Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
January 19, 2011
The historic referendum in Sudan hinges on the availability of drinking water for the millions of voters expected to turn out. Recently the Obakki Foundation offered resources to address these needs and a recent article has recognized these efforts.
The state minister for Physical Infrastructure, Joseph Maker Madit, stated that access to water at polling centers is a basic need, adding that a lack of drinking water may impact negatively on the turnout at the polling centers.
Mr. Madit further acknowledged with appreciation a donation from the Obakki Foundation of $100,000 for parts to repair boreholes as well as the staff required to rehabilitate boreholes at polling centers.
This is another example of how your donations are making a huge difference in the world.
January 12, 2011
Obakki Foundation in a feature 3-page spread in the February 2011 issue of Elle Magazine. Now available on newsstands.
January 7, 2011
Treana and Ryan traveled to Sudan in December to visit the Obakki Foundation projects, which are focused on making water available in this drought-ravaged country.
After 22 years of civil war, Sudan is at a historical crossroads: from January 9 – 15th, citizens in the south will vote for their independence from the north. Over 800 thousand displaced southerners have made the journey home and over 3 million additional citizens are expected to vote.
Earlier this week, the Governor of Lakes State declared a water emergency because they could not meet the needs of people arriving at voting centres; many of them had been walking for days and were desperate for water. The situation was only expected to worsen as people would be standing in line for hours in the relentless heat. The referendum will only be valid if a minimum of 60% of the population cast a ballot, which may not happen if the fundamental need of water cannot be met.
The Obakki Foundation immediately met with government officials to discuss how we could help and in the last 24-hours an emergency response plan was implemented. The Obakki Foundation has deployed 11 crews of water technicians throughout the State and released enough funding to implement 40 water pumps over the next five days.
The Governor is thrilled and grateful for the assistance, stating that the Obakki Foundation has responded to the needs of his people in the hour when their needs were most critical. He declared that the success or failure of this referendum was hanging in the balance due to the most universal and basic need: water.
January 5, 2011
Happy New Year everyone,
I’m sorry that it’s been so long since we’ve posted on our blog – our group has been really busy with some amazing new projects and we’ve had some incredible advancement on existing initiatives.
We are going to start posting a few times a week to keep you in the loop of our activities, including journal entries from our most recent trip to the Sudan and project updates from Cameroon.
Thanks to your generous support we were able to complete the following projects in Cameroon in 2010:
- Completed 8 classrooms / 4 schools
- Completed 5 new water pipelines
- Delivered educational supplies to 7 schools
- Phase one completed on a school for deaf children
- Completion of a school and village nursery in Keleung
- Augmented feeding/nutritional/health programs for 130 children
- Provided beds, mattresses and bedding to two orphanages in Buea
- Established a micro-livestock project with pigs and chickens at two orphanages
NEW INITIATIVES:
With endemic drought, water is currently deemed the number one need in Sudan. The Obakki Foundation has started a ‘water’ partnership with the UN and UNICEF and has committed to drilling 200 water wells in Sudan over the next year. With 10 wells successfully completed to date, another 15 have been started, which are due to be finished by the end of February. We have many stories and pictures from our recent trip to Sudan to share with you – so check back often!!
Thank you all for your support. This year is going to be a very exciting one for all of us and we look forward to sharing the projects with you.
Best,
Treana
December 1, 2010
August 21, 2010
Droughts are unheard of in Cameroon, with rainy seasons throughout the country from March to October. During the heaviest rainfall (July – October), many roads are impassible. On our trips, we’ve seen young children braving overflowing rivers by clinging to makeshift rope guides in an attempt to reach their schools. As well, many of the schools are made of mud and sticks that wash away during the rainy season. Building more permanent structures within reach of remote locations is a key priority of the Obakki Foundation.
The difference between the original and new schools is striking.
The life expectancy for Cameroonians is about 50-years-old (in Canada, it is 80-years-old) and 40% of the population is under the age of 14-years-old. Death due to malnutrition, water-borne diseases and infectious disease is rampant, and combating these issues is a central concern for the Obakki Foundation.
We’ve worked to bring clean water sources to villages, where women/children were walking up to five hours to get water for the day.
The most important part of Cameroon to me, and one I hope I’ve conveyed to you through my blogs, is the beautiful people. Looking through the eyes of North Americans, they could be viewed as ‘poor’, and in some ways they certainly are. But the love and sense of community that abounds in Cameroon makes them, to me, one of the richest nations in the world.
August 4, 2010
The Obakki Foundation works with organizations around the world, but anyone reading our blog knows that we have a vested interest in Cameroon, Africa. The modern state of Cameroon was created in 1961 by the unification of two former colonies, one British and one French. We work within a small portion of Cameroon and I wanted to share with you some information about this vast and beautiful country.
Cameroon is a little smaller than Spain and bigger than California, with a population of just over 19 million. People speak French, English and over 24 African languages. Yaounde is the capital, but Douala (where we always begin our trip) is the economic centre. It’s been described as “a sweltering hot mess of dusty honking traffic jams” (which is true!) but I tend to agree with the locals, who like to say that “while Yaounde sleeps, Douala moves”.
July 31, 2010
The children of St. Valentine and Hotpec orphanages recently received a wonderful donation of supplies and food. The supplies were comprised of such necessities as laundry and bathing soap, while the food staples included beans, fish and flour.
When visiting St. Valentine’s in December ’09, I took a picture of the boys’ weekly menu. (INSERT MENU PIC) Caption: Some days, they have to split five cups of rice a day between sixteen people.
At Hotpec on the same trip, I saw children younger than my own washing their own clothes (INSERT WASHING PIC) Caption: Soap is a necessity, but also a luxury.
The orphanages rely heavily on donations such as these to care for the children. The Obakki Foundation is working to get them electricity and other basics, but there is always more work to be done.
The baby dorm, where five cribs hold 15 babies.
The kids are worth it.
July 4, 2010
From Tina:
First I just want express to you how incredible I think you and your organization are! Your blogs give us a connection to the people in need in Cameroon! My family and I farm & Ranch in South Dakota, my question is in regards to food production. What crops can they grow in Cameroon?
You talked about failed crops, and obviously they must not be able to grow enough to support themselves. With the amazing advancements in seed technology it seems we should be able to help them raise crops more efficiently without causing environmental issues!
The next question is, do they hunt for their meat source, or could they raise any animals, once again without negatively impacting their environment? It seems to me there should be some way to help them create a sustainable way to meet their nutritional needs. Once again thank you for all you are doing to help the people of Cameroon, and connecting us to them.
Hi Tina,
These are really great questions. The three main crops found in the regions we are working are cassava, palm nuts (which they turn into palm oil), and cocoa. We have a two part focus regarding agricultural development. One is to implement strategies that increase productivity, scale and income of their current crops, and the other is to slowly introduce new ideas and methods that may supplement what they have, and also fill in gaps of what they don’t have.
Of course we are always looking at sustainability and environmental impact on the region. These program are quite multi-faceted with a lot of external issues to consider. Because of this, we always work closely with our local partners on the ground, agricultural experts and the communities themselves to ensure we have considered all aspects before (and during) implementation.
Regarding meat, many families will hunt or trap ‘bush’ meat on occasion and there are a few families who have chickens, goats or pigs, however this is quite rare. Protein is very low in the deeper regions of the valley and we are looking at ways to improve this. It may seem to be an easy fix, yet there are many things that complicate matters.
Some issues include:
- in areas where people are not meeting the very basic nutritional needs, feeding becomes an issue of ‘now’ and keeping livestock to reproduce over time becomes a luxury;
- keeping livestock requires money – initial purchase, feed, fencing or pens, vaccinations etc. Most families have no start up money (one of our potential programs looks at providing start-up loans);
- theft becomes an issue between those that ‘have’ and ‘have not’, especially in regions where people are not meeting their own basic needs;
- swine flu is prevalent and there have been cases of entire areas of livestock being wiped out within a short period of time.
There are many more reasons, but this gives you an idea of some of the complications we encounter. Unfortunately, there is no quick fix but we are quite positive that our programs will gradually impact these areas of development and significantly improve both immediate and long term needs of the communities.
I hope I have answered your questions. Take care, and thank you for following the blog!
July 1, 2010
From Sharon:
Treana, thank you so much for the blog and for taking on this mission. While we all like to ponder what WE can do to help, or how we can teach the people of Cameroon the things we know, the question I have after reading your blogs is this: What can we learn from the people you met in Cameroon? What do they have that we do not, or that we have forgotten?
Hi Sharon,
Thanks for this excellent question. I think we can learn a LOT from our Cameroonian friends: the importance of family and community; the value of taking time to just ‘be’, without worrying about deadlines and schedules; and taking a moment to understand and appreciate what is really important in our lives. Being ruled by money, time and acquisitions gives us an entirely different set of problems!
While there is a lot of poverty to be seen in the regions where we work, there is also an energy that cannot be described in words. It’s apparent in the faces of the people, can be seen in the dancing and heard in the singing. There is a lot of beauty and joy in Africa that I think comes from being open to explore and accept the love of your family, friends and community.
We recently put together a short video to capture this very thing – which I cannot wait to share with you. After watching it, you will understand for yourself. 
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