Mirror Post
Since there is a lot of personal stuff interwoven on this blog, I decided to create a "business only" blog to chronicle only the work that we are doing in Cameroon. Whenever I post on that site, I will try to mirror it on this one as well. I will not be the only contributor on the new blog, so there will be as many as 10 people's thoughts and perspectives to read! These are exciting times! Keep up with our movements in the next 5 months. The past year has been all about getting ready for tomorrow...
This blog is dedicated to chronicling the progress of 10 people from the Himalayan Institute as they travel to a small town called Kumbo in the Northwest Province of Cameroon, West Africa.
Where is Cameroon you ask? It is the dark shaded area on the map of the continent of Africa below:
And while we are talking about Africa... Contrary to what many people who I speak with about Africa might think, Africa is a continent, made up of 54 different countries. In fact, I do not know if people understand just how big the continent is. Below is a graphic that we stumbled upon a few month back. It really helps put in perspective the enormity of Africa:
Africa is MASSIVE, and yes some of the places in those 54 countries are not necessarily what you would call sought after vacation spots, but by and large Africa is a beautiful continent inhabited by beautiful people. Who just want the same things that most people want in this life - food, shelter, clothing, education, and a way to make life better for their families.
That is where we hope to help.
Our main goal will be to create a solid foundation for a community center that will be the wellspring of micro enterprise in the rural city of Kumbo. WE will be starting with a jewelry making apprenticeship, and a BioVedic(tm) Energy Farming apprenticeship. Both of these initial programs take very little resources to begin, and can have a positive effect in a very short amount of time.
The main focus of the Himalayan Institutes's Global Humanitarian Projects are:
Mission Statement
The Himalayan Institute’s Global Humanitarian Initiative brings forth a sustainable model for personal development and social regeneration, empowering rural communities throughout the world to transform and enrich their lives.
The goal is to bring lasting transformation at multiple levels through an integrated approach to rural empowerment, based on a sustainable community center model. HI Community Centers will offer a range of rural empowerment services, which fall into four basic categories: health care, education, income generation, and restoration and preservation of cultural heritage. Upon this foundation a wide variety of humanitarian projects will be undertaken, tailored to the specific development needs of each rural community.
Social Regeneration
Social regeneration is at the heart of the Institute’s humanitarian mission. The goal of the Institute’s Global Humanitarian Initiative is to address the full spectrum of social needs, offering a comprehensive solution to the multitude of deeply intertwined issues rural communities face. Collectively, the goal of these humanitarian projects is to empower individuals to transform their communities at a grassroots level, thus stimulating lasting social regeneration from within.
The following is our 5-point plan for social regeneration, which will be implemented at each HI Community Center.
- Advanced Farming – This particular component will be advertised in the United States as well, bringing participating students – those who will learn and, as part of their hands-on experience, teach the local people.
- Biovedic™ Farming: Land Management, Waste management, Waste
Utilization, Bio-dynamic™ composting.
- Internship: Hands-on training in soil preparation, growing seedlings,
planting, harvesting, warehousing, processing, and preserving.
c. Varcho Veda® Botanicals: Basic principles of Ayurveda - the science of health and longevity; dynamics of herbology; in-depth study of principal herbs used in complementary medicine, natural nutritional supplements, and herbal product lines especially in beauty and skin care.
d. Farming Pilot Projects & Out-grower Support: Food crops, cash crops, energy crops, cattle feed, herb farming, and farming of aromatic plants.
- Cottage Industries
- Food processing
- Herb extraction
- Essential oil distillation
- Skin-care/health products and nutritional supplements using locally grown agricultural products
- Polytechnic Training Programs – Restoration and preservation of indigenous arts and crafts, especially those which enhance the productivity of rural agrarian society. Provide training which has immediate applicability to local farms and collage industries. For example, welders making fences; blacksmiths and carpenters providing chairs, stools, desks, and other furniture for the nursery and warehouse; and basket makers providing baskets for carrying seeds.
- Advanced training in indigenous arts and crafts such as jewelry making, basket-making, weaving, pottery, hand-made paper making, block printing, etc.
- Vocational training in metal-workmanship, carpentry, construction, dairy farming, bee keeping, etc.
- Business Training Programs
- Marketing and distribution of agricultural and locally manufactured products at rural, semi-urban, and urban levels.
- Introducing co-op shop concept to cut down overhead of making daily necessities available to needy people at an affordable cost.
- Proper positioning of local/agricultural output – most preferably as a “value-added product” – and strategizing its rightful place in the global market, especially the market known as LOHAS (Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability).
- Education and Health Services
- AIDS prevention and treatment programs
- Training program for AIDS educators, counselors, health care providers, volunteers and AIDS patients and their families.
- Primary health care centers – clinic/dispensary for general ailments, nutritional supplements, general public health programs.
- Nursing school specializing in palliative care
- Children’s school
- Community Center
HI Community Center – A Global Vision
Starting in spring of 2007, the Institute will be launching pilot projects aimed at comprehensive social regeneration in Uganda (East Africa), Cameroon (West Africa) and India. The process begins with an awareness campaign, where people will be educated about the principles of personal health and well-being, the importance of sending their children to school, sanitation, optimal utilization of local resources, land stewardship, and ultimately educate them to unfold and harness their own hidden potentials so that they become productive members of their society. Upon this base of trust and enthusiasm, the local community will not only be energized and mobilized to build and utilize the services the Community Center will offer, but also be vastly more productive members of any other endeavor in which they are involved.
The awareness campaign aims at inspiring them to take full advantage of all the core services which we will be offering, including the following main components:
- HIV/AIDS Treatment Program
Offering treatment based on standard pharmaceutical drugs, herbal medicines, nutritional supplements, and counseling services to HIV-positive and AIDS patients.
- HIV/AIDS Prevention Programs
Our preventive model is based on education that accommodates religious sentiments, cultural values, economic conditions, community dynamics, family values, and individual mindsets while teaching people about this disease, its prevention, intervention, treatment, and support.
- Cultural Center
Offering a wide range of educational and cultural activities such as indigenous arts and crafts, music and dance, income generation programs, and educational and health counseling, including hygiene, diet, nutrition, family planning, and advanced farming techniques.
- Children’s School
Children’s school running from first to eighth grade. This school will give priority to the children who have fallen out of the safety net of their family and society.
- Training in BioVedic Farming
Offering training and internships in BioVedic farming based on the program which Varcho Veda currently offers in the US. Interns will learn how to grow organic herbs, aromatic plants, and fruits and vegetables; how to process them, extract, and in some cases, how to preserve and can them. People trained at the Institute will become leaders in organic farming herbal gardening, and energy farming.
6. Harnessing Indigenous Talent
Supporting the revival of local craftsmanship such as biodynamic composting, weaving, carpentry, folk art, folk dance, pottery, sculpture, and beekeeping.
- Training in Microbusiness
Teaching the basic principles of business, the dynamics of entrepreneurial spirit, and the businesses people can start in their own community. Once trained, they will market the products made by “the indigenous talent” as well a range of energy farming products. They will take these products from door to door, street to street, city to city, and in the process, those who are poor today will become rich tomorrow.
- Cooperative Shop
Eventually, there will be cooperative shopping centers run by those who were given training in microbusiness, and took a leading role in their communities as local entrepreneurs. During the pilot project phase, these shops may begin in a humble manner, but as hundreds of villages near and around the region are economically empowered, the concept of cooperative shops will be taken to the next level. This target audience may be poor today, but within a few years, their buying power will be significantly higher than average rural citizens. The cooperative shops will be an important part of our approach to social regeneration, as it will enable wealth to flow back into the local economy in a constructive and thoughtful manner
Spotlight Focus: HIV/AIDS Integrative Healthcare Initiative
Research to date demonstrates that social pathology is the breeding ground for the pandemic of HIV/AIDS. There is clear evidence that poverty, illiteracy, abuse of women, and children, domestic violence, drug and alcohol abuse, and HIV/AIDS go hand in hand. Effective prevention, treatment, and eventual eradication of HIV/AIDS, therefore, demand that we address all these issues in a balanced and practical manner.
We therefore aim at the prevention and treatment of this pandemic within the broader context of the patient’s social, economic, and cultural circumstances. Only a comprehensive approach to combating HIV/AIDS will truly be able to provide a lasting solution. Our approach to HIV/AIDS prevention, education, treatment, and support is designed in a holistic manner, as a primary component of our goal of social regeneration, and seeks to combat HIV/AIDS within the broader context of the deeper social needs of rural society.
Our approach is based on a model which fully accommodates the religious sentiments, cultural values, economic conditions, community dynamics, family values, and individual mindsets while educating people about this disease, and offering prevention, treatment, and support. The treatment model includes standard pharmaceutical drugs, herbal medicines, and nutritional supplements, as well as counseling for the patient and their family. When combined with our full range of services, including education for their children, and overall economic empowerment, we may enable them to live with a greater sense of hope and security.
The Journey begins on 17 June 2007.
Jeff Abella and Matthew Douzart (pictured below - Jeff is the one with hair) will comprise the first group arriving in Douala on the eve of 18 June.
We will be met by three local Cameroonians who are taking the lead with the day to day management of the Himalayan Institute Cameroon. The main objective of the preliminary team in Douala is to locate a shipment that has all of our supplies in the port, and to push to have it cleared as quickly as possible and paying as little to no tax as possible. Once the container is through the port we will work to have a van and a jeep offloaded from the container, and the auxiliary items loaded onto a leased 20 ton truck so that we can caravan the goods to the HIC’s new home on Sakah Street in Tobin, Kumbo. We are planning to spend a maximum of 10 days in Douala to clear this shipment, and also to scout some other potential projects in the port city area.
The CEO of the HIC has informed us that the coffee cooperative that we have been working with has been working on cleaning up the building that we are leasing and painting it in anticipation for our arrival.
The remainder of the team of 8 people are tentatively set to arrive in Douala on 28 or 29 June. At that point we can really make a giant splash in Kumbo!
much, Much more to come...
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