Kiva Stories from the Field

Working with GHAPE

20 October 2008 at 12:02 jenmcq 3 comments

Well, after a long first week of work, I think its safe to say that I am completely in love with GHAPE.  The way that they operate just amazes me.  I have now been to 3 different centers, the ones today were over an hour and a half on less than optimal roads, and interviewed 15 clients.  Every client is so appreciative and excited about the future, it has been extremely inspiring.  Especially when you take into account the conditions that most of these clients are living in; most of them during the interview complained of serious theft or illness.  Yet, every one of these people managed to have their payments in on time and attend all the meetings.  I was surprised at how many activities these clients use for income generation; a pig farmer will most likely use the manure for her garden where she grows coco yams, cassava, potatoes, green spices, cabbage, or other vegetables.  She will sell these products as well as make some staple foods from them and sell them on the road or at the market.  She may also be making hair nets at night to sell.  The list goes on and on, it just depends on how many questions you ask. 

At the second center I met a man named John Foriben.  He started as a farmer in cabbage, plantains, green spices, and maize.  He began to take out loans from GHAPE and was able to invest in water pumps and a tractor.  He requested a grant from the UNDP last year and was given 5,000,000 CFA (around $11,000 USD).  He now employs 12 people on the farm, all GHAPE members, and pays them in kind.  They are allowed to take crops from the farm both to provide for their families and to sell in the market.  He now has 4 customers who take his products to Gabon.  He makes around 800,000 CFA ($1700 USD) per month—a huge amount in this area.  His wife and children were there, cracking open palm nuts to make palm oil, and for a snack.  The daughter, who was just a baby, maybe 10 months or so, was cracking open the nuts with a rock and giving them to me to eat.  It was quite cute.  I really enjoyed interviewing all the clients and learning about their lives.  It truly was interesting to get to know the everyday lives of people, to understand their hopes for the future, and to see their high level positivity and appreciation for their loans.  They sing three times a session, and I just love hearing the last song, the GHAPE anthem.  Its all about raising themselves out of poverty, becoming educated, and maintaining healthy lifestyles—very holistic approach. 

The GHAPE Anthem

All around the Nation

All across the World

The poor are longing to be free

Chorus:

Free from chains of poverty

Free from ignorance

Free from chains of HIV/AIDS

Strategies must be adapted

To lived realities

For the empowerment of the poor

(Chorus)

With GHAPE EC formula

A source for Liberation

The poor shall be set free

Say goodbye to poverty

Goodbye to ignorance

Goodbye to HIV/AIDS       

It is unquestionably one of the more inspiring jobs I’ve had in a while.  Kenya and Tanzania were great, but not like this.  It’s different when a woman tells you that simply having access to credit has completely changed the status of her family.  That a loan has created enough extra profit to pay for her children’s school fees, medical expenses, and provide balanced meals; three expenses that many families are unable to afford. 

The cost of living here is really cheap.  I think its fair to say that I am living on less than $2 a day right now.  I bought groceries yesterday, enough for 5 meals or so, it cost me two dollars.  That included a whole fish, a bag of yams, 6 tomatoes, onions, bag of beans, bag of corn, bag of plantains, and jalapenos—pretty cost effective.  I’m hoping to upload some photos tonight, but in a lot of them you’ll see my ‘mama’.  We were making achu last night, you cook cocoyams and plantains, then grind them together and mash them.  Cocoyams are….like a potato…but….have more flavour….I suppose.  Hard to describe.  They are good though.  After you make the mash, you cook a yellow soup from beef broth, spices, palm oil and, get this, cow skin.  Yea, she was cleaning cow skin with a knife, oh it made me cringe.  Its a delicacy over here, gross.  And in case you are wondering when looking at the photos, yes, mama is wearing a Britney Spears t-shirt, but its from her early days, ha ha.  Palm oil is the main cooking oil here, they make it from palm nuts, which I was able to eat more than enough of today in the field.   I met a woman who makes palm oil, and her daughter decided it would be fun to crack them out of the shell and keep giving them to me to eat.  When I refused one after about the tenth, she started crying.  So, I kept taking them, filling up my pockets with all these palm nuts, ha ha.  They are pretty good though.

Entry filed under: Africa, Cameroon, GHAPE (Grounded Holistic Approach to Poverty Elimination), KF6 (Kiva Fellows 6th Class). Tags: jenmcq.