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We are once more gladdened to be presenting our newsletter called BERUDEP Quarterly Report. BERUDEP wishes all its readers a very happy and prosperous NEW Year 2009. It is gladdening for us to acknowledge that BERUDEP today is gaining a footstool in the manner in which its activities are run. Backed by the support we have garnered from our sponsors abroad, such as MIVA, SNV, AQA, KIRABO, Afri-link, International and Local volunteers and good will individuals that things seem to be moving smoothly. The following International Volunteers are worthy of praises too and honour for giving their time and financial support to BERUDEP in the early months of 2009. They are: Eike Claeys, Elias, Rueben, Scot McDougal, Maxim, Anthony, Neil Holland, Annila, Lucy, Baine, Laurie, Carol, James and Andy Burgerseed. They have done a marvelous job and to them we say Kudos.
Information will be brought to you according to the projects of Berudep.
Apicultural Training and harvesting:
Bee keeping training and harvesting has always been the main stay of BERUDEP. Training is continuous and always evolving and so many people and organisations have benefited from the enriching training offered by the Director of BERUDEP in the person of Mr. Ngwainmbi Simon Chia. In all, a total of 50 bee farmers have been trained in the following places: Buabua, Mbueni, Libialem and a host of others...
This Workshop that was organised by COMISUD was aimed at seeing that the plant life Sanctuary is protected and preserved by those farming groups around it. After this sensitisation meeting, there was the birth of an umbrella group called Plant Life Sanctuary Support Group (PLALISAUG). This association of farming groups was chosen after an election that was contested and the Director of BERUDEP was made its founding President.
There was a consensus that all the groups present should pay in a registration of 1000 FRS and 5000 FRS as annual dues for the group to be able to raise a revolving fund which was to be supported by COMISUD with the additional sum of 350.000 FRS. This revolving fund was at the disposal of all the registered groups to borrow for the sole function of boosting production.
There are also plans on the way for a standardized Marketing procedure for white honey. We are currently working in identifying those groups involved in the production of white honey in Boyo Division. We hope the whole exercise will boost the supply the production and sales of honey in Boyo Division.
Eco-Tourism:
Maxim and Anthony who both were French Volunteers did a marvelous job in designing a fantastic and colorful brochure for BERUDEP. This brochure offers the qualitative and quantitative services provided by BERUDEP. It is loaded with pictures and images showcasing the rich bio diversity which we can offer in Boyo to tourists. Eight tourists have visited Boyo Division since January 2009.
Always having the desire to be self supporting and self asserting, BERUDEP has taken Eco –Tourism as one of its money making source. Operating in Boyo Division and other Divisions of the North-West Region, greatly endowed with rare specimens of animals, birds, fauna and natural vegetation. BERUDEP offers lots of fun to the tourists who come wishing to know the Cameroons and take them to places of their interest like the sacred lake of Oku, Lake Bambalang etc
Community Projects:
There is an ongoing Water Project at Intinitwang and the construction of a toilet at Fundeng Primary School under the auspices of Carol, the founder of Kirabo, a partner organisation in Spain. The first phase of the water project has just finished and the second phase will soon be starting soon when funds are transfered from KIRABO in Spain. The main aim of the water project is to enhance a good living standard of the community with good drinking water and avoid health problems while improving the general health status of the area. The community Baptist school in Fundeng has benefited with the construction of their good toilet, while improving the hygiene and the prevention of eventual infections, many thanks to the Rotary club in Wieringen (the Netherlands) who provided the funds through KIRABO- Spain.
Elias and Robbins came to Cameroon in January with the intention of giving Government Secondary School Mbingo a new face lift. After raising the sum of one million, eight hundred thousand francs CFA, they embarked on flooring the classrooms and the outer walls. This was done for one month and funds went dry. What was needed to complete the project was calculated and it stood at one million, five hundred thousand francs CFA. In order to have a completed project, BERUDEP initiated the coming of another International Volunteer in the person of Scot McDougal who came to complete the project. Read more about the project here
In the process of completing the project, Scot McDougal discovered the acute shortage of electrical power and promised coming out with an alternate source of power obtained from Solar panels. If this comes to pass, then some of the Orphans and their benefactors shall benefit greatly from this largesse.
Neil Holland one of the International Volunteers have assisted some four communities in writing for them water projects awaiting sponsorship from LWDG-Cameroon.
Andy Bourges Seed has been so instrumental in the acquisition of the plot where the After School Program (ASEP) has its building. He did not end at that level, but went to the construction, roofing, flooring, plastering, electrical cabling, and ceiling of the two classrooms.
A host of others have visited and have contributed in varied ways and we appreciate their efforts.
MIVA recently donated three Yamaha motor cycles to BERUDEP and they were distributed to the branches which are one for Belo, one for Njinikom and one for Fundong.
BERUDEP organised in February a training workshop on Mushroom gardening for ten persons. This was done to harness their skills so as to make them available to others as a way of curbing unemployment and combating misery. Some of the groups that got the training are now reaping the fruits of their training.
BERUDEP women have continued to receive training on medicinal plants and what they can be used to treat. This training has alleviated their health situations as indicated in a research conducted by Joan Yein and Eike Claeys, an international volunteer on the impact of medicinal plant information received by them. According to them, some of them have gone for one year or more without attending the hospital, which was rare before they came to BERUDEP for such Health talks.
Vetiver Propagation and training:
In the area of Vetiver propagation, BERUDEP has established 30 Vetiver Nurseries in Secondary and Primary Schools in Boyo Division .The transplanting shall be done as from now with the arrival of the rains at the appropriate places indicated by the School authorities. Some are programmed to be used for land demarcation, embankments, land reclamation, soil fertility etc. This exercise is scheduled to cover the entire Boyo Division in the near future.
Orphans Project:
There is a goat pass over program for the orphans aimed at giving to them so that they can in turn pass it over to those who were never given. According to the February report, it was indicated that 66 families are currently the beneficiaries of this project. Some four families are ready to pass over the goats to the next Orphans; an indication that the project is doing well and has started bearing fruits. Many thanks to A.Q.A an Italian NGO that initially started the sponsorship of the goat project and some of our International volunteer like Carol, Sharon and Laurie family in USA are not left out. The After School Program in Fundong does not have a teacher as at now. Only the staffs there are managing the classes.
Administration:
The filling system in Belo Office has been improved upon. Staffs as well as outsiders now have access to the organisation’s information as opposed to the past. The Administrator’s office has got a new computer and folders purposely to ease the storage of information and accessibility to her and others. In this light, the secretary Mercy has been added some new functions. She now acts as the front of house person for the Organisation and also a Liberian. She keeps records of all books signed out of the organisation and ensures their return.
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