Handicrafts and Appropriate Technology

Cameroon Blog

A little about ourselves DGFK-CAMCATBAM

On the occasion of the turn of the century

by Aaron Pinsker and Norbert Pintsch

The DGFK was founded almost fifty years ago. The practical engagement with cultures was implemented in many projects according to a model which used and demonstrated the various interdependencies in culture.

Projects emerged through initiatives, collaborations and activities, initially in Central Europe and after 1990 increasingly in other countries.

From around 2010, we started to collect results and examples into our own (DGFK) archive and assigned them to topics such as interviews, sounds, movies, slide shows, animations, books, posters, etc.

The year 2000 is a turning point in the DGFK, because at the end of 1999 analogue printing of the DGFK newsletter as well as of Indus-River, Sanaga Rivière, Rio Magdalena and Hekla was discontinued.

The reason for this was increasing digitization of media. This also led to increasing depth of the digital information, so that the DGFK established its own website, sponsored by a company, because one of our projects showed pilot character at the EXPO2000 show.

An eShop was installed for selling certain handicraft products from the projects, but ultimately it was abandoned as it did not appear to be suitable for the individually unique items.

In similar manner some websites were also removed because they were no longer necessary or technically obsolete (for example Internet radio projects). But they are stored in the archive and available to interested quarters.

The partner initiatives had their own websites, which were supplemented early on by flexible blogs:

Pakistan:

www.thattakedona.com

www.thattakedona.blogspot.com

Kamerun:

www.camcatbam.com

www.haatc.blogspot.com

Kolumbien:

www.tanto-mejor.com

www.elcampomirando.blogspot.com 

Other project partners, some of them no longer active, are:

www.dolls-project.com (Groenland),

www.royalglobage.com (UAE),

ac-criti-project.com (Griechenland),

www.id-museum.com (Island).

With the help of DGFK, partner societies in other project countries were established, such as:

www.sparc-project.blogspot.com (Pakistan),

www.spocabangladesh.blosspot.com (BanglaDesh),

www.spaetcolombia.blogspot.com (Kolumbien),

www.spathcameroon.blogspot.com (Kamerun),

www.spaetcolombia.blogspot.com (Kolumbien),

www.sutolsrilanka.blogspot.com (SriLanka),

www.sodshnepal.blogspot.com (Nepal),

www.semoliceland.blogspot.com (Island),

www.spokupolonia.blogspot.com (Polen).

In the course of time, a plethora of active participants, supporters and partners entered into the projects and their names are duly collected in the DGFK archive or can be found in search engines:

www.dgfk.info

If a name (for example (Karola Groch,Werner Schroeder, Monika Kuppler, Renate Perner,Marlis Bartkiewitz-Schmitt, u.a.)) is associated with a certain activity or a certain support organization, e.g. the SES, it can be found there too.

Some friends of the DGFK have separated and put their work in the context of a company or organization (e.g. Fronzeck, Heckes, Klapper, Polzer, Sauter, Christ, Borgmann, Stober) or chosen an art platform for their efforts. We do have one person, who has selflessly devoted all her energy and efforts towards the benefit of the general public around the globe (Siller).

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posted by S A J Shirazi @ 8:45 AM, ,

German Embassy Provides Clean Water For Alahkie-Mankon

By Ignatius Nji 

Lutz, Renate and Marlis Volunteers at CAT-Cameroon

The local community of Alahkie-Mankon located far away from Bamenda metropolis in Mezam Division has been provided with a clean drinking water. The water project which is a borehole drilled and water extracted from beneath granite and is generated from a depth of about 42 meters and pumped up in to 15600liters storage underground tank constructed in an elevated area of about 35 meters to supply to community through stand taps by use of solar pumps. The clean water project funded by the German Embassy in Yaounde and partly by the community at Alahkie, at a total cost of about FCFA 11 million was handed to the community of about 3000 inhabitants this Monday May 18, 2015.
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posted by S A J Shirazi @ 10:09 AM, ,

Training Nurses for Bush Hospitals, Sustaining Ecological, Economical and Socio-Cultural Components in Rural Communities

By Ignatius Nji

Nji Marlis Bartkiewitz-Schmid (Nurse Trainer) Carrying out training at Alahkie

A mass campaign to educate local communities on how to live better with what they have on the ground as local materials is ongoing with the training of nurses for bush hospitals in the North West Region of Cameroon. This sensitization campaign is championed by the Center for Appropriate Technology (CAT) in collaboration with the Royal Rehabilitation and Reformation Center at Alahkie/Mankon with experts in traditional medicine. The nurses were trained by Marlis Bartkiewitz-Schmid from the Senior Expert Society (SES) in Bonn - Germany, in the use of traditional medicine (Indigenous) and methods of providing health care to patients in rural areas. The volunteer carried out study on how the traditional birth attendants go about assisting pregnant women during delivery.
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posted by S A J Shirazi @ 9:59 AM, ,

Training Trainers on Arts, Craft for Environmental Protection, Recycling

By Ignatius Nji

Some four trainees in Bamenda undertook a training to teach children arts and craft that promote environmental protection as used materials are being recycled and put in to use. This laudable initiative by a German Trainer, Renate PERNER from the Senior Expert Service (SES) Bonn, under the supervision of Prof PINTSCH of the Society for the Promotion of Appropriate Technology and Housing (SPATH) as coordinated at the Center for Appropriate Technology (CAT) is coming at a time that the government of Cameroon has ban the use of non biodegradable plastics.

Renate PERNER Training Trainers as Prof Norbert PINTSCH supervises
Providing alternative this training shall empower children in the schools and at home with the know-how to make shoppers’ bag from cheap materials such as newspapers and old textile which can not be harmful to environment. This environmental friendly arts and craft can be learned and practice by everybody to ensure that the environment is protected and safe especially in local communities. The main goal of this training is to foster sensitization on environmental protection and appropriate technology to as important solutions in local communities. The practice can go a long way to reverse the rapidity with which the climate change is affecting the biodiversity. Home made paper bags for shopping would replace the use of non biodegradable plastic that has taken a tool on the environment. 
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posted by S A J Shirazi @ 10:42 AM, ,


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