Handicrafts and Appropriate Technology

In the northern Region Prof, Sahr visited individual farm families and had the opportunity to discuss with the farm families, what Heifer sponsored projects had influenced their lives. Women who had irked a living from almost nothing, talked to Sahr about how Heifer trainings on animal rearing, gender equity had uplifted their lives. Evaluating with the farm families the benefits they were enjoying in terms of wealth and social cohesion with regards to those families not assisted at all in the communities, Sahr was thrilled by the resilience of women most especially to fortify themselves with food and income their animals provided against poverty. Prof, Sahr urged the families to be devoted more than ever, to their goals so as to accomplish more than ever before. The farm families also talked about their dreams for the future like the continuous education of their female children and believe in Heifer corner stones. In the northern regions of Cameroon over used farm land, the alarming scarcity of water coupled with the climate changes has pushed the region in to a desert. Farm families strive for years just to coax a minimum living in this fragile atmosphere.

Your browser may not support display of this image. Your browser may not support display of this image. In the Northwest Region, Prof, Sahr toured the homes of some Heifer beneficiaries of farm inputs and animals. In the Bamendakwe village, where some 32 farm families after receiving 32cows at the start of the project now keep 75, after marketing some,- the farm families amazingly talked about how fresh milk had improved their health conditions, how much healing and hope the project was giving to impoverished friends and relatives in the community. The farm families shared their stories of self reliance and displayed their new assets as proceeds from the project. Boasting of cooking with a biogas energy system in their home, a couple Suh Robert and Suh perpetua thanked Heifer international for empowering them to make good use of animal dung not only for composting but for the generation of energy. This couple, pioneers of this Heifer assisted initiative in their community told their guest how the Biogas energy void of smoke make cooking for them enjoyable and helped them to reserve and protect their forest trees a means of loving the earth. “Community members envy us” Suh perpetua the wife remarked. Prof, Sahr acknowledged their courage and spirit to inspire their community with words of congratulations. The vice president for the Africa program listened to some of the families talk about their joy of passing on the gift of livestock to other struggling farm families- as others prayerfully waited for their turn to relay this animal chain of love and sharing. In every home he visited Prof; Sahr remained the farm families that the “passing on the gift” gesture was the essence to any Heifer programs.

In a working sessions with Prof Sahr and Cameroon country director Henry Njakoi the farm families and leaders of the various cooperative groups in the communities thanked Heifer over and over for the help they had received in the form of animals and farm inputs. They shared the benefits of buried gender stereotypes and how organic farming was rewarding their untiring efforts and the community, despite changes in the weather patterns. The scarcity of grazing land and the high supply of milk without a steady market were some of the issues the leaders of the cooperatives grappled with, as they trumpeted their new found fortunes in the project. The vice President for the Africa Program called on farm families and their cooperative leaders to re-strategize their commercial links so as to resist the temptation of running out of business. The vice president pledged his support to establish a research data with the aid of the Cameroon country project so as to show how imported Dairy products were wrecking the local markets and the efforts of animal farmers in Cameroon. Prof, Sahr called on the cooperatives to act as a group, because unity gave them a voice not only to change their lives but to lobby existing legislature in their own favor. “You can take a horse to the stream but you can force it to drink water” Prof Sahr told the farmers. He thanked the cooperatives and the farm families for taking advantage of the opportunities that have been given to them by Heifer. The Heifer representatives told the cooperative groups and their leaders that their individual and collective achievements were best ways of reciprocating the good will gestures of Heifer donors around the world.

Prof, Sahr’s working visit to Cameroon ended in deliberations with the Heifer Cameroon staff. Before moving to the Little Rock Arkansas in the USA as the vice President for the Africa program, Prof, Sahr Lebbie was Heifer Cameroon’s country Director for five years.