Visit To The Farm

One of my early assignments at my job at Catholic University of Cameroon, Bamenda (CATUC) was to attend welcome gatherings for the first year students in each of the different schools of study.  One of the meetings I attended was for the school of Tropical Agricultural and Natural Resources.  It was fascinating to learn about the various ways food is produced in Cameroon.  It was also helpful to learn that cane rat is a delicacy here, and one in which I hope to avoid.   One speaker, George, really moved me with his story of acquiring a small piece of land as a young man and turning it into several productive large farms.  He was making the point that his true profession is an accountant but as an untrained farmer he has had a successful business.  The part that really got my attention is that the workers on the farm are children (12-22 years old) that he mentors and sponsors to go to school.  Otherwise these children would live in the village and receive no education.  After his talk I was able to visit with him and mentioned I would like to visit his farm sometime.  

About three months went by and George came to my office to tell me we will go to his farm on December 22 for a week or two.  He also mentioned that the farm was 3 hours away on bad roads.  I thought the visit to the farm was going to be a day outing and not an imposition of having to host all five of us for a week or two.  What could I do except agree.  The only problem is that we had made plans for Christmas with a couple of other families so we thought it would be best to be back on Christmas Eve.  George said it would be no problem to come back early but he thought it would be an experience to be at the farm for Christmas.  He invites the whole village to his house for a pig roast.  With our commitments already made we decided it best to still come back on Christmas Eve.  

George was right, the roads were bad.  We were in the car for four hours and about 3 1/2 hours of that time was on dirt roads but we finally made it to the farm just as it was getting dark.  The couple of days we had at the farm were wonderful.  George was an incredible host catering to our every need and desire.  He had arranged for us to visit the village and meet the mayor, police chief, border patrol chief, and priest.  We got the grand tour of the village.  People here often talk about the village and which one they came from, but it didn’t mean a lot to us as we had not fully experienced life in the village.  We realized where we live is definitely city life with many resources, and village life is very simple.

The farm was beautifully tucked away in the mountains surrounded by various streams.  The children that work on the farm were so loving and caring of us, especially to our children.  Our kids were able to eat freshly harvested sugar cane and help prepare all the meals over the fire.  It was impressive to see the work George had done on his farm in the 5 years he has owned it.  The land was basically vacant land for many years and now he has built two housing buildings, a large barn, pig sty and is in the process of building another home.  His main crop will be palm trees in which the nut is used to make palm oil, an essential ingredient in many of the dishes here.  He has also planted pineapple, mango, papaya, avocado, casava and many other vegetables along with having pigs, goats and chickens.  The community he has created with the children is remarkable.  Each of the children know their role at the farm and participates fully doing their part.  George provides the love, support and encouragement to each of the 15 children that they need in order to grow.

We felt very blessed to be invited into their home so warmly.  Now we have the great honor of being considered part of the family.  George extended our invitation to the farm at any time.  We will carry each of children at the farm in our hearts.  The farm is called Treasure Island which is an appropriate name as the children that live there have been given a treasure to have a chance to live a dignified life with an education and love they may not have found without George.

Peace,

Ryan