Centre for Appropriate Technology
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Labels: Appropriate Technology, Prof. Dr. Norbert Pintsch
posted by S A J Shirazi @ 3:08 PM,
,
Best Foreign Expatriate Award Speech
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Norbert Pintsch was awarded the Best Foreign Expatriate Award - 2013 in Cameroon, here the text of his speech on the occasion:
Very respected ladies and gentlemen
First of all I would like to thank you for the honour bestowed upon me!
Cameroon is a rich country, with many resources and an efficient traditional culture. The efforts of the DGFK (German Society for the Development of Culture) and SES (Senior Expert Service) volunteers do not and were never supposed to transfer finished western ideas and products, rather much more the common development of solutions on site and together with the participants. Due to good cooperation with CAT (Centre for Appropriate Technology) and its Program-Director Mr. Njini Victor and the Volunteers, of which I consider myself one, we actually succeeded in finding new and maybe unusual ways ways of approaching the issues.
Cameroon is a rich country, with many resources and an efficient traditional culture. The efforts of the DGFK (German Society for the Development of Culture) and SES (Senior Expert Service) volunteers do not and were never supposed to transfer finished western ideas and products, rather much more the common development of solutions on site and together with the participants. Due to good cooperation with CAT (Centre for Appropriate Technology) and its Program-Director Mr. Njini Victor and the Volunteers, of which I consider myself one, we actually succeeded in finding new and maybe unusual ways ways of approaching the issues.
CAT combines three areas under its roof: AT (Appropriate Technology), HC (Handicraft) and CI (Communication and Information), whereas Dr. Senta Siller. was a pioneer of the HC and trained among others three groups of women in the making of Dolls and now these women are able to earn a living in the self-help project. The dolls are sold within and outside the country and in Cameroon embassies as souvenirs.
The AT has a cooperation with Pakistan and Columbia, which may be mentioned in this regard. But CAT has also developed a program for children and youth, in order to promote their awareness of AT. The CAT-Clubs are supported by the former German GTZ (Society for Technical Cooperation). In the meanwhile, we also have theYoungster-Club, as well as a Students-Club. These enable the interested students of universities in IAM&BUST (Institute for Alternative Methods et BamendaUniversity for Science and Technology) to acquire practical experience in AT. The further development of the AT and the necessary cooperation between local projects, other NGOs, etc. led this year to the establishment of SPATH (Society for the Promotion of Appropriate Technology and Housing).
A publication under the CI was published last year and since two years, there is also the Internet-Radio-Project.
Ladies and Gentlemen
At the end, I may thank you once again for the honour together with the hope for further initiatives and support of CAT and with that for your beautiful country.
Thank you!
Labels: Prof. Dr. Norbert Pintsch
posted by S A J Shirazi @ 1:33 PM,
,
Norbert Pintsch wins Best Foreign Expatriate Award in Cameroon
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Musa Shey Nfor
.JPG)
Musa Shey Nfor, young and dynamic President of the CamCCUL cum Bamenda Police Cooperative Credit Union LTD has been voted Watchdog Tribune Man of the Year. Musa Shey Nfor according to Dotta Ezekiel, Publisher/Editor of the Watcdog Tribune Newspaper, was voted Man of the Year following the reforms he implemented within CamCCUL network, ANEMCAM and the BAPCCUL.
Here below is the Press Release of the Watchdog Tribune.
Press Awards For Excellence To Meritorious Cameroonians/Establishments That Have Distinguished Themselves In Their Contributions To Nation Building In 2012.
(This List of winners is not arranged in any particular order)
Each year the Watchdog Tribune in collaboration with other newspapers makes National Press Awards for excellence to individuals or establishments with exceptional contributions to nation building in whatever domain. This can be above a lifetime, in a crisis or over a particular time, or more than just a long and distinguished service(s).
Also our prestigious Press Awards are for people or Establishments that have a major impact on nation building and brought about significant change.
Labels: Prof. Dr. Norbert Pintsch
posted by S A J Shirazi @ 11:26 AM,
,
Bringing Clean Power to Cameroonian Communities
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Labels: Prof. Dr. Norbert Pintsch
posted by S A J Shirazi @ 3:58 PM,
,
Prof.Dr. Norbert Pintsch With Team Members at Mobil Stall
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Labels: CAT, Prof. Dr. Norbert Pintsch
posted by S A J Shirazi @ 11:30 AM,
,
The Afoakom Statue! Emblem of a people’s identity
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Afo-A-Kom is a carved wooded statue used annually by Kom inhabitants, for ceremonial purposes at Laikom the seat of the Kwyfon, the secret Kom mobilization force in Boyo Division of the North West region of Cameroon.
Afo-A-Kom literally translated means something that belongs to Kom people and land, promoting the ideals of solidarity and social stability; love, hospitality, unity, diversity tolerance; and of justice and sovereignty and a powerful symbol of continuity, These two Royal standing human form made statues has a female considered as the mother of the queen and a royal wife holding a baton in front of the chest and lined with cowries at the head supported by buffalo heads. The male statue depicts the reverence of the Royal family and is a portrait of Fon Yuh the first well known legendary leader of the Koms. The Afoakom statue is beaded in red and blue for unity and diversity of the vast Kom land and it people. The Koms see it as the strength of their heritage and authority.
The statue was made at about 1865 by Fon Yuh, the 7th ruler of Kom. And by ill fate one of the attendants stole it out form its hiding and sold to outsiders and it was ferried to Douala through Foumban and next to New York City in August 1966. During the absence of the statue it is believed that calamity failed on the kom land and a fog of guild and curses hang on the people. A lot of people are reported to have died from epidemics and natural disasters. This necessitated the finding of the Statue which the people considered the source of their problems. Search teams around Cameroon and the world finally got relief when a missionary pastor who had photographed the portrait of the statue saw it in a New York exhibition gallery. The Fon of Kom at the time is known to have pledge all the money in the Kom land for it return. The Afoakom statue while in the USA was shuttling between musums and bazaars not only as a lost ritualistic symbol of the Kom people but like a commercial commodity. Thanks to good diplomacy between the Cameroon government and the US embassy in Yaounde that the statue was returned to Kom 7 years later. The arrival of the statue was heralded by all night dancing and gun firing at the fons palace plaza where the people of koms played the wildest xylophone music tones in memory of the event. The return of the statue and the controversial history and tales associated with it brought elated the Kom culture and tradition to international people.
Kom is traditionally divided into 43 villages. The villages make up the kingdom and compounds or homesteads make up the villages. The villages are grouped into traditional councils for administrative purposes with each village governed by a village Head appointed by the Fon.
The origin of Kom is not known but according to oral tradition, Kom people came to settle in their present day location after being led by a track of a python.
Labels: Afo-A-Kom, Prof. Dr. Norbert Pintsch
posted by S A J Shirazi @ 11:54 AM,
,
Knowledge on Appropriate Technology
Monday, May 14, 2012
CAT-Cameroon and its volunteers bring knowledge on Appropriate Technology to the Staff and Students of the Baptist Comprehensive College Nkwen Bamenda
The learning community of the Baptist comprehensive college Nkwen Bamenda has pledged to continuously keep their environment neat and to manage waste in a sustainable manner. The principal of the institution Mr Bominang Eugene made the recommendation last Feb,14th 2012 on behalf of his students and colleagues on the occasion of an open door day organized by CAT Cameroon in collaboration with two German visiting volunteers Lutz and Renate from the German Senior Expert Service under the theme youths for a better environment.
In a brief lecture to the students during the event, the director of the Center for Appropriate Technology NjiniVictor thanked the BCC student community for accepting to share with them the benefits of sustaining and protecting the environment. Victor appreciated the staff for embracing their wish to talk to the students about renewable forms of energy that was a solution to the needs of people in the rural areas. He further explained to the students that the role of CAT Cameroon was to promote and provide solar energy plates and low cost building material so as to maximize the protection of the environment and nature. In a question and answer session on what could be done to protect the environment the students said tree planting, pollution control and proper waste disposal were the solutions. Talking on the advantages of solar energy victor told the students that it was cheap and affordable as well as efficient for house lighting and cooking. The CAT director laid the students through a demonstrative exhibition on how solar plates trap energy for storage and usage.
In response to the lectures and demonstration the principal of the school Mr Bomingang Eugene said that they were over whelmed with joy and excitement to be part of the CAT open door project. Mr Eugene thanked the CAT director and his volunteers for thinking about them for the second time running in the knowledge sharing campaign on appropriate technology. The school boss called on his students to keep the knowledge and to be custodians of environmental protection in school and off the classroom. He pledged to make appropriate technology lesson a compulsory course for those students of the technical department of his institution.
The CAT volunteers from Germany Lutz and Renate animated the event with musical drills and comic displays to the excitement of the students. The gift of a football to the students by the volunteers brought thunderous applauds in the hall. In appreciation to the gift and sketches, the student’s senior prefect said the lessons as well as the sketches and ball were very significant not only for their entertainment but learning process. The senior student thanked CAT and the volunteers for thinking about them every year and for working to improve the lives of people in the semi urban centers and in the rural communities.
The Baptist Comprehensive College Nkwen Bamenda has some 176 students enrolled in to the three learning departments of the school. (Commercial, Grammar and Technical.)
Labels: Appropriate Technology, CAT, Prof. Dr. Norbert Pintsch
posted by S A J Shirazi @ 8:04 AM,
,
Institute for Alternative Methods IAM@BUST
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
The idea for the establishment of the IAM originated out of inquiries from students of local universities, who received information on various occasions at the CAT (NGO) about Appropriate Technology.
Objects mentioned in the literature can be seen at CAT and their working is explained.
Apart from NGOs, companies and private persons, there are CAT clubs in 7 Sub-Divisions and a Youngster-Club since 2009. Future students learn here in a playful manner among others handling devices, which are friendly to the nature.
The basic concept of IAM was initiated due the excellent relationship with BUST.
Of course one finds reference to Appropriate Technology in the brochures of universities, these are however understood as an extension of the regular study programs.
But Appropriate Technology is lot more !
It is a complete way of thinking and therefore to be placed equally along with disciplines like economy, trade, society and politics etc.
It is important here to differentiate between the rather holistic approach with elements from traditional culture, like visible in rural life, and the rather open resource depleting system, a it can be seen in urban and semi-urban regions and the closed independent system.
The holistic system is however not to be understood as an escape into the past, but on the contrary, it carries forward the futuristic approach by building upon the existing open system.
One can understand it well from the following example: the low-tech method of faeces-disposal on one side and the high tech recycling method as used in the europeon space lab.
Brainstorming about new concepts also finds its place at the IAM: The Organization of Climate Conserving Nations (OCCN) as an alternative to OPEC...
We can see, AT is more than only a technical aid.
Labels: Appropriate Technology, IAM at BUST, IAM-BUST, Prof. Dr. Norbert Pintsch
posted by S A J Shirazi @ 2:01 PM,
,
Visit to the Fon of Bafmeng
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
THE VISIT OF KING SIMON LESHEY I AND PROF NORBERT PINTSCH TO THE FON OF BAFMENG. FON FRANCIS ANENG PRESIDENT OF THE NORTH-WEST FONS - NORTH WEST REGION CAMEROON.
Labels: Prof. Dr. Norbert Pintsch
posted by S A J Shirazi @ 1:48 PM,
,
Speech on the eve of BUST honorary award
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
February 18th, 2011
Your excellence, dear colleagues, dear parents and dear students!
I feel honored being invited here today. Some 20 years ago I came here as a tourist, and as BUST was opened in 1995 I had the opportunity to speak to you for the first time.
Since 2001 I am voluntarily working together with CAT (Centre for Appropriate Technology). So I may be familiar to some of you.
Today, you, the parents and the students are celebrating a quite remarkable occasion:
The parents are harvesting the fruits of their financial givings, and the students profit from a profound education.
A latin saying is: "We do not learn for our school, we learn for our life!" Non scholae sed vitae discimus.
Today we live in a world of "lifelong learning" - which some of our ancestors were familiar with decades ago.
All people should have the opportunity to cultivate their personal abilities.
All people are equal.
Men and women are equal,- means the western thinking.
Looking at our planet from a distance, this may be true today.
But looking at the way most of us design our lives today reveals some adverse aspects. It seems the demand for focusing on elementary ecological and sociological concerns still remains a challenge.
What exactly does that mean?
My dear students, you have worked hard, but life has not quite begun. You will have to face the fact that learning must continue. Your future calls for linking your earned skills with the demands of our modern society. You will have to take the challenge to survive in an environment focusing on industrial and monetary aspects, turning motivated individuals into exchangeable merchandise. Developing and preserving values based on theoretical knowledge with little practical experience will require strong personal ethics. Your initial effort will not pay well, nevertheless you should keep building practical experience in projects, even if that may mean working voluntarily.
I wish you all the best for your personal future.
Your excellence, dear colleagues, dear parents and dear students!
Many thanks.
Labels: Prof. Dr. Norbert Pintsch
posted by S A J Shirazi @ 8:24 AM,
,
Technic and Culture?
Monday, August 30, 2010
Labels: Appropriate Technology, CAT, Culture, Prof. Dr. Norbert Pintsch
posted by S A J Shirazi @ 11:36 AM,
,
