin, in Nigeria, in Cameroon. At the same time, will I be really home anywhere again? I think that wherever I will be, I will miss something. So yes, I am home in different places, but also a stranger at home (wherever that home will be). It seems like these things didn’t change since the 14^th century!

Football

Somewhere in the 1990s, Cameroon played the world cup football. I remember that a lot of Dutch people were really supporting Cameroon. Their players were not paid as much as ours, they didn’t play in European competitions. Most of them were working as mechanics or carpenters and just played football because they liked it.

Now, the world cup is taking place again. Cameroon is participating. But instead of carpenters and mechanics, the players are professionals now. They left Cameroon a day late because they were fighting their national football association about salaries. Most famous player is of course Eto’o (who plays for Chelsea).

Cameroonians love football and the expectations for the national team were very high. Everyone was aware that their group is very difficult (Brazil, Mexico and Croatia) but still. People were hoping for some nice matches. The first match was still fine; they lost but only 1-0. But the second match was a disaster. They got beaten by Croatia with 4-0. Most painful however was the way this happened. I didn’t watch the match myself, but I heard so many stories about it. How they started fighting amongst themselves, how they were misbehaving.

Almost everyone I talk to is so disappointed. Not only about the loss. More about the fact that Cameroon had not scored any goal in five world cup matches. And especially about the behaviour of their players. On Facebook a picture is circulating that asks Boko Haram to bring back the kidnapped girls and take 23 heavily overpaid and misbehaving players instead.

People are ashamed and say; people all over the world see these matches. What would they think about Cameroon now? Many people don’t know anything about Cameroon and now they see this. Now the entire world thinks that this is how Cameroon is, that we are all idiots who fight amongst themselves.

So, just to make it clear; there are apparently some crazy overpaid football profs in the country. But, no, not every Cameroonian is like this! Most Cameroonians I met so far are friendly, nice, sweet and helpful. Most Cameroonians I met so far are working hard to make a living for their families and send their children to school. And most Cameroonians I met so far feel bad about the way their players are behaving. So, no, these overpaid players you see on TV are not representative for Cameroon!

KforC

Knowledge for Children is working in rural primary schools. I grew up in a village in the Netherlands and did attend a rural primary school as well. I am not sure if I had exactly the same opportunities as children in urban schools (especially regarding sports, art, etc.) but I don’t think I was very disadvantaged being in a rural school. We had teachers, we had proper classrooms, we had books, we had computers, we had everything we needed to learn. Some of my classmates were children of farmers, they could still go to school and didn’t have to stay home to help in busy times.

I am getting more and more aware that this is all not as normal as it sounds to us. In many schools where we work, children don’t have the same opportunities as pupils in cities. Their teachers are not qualified, if they are there at all. Textbooks are a rare thing. Classrooms might be in need of renovation. There is often no light or running water. And many children have to help in the farm or market before, after or during school hours.

In short, if you are a child in Cameroon and you are unlucky enough to be born in the rural areas of your country, you are disadvantaged from the very beginning. The chances you have to make it to higher education are low, simply because you don’t have the facilities. It doesn’t have anything to do with your intelligence or motivation, but how will you be able to read and write well if you have no books and your teachers don’t really know how to teach you?

Last week I visited a few private (and very expensive) private primary schools in Douala, the commercial centre of Cameroon. It was quite shocking to see the differences. Books everywhere, computer labs, highly qualified teachers, very nice school buildings. My colleague and I were really wondering if the children in our schools would recognise this as a school. They can’t imagine that something like this also exists.

Knowledge for Children tries to improve the standards of education in the rural schools we are working. We work together with the community, normally represented by the Parent Teacher Association (PTA). We donate textbooks but the community also has to raise money to also buy books. In three years, schools will receive textbooks on word and sound building, English language, French language, mathematics and two more subjects chosen by the school.

We buy books which are officially recognised by the Ministry of Basic Education to make sure the books can really be used in the classrooms. Besides donating books, we also sensitize parents and community members on the importance of education. We try to teach them that they are also responsible for the education of their children and can (and should!) hold the school in account.

In many cases, teachers are not very well trained (the formal study to become a primary school teachers takes nine months!). Therefore we also train teachers, focussing again on literacy. We believe that if teachers can teach better, and use the textbooks effectively, literacy rates will raise.

Besides educational projects we also work on health. Rural children are vulnerable to HIV/Aids and malaria and have little or no knowledge about basic hygiene. In forty schools we are running Health Clubs. These clubs are formed by pupils and work under the motto; ‘good health for quality education’. We train the health scouts and their coordinators (one teacher and one community members) on health issues and on ways how to educate the other children in their school, their parents and the rest of the community on healthy practises like washing hands.

What makes Knowledge for Children very special is that we do everything together with the community. We are not going to give them books which are put in a cupboard and never come out again. Communities have to contribute financially and every time we visit the school to donate books parents have to be there (if not, we are taking the books back to Kumbo).

In this way, we want to make our work sustainable and we can reach these communities that are ready to get things work. By doing so, we hope to prevent that we end up ‘feeding the hippos' (see the first minutes of the movie below).