Last Monday I visited a school. A different school even for Africa standards. It is a school, meant for Islamic women who haven’t got their education. They teach the women basic things, gramma, algebra etc. This will give them more confidence and chance to create their own income stream independent from their family and husbands. Jumping to conclusion, this will lead in the end to a calmer life and smaller possibility for violence and suffering inside the family. You can read more in here about the project.

 

And obviously, my job was to create a good set of photos to promote the project. Sadly there were only three girls, as it was public holiday. But we will try again this week.

    

As a bonus, view of Buea

Without getting into details too soon, I have changed the organization from CcreadCameroon to Reach Out, where I do my daily activities. I have also changed my apartment and am living now in a new place with new people.

 

I have been here already for two weeks and my job has been rather interesting. I will not be starting anything new, as only to try to fulfill the missing caps in the visual field of the organization. To give you an example so far I have made portraits of the office workers, what they can use online, documenting ongoing project where they teach basic education for muslim women, photographing beneficiaries and different already running projects. Also created a flyers for fundraising and doing other basic what-ever-needs-to-be-done things. It is not to say that they didn’t do all these things previously, but by bringing my own equipment and experience on the visual field, I am freeing up peoples time so they can spend more concentrating on running the projects. Thanks to this the quality of the photos and other visual materials has improved a lot and through this, there will be a direct benefit of increased funding for future and current projects.

 

So, said all that, here is a choice of pictures from our first test run together near Buea where Reach Out has multiple projects running or already finished.

 

City I am spending most of my time in here, Buea

 

 

work in progress

 

Person who is going to be directly benefiting from the project

 

 

Person who has benefited already from running project

 

 

 

The local Mafia

 

This is the field your tea is coming from

 

Created an employment for a young mother

 

If you are intrested in currently running projects for Reach Out Cameroon, they are available here: https://www.globalgiving.org/donate/9013/reach-out-cameroon-reo/

These are the projects that are directly benefiting the people you saw above.

[su_spoiler title=”Tõlge” icon=”plus-circle”]

Aeg muutusteks

Ilma detailidesse laskumata liiga vara, olen ma organisatsiooni vahetanud CcreadCameroon-ist Reach Out-i, kus ma oma igapäeva toimetusi teen. Ma olen ka oma korterit vahetanud ja elan nüüd uues kohas, uute inimestega.

Ma olen siin olnud juba 2 nädalat ja mu töö on olnud üpris huvitav. Ma ei alusta midagi uut, vaid pigem üritan tühje lünki täita organisatsiooni visuaalses pooles. Et anda teile ettekujutust, siis praeguseks hetkeks olen ma teinud fotoportreesi kontori töölistest, mida nad saavad internetis kasutada, dokumenteerinud käimasolevaid projekte, kus nad õpetavad algharidust moslemi naistele, fotografeerinud toetustsaanuid ja erinevaid käimasolevaid projekte. Ka tegin lendlehti heategevusürituseks ja teisi asju misiganes-vajab-tegemist. Mitte, et nad varem ei teinud kõiki neid asju, kuid tuues oma tehnika ja kogemuse visuaalses vallas, siis ma vabastan nende aega, et inimesed saaks keskenduda käimasolevatele projektidele.

Tänu sellele, fotode ja teiste visuaalsete materjalide kvaliteet on tõusnud üpris palju ja otsene kasu on kõrgem toetus tuleviku ja praegustele projektidele. Seda kõike öeldes, siin on valik pilte esimesest proovimisest Buea lähedal, kus Reach Out-il on mitu projekti käimas või juba lõppenud.

Linn kus ma enamus oma ajast veedan, Buea

Töö käib

Inimene, kes otseselt saab kasu sellest projektist

Inimene kes on juba käimasolevast projektist kasu saanud

Kohalik maffia See on põld, kust tuleb teie tee

Tekitatud töökoht noorele emale

Kui te olete huvitatud praegu käimasolevatest Reach Out Cameroon projektidest, siis on need saadaval siin: https://www.globalgiving.org/donate/9013/reach-out-cameroon-reo/

Need on projektid, millest saavad otseselt kasu inimesed, keda nägite ülevalpool. [/su_spoiler]

Couple of weeks ago we visited Korup National Park. It is the most accessible park for tourist, in the whole Cameroon and has one of the oldest and diverse forest in the Africa. Compared to everything else in here, it is quite expensive, although still cheap than Europe. Although we only saw flora (supposedly we heard the Fauna part) and I got sick halfway there, it was still worth the visit.

 

First thing first, getting bus from Buea to Kumba was easy. After that came the 8 person 5 seat car drive, this time to Mundemba. Luckily driver was fast, and it only lasted around two hours, where it was supposed to be five hours. We arranged our tour to begin next morning at 7, as one can’t enter the park without guide and enjoyed our stay at local cheap hostel. Next morning, wanting to make my life specially hard, I packed my bag with 6l of water and all our food for two days. The entry to the park was nice, as promised from the pictures on the web, we saw bridge, crossed it and entered the park. That was probably the only fully delivered promise for us. And the next four-five hours was forest, some more forest, and more forest. Although locals call it bush and it seems to be more suitable name for the place. There are few big trees, mostly it is just thick and not-too-tall vegetation. There are supposedly African Bush Elephants, the biggest and meanest of elephants, that we didn’t see. Maybe for the good, as last time locals met them, only elephants left from the exchange on their own feet. Though, the diversity of flora and everything living, that we did saw, was fascinating. I would have wanted to spend at least couple of days in there, just walking around slowly and photographing local bug life. Our guided trip was arranged only for two days and I got quite high fever by the next morning (probably from the ceiling fan in the hotel the previous day). So the trip back, from the forest all the way to home, was quite a blur.

Still, here are the pictures mainly from the day we entered the forest.

[su_spoiler title=”Tõlge” icon=”plus-circle”]Korup rahvuspark

Mõne nädala eest külastasime me Korup rahvusparki. See on kõige ligipääsetavam rahvuspark turistide jaoks terves Kamerunis ja seal on üks kõige vanem ja mitmekesisem rahvuspark Aafrikas. Võrreldes teiste parkidega on see suhteliselt kallis aga Euroopa mõistes ikkagi suhteliselt odav. Kuigi me nägime ainult floorat (fauna osa me pidavasti kuulsime) ja ma jäin poolel teel haigeks, siis oli see seda väärt.

Esimesed asjad esmalt, saada buss Buea-st Kumba-sse oli lihtne. Pärast seda tuli 8 inimese ja 5 istme autosõit, seekord Mundeba-sse. Õnneks juht oli kiire ja see kestis ainult kaks tundi, kuigi pidanuks kestma umbes viis tundi. Me korraldasime oma ekskursiooni järgmise hommiku kella seitsmeks, kuna ilma giidita ei saa parki siseneda ja nautisime oma aega odavas hotellis. Järgmisel hommikul , tahtes teha oma elu võimalikult raskeks pakkisin ma oma koti 6 liitri veega ja kogu söögiga järgmiseks kaheks päevaks. Parki sisenemine oli kena, nagu kodulehel pildid lubasid, me nägime silda, ületasime selle ja siis olimegi pargis. See oli tõenäoliselt ainuke kindel lubadus, mis meile täideti. Järgmised 4-5 tundi oli mets, veel metsa ja siis veel metsa. Kohalikud kutsuvad seda võsaks ja tundub, et see ongi sobivam nimi sellele. Peamiselt oli paar suurt puud ja nende vahel mitte väga kõrge taimestik. Seal elavad kuuldavasti Aafrika “Võsa” (inglise k. “bush”) Elevandid, suurimad ja õelamad elevantidest, mida me ei näinud. Võibolla parem ongi, sest viimane kord, kui kohalikud neid kohtasid, siis ainult elevandid lahkusid kohtumiselt jalgadel. Kuigi floora ja kõige elava mitmekesisus, mida me nägime, oli lummav. Ma oleks tahtnud vähemasti paar päeva seal veeta, lihtsalt aeglaselt ringi kõndides ja putukaid fotografieerides. Meie giidiga eksukursioon oli kokku lepitud ainult kaheks päevaks ja ma teise päeva hommikuks tekkis mul suhteliselt kõrge palaviku (tõenäoliselt hotelli lae ventilaatorist eelmine päev.) See tähendas, et teekond tagasi metsast koju oli suhteliselt hägune.

Siiski, siin on pildid peamiselt päevast, kui me metsa sisenesime. [/su_spoiler]

 

 

 

A lot has happened since last post.

In the next couple of days, depending on will the internet access hold, I will try to catch up with current activities.

 

Couple of weeks ago, we went to Douala Edea Wildlife Reserve. It was supposed to become a national park, but then they found oil in there. So how was our trip? Did we see anything of interest? Well… the car above was our three-four hour ride there. It fits around 8 grownups inside.

This was the best there was to see. Doula-Edea wildlife reserve is undeveloped for tourists. And that meant, when we arrived in the central village, after suffering through crammed car for four hours, locals were asking what are we doing here?

We did manage to find a place to stay, in the small village with only one street. And we discovered that the only tourist who came here are really rich and just rent a boat for couple of days or have everything they need with them. That means a good offroad car and a guide.

When we started going back on the next day, the car was in much better shape. Or so we thought. Check out the front wheels. Still, 8 people in a car. And it does not matter, are the people big or small, fat or skinny. It is 8 persons in car and that’s it. We didn’t get lucky with skinny people.

 

Back in Doula, on our way to home.

[su_spoiler title=”Tõlge” icon=”plus-circle”]21 päeva hiljem

Palju on juhtunud viimasest postitusest.

Järgmise paari päeva jooksul, kui internet vastu peab üritan teid kurssi viia praeguste tegevustega.

Mõne nädala eest käisime me Douala Edea Looduspargis. See pidi saama rahvuspargiks, aga siis leidsid nad naftat siit. Kuidas meie väljasõit siis oli? Nägime me midagi huvitavat? No….eelnev pilt autost oli meie 3-4 tunnise teekonna sõiduk. Sinna mahub umbes 8 inimest.

See oli parim, mis seal näha oli. Doula-Edea looduspark pole väljaarendatud turistide jaoks. See tähendas seda, et kui me lõpuks kesksesse külasse jõudsime, pärast neljatunnist piina kitsas autos, siis külaelanikud küsisid, et mida me otsime siit?

Me suutsime leida endale koha kus ööbida, väikses, ainult ühe tänavaga külas. Ja me avastasime, et ainukesed turistid, kes siia tulevad on tõeliselt rikkad ja nad lihtsalt rendivad paadi paariks päevaks või on neil kõik mis nad vajavad juba kaasas. See tähendab head maastikuautot ja giidi.

Kui me järgmine päev tagasi hakkasime minema, siis auto oli enamvähem korras. Või nii me arvasime vähemalt. Pöörake tähelepanu esiratastele. Ikka 8 inimest autos. Ja pole vahet, kas need inimesed on paksud või peenikesed, pikad või lühikesed. See ei muuda ikka fakti, et kaheksa inimest on ikka kaheksa inimest ühes autos ja nii ongi. Meil polnud õnne peenikeste inimestega.

Doula-s, teel koju. [/su_spoiler]