SPATH

Aaron Kaah Yancho

Nkwanyuy Edna is a resourceful Heifer international Cameroon farmer in the Kikaikom village in Bui division of the North West Region in Cameroon. Edna benefitted from a Heifer international Cameroon training and support of a sheep project in her Tirnyuy women’s common initiative group in 2005. Edna (44years), is married to Shumoh Emmanuel and they have three children and two granddaughters.

Before benefitting from a Heifer international Cameroon support project, Edna was going through life like a “ghost”. “There was no means of survival and I was just living” Edna recalled. Edna and her family were surrounded with many issues like poor feeding, limited income, poor sanitation and hygiene as well as family squabbles that made life so painful for them. “My children were hospitalized very often and we did not know the cause” she said. Despite sacrificing much of her energy and time on the farm field, there was no means for her family to generate income. The income for the education of her children and emergency spending was never available. “My family could not distinguish reality from night mares” she said.

By pursuing life and striving to be happy again, Edna and some women with similar problems came into synergy and the Tirnyuy women’s common initiative group was born with 14 members in the year 2000. Their objectives were to win the battles over their limited income, low food crop yields and livestock production. “We wanted to share ideas, our sorrows and our pains so as to improve on our lives” Edna recalled. Though members of this group laboriously complemented one another, their collective abilities to succeed were always wearing thin. The extra ordinary first good news to Edna and her group members was when Heifer international Cameroon responded to their application to subsidize their sheep projects in 2005. “To add our knowledge, Heifer international Cameroon started teaching us so many things” she said. The topics covered care for animals, how to improve nutrition and income, sanitation and hygiene, integrated livestock management, gender equity and Heifer international Cameroon 12 cornerstones of love and sharing. At the end of the coaching Heifer international Cameroon offered Edna and members of her group farm inputs, tools, and 4 sheep, 1 ram each.

“I did everything as instructed in the teachings; feeding my animals a balance diet” she affirmed. Under strict concentration and surveillance Edna expanded her herd to 45. “Logically, I was making use of compost manure” Edna said. With the compost manure, Edna initiated a gardening project next to her house and like a warrior concentrated seriously in digging her farm fields:-her dreams came alive. The farmers harvested 4 bags of beans as compared to 1 bag in the past, 10 bags of maize on like 2 in the past and 5 bags of Irish potatoes on like 1 in the past. Continuously evaluating the growth of her activities through good record keeping skills, she expanded to the rearing of pigs, goats and guinea pigs to sustain their income. The improved food crops and vegetables yields ameliorated the feeding conditions of her family- as she marketed spare food crops for cash. “I was monitoring myself and came out of poverty gradually”. With their 45 goats, Edna sold 30 at 600,000FCFA, took her vegetables and food crops to the market and made 800,000FCFA. “I paid my pass on the gift at 215,000FCFA and used the rest of the money in the buying and selling of food crops for more income” she said.

Edna with good dialogue benefitted the support of her husband in decision making and their children voluntarily “worked like ants “on their assignments. Edna’s brilliant knowledge of record keeping regulated her income and expenditure as she renovated her home with modern toilets, provided electricity and pipe borne water. Edna has saved according to her records 50,000FCFA in the revolving fund of her group, 36,000FCFA in the Mbve cooperative credit union and 50,000FCFA in a micro financial establishment in her community. Their annual spending income stands at 2,000,000FCFA. Edna and her husband have created links with the needy and orphans in their community to promote the Heifer international Cameroon 12 cornerstones of love and sharing. 

Resourceful as Edna is, her capabilities have earned her unspoken respect. She is the president of the Tirnyuy women’s common initiative group and the Kikaikom pig farmers’ union and the treasurer of their community water supply project. Edna is also teaching members of the catholic women’s fellowship of her Christian congregation to grow from strength to strength as they depend on God and hard work. This farmer also sees herself as the minister of hygiene and sanitation in her community. “I keep record of everything in the village right down to sanitation for follow-up” she confirmed.

Heifer international Cameroon sounds like a healing name to Edna and her family and they look utterly happy with Heifer international Cameroon’s calendars on their house walls. “We have experienced a lot and I wish Heifer international Cameroon good luck” she prayed.