Tag Archives: Cameroon

Give the Original Piggy Bank

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Mr. Alyssi Eloundou Bathelemy and his wife Mrs. Kanse Ada Philomene
stand in front oftheir pig pen. Photos by Jake Lyell.

If Heifer animals are like “living savings accounts” for struggling families, the pig may well be the most interest-bearing. Each pig can provide a valuable source of protein, income from the sale of offspring and manure to nourish crops and soil.

Before receiving the gift of pigs and training in their care from Heifer supporters, Mr. Ayissi Eloundou Bathelemy and his wife Kanse Ada Philomene from Cameroon could hardly afford enough food for their six children and 13 grandchildren. Philomene almost died because she had no money to pay doctors, and her children were mocked for not being able to afford to go to school. Now she is able to plant watermelon, spinach and corn using the manure from her pigs as a rich, organic fertilizer. Their crop yields have improved so much that there has been enough money to pay for Philomene’s hospital bills and school fees for the children. Before Heifer, they only earned about $225 a year. Now they’re earning almost $750.


Fouda Marcelin, Bathelemy and Philomene’s grandson.

Health Care
Pigs can have up to 16 piglets in a litter, and piglets usually double their three-pound birth weight in their first week. With so many piglets, families can sell them faster, which means money from their sale at market. For many families, this money pays for doctors’ fees when health care is typically out of reach.

Resource Conservation
Pigs thrive on crop and garden waste and food scraps. Because of this, families don’t have to dedicate much land to grow food for their pigs. That means more food for the family to eat or sell. This also contributes to less waste per family.

Better Local Economy
With livestock, families need veterinarians. That’s why Heifer trains locals as Community Animal Health Workers so they can meet the needs of families raising livestock. Communities benefit from healthier pigs, so more families are lifted out of poverty as more pigs are passed on.

This holiday season, give a pig in honor of your Uncle Jim, the family accountant. And read more here about Heifer’s work with pigs.

Corrections made to this post 12/14/11.

Moving Away From Bush Meat

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Here’s something to think about on World AIDS Day: a gift of livestock could help prevent the next HIV from ever arising.



Photo by Michael Padmanaba/CIFOR

Many viruses, like HIV, Ebola and SARS, begin in animals before jumping to the human population. HIV actually got a foothold in humans back in the 1920s in central Africa, but didn’t spread until road and air travel became easier. According to experts, viruses are more likely to make the leap and cause human disease if they come from exotic, rather than domestic, animals – the kind hunted and eaten by people in poverty all around the world.

Heifer International hosted a presentation this week by the world’s foremost experts on the risks of “bush meat” – the staff of Global Viral Forecasting. This California-based organization works around the globe, often in remote hunter-gatherer communities, to develop a system that could actually prevent pandemics before they start.

Heifer’s mission fits in with this job as perfectly as “peanut butter and chocolate,” says Dr. Nathan Wolfe, GVF’s founder. As he tries to convince hunters not to butcher and eat exotic animals, many of which are endangered, the people often reply, “What else can we eat?”

Photo by Jake Lyell

It’s a fair question. Heifer International understands that for people who have little land, animal protein can be the only available source of sustenance for children and families. That’s why domestic animal agriculture, when it’s done right, can help protect wild animals and their environment for future generations.

Heifer is exploring ways to partner with GVF in places like Cameroon to help give communities options besides bush meat. It’s a chance to (to use an unfortunate metaphor) kill three birds with one stone: feeding the hungry, protecting rare species, and possibly preventing dangerous diseases.

In Praise of Rural Women

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Today is International Day of Rural Women. In honor of the rural women with whom Heifer works, Elizabeth Bintliff, regional director of Heifer’s West Africa Program, wrote the following post.


Say the word “rural” and it conjures up all kindsof images, some positive and some negative; vast expenses of land, no modernfacilities, illiterate or ignorant people, poor, agrarian, scarce and more.When you put the word in the context of a developing country, and add thegender dimension, one begins to understand the enormous challenges that ruralwomen face.

It is for all these reasons and more that the UNGeneral Assembly established the International Day of Rural Women in 2008 to becelebrated on the eve of World Food Day. This day commemorates what the UN characterizes as “the critical roleand contribution of rural women, including indigenous women, in enhancingagricultural and rural development, improving food security and eradicatingrural poverty.”


For all the challenges they face, rural women stillhave to feed and sustain their children and families against innumerable odds. Theirdays often begin earlier than the sun rises and end long after the sun sets. Inbetween, they are fetching water – often across great distances, usuallybalancing heavy vessels on their heads, gathering firewood for fuel, workinghunched-over on farms to grow food using rudimentary implements, sometimes withbabies tied precariously on their backs. Life for rural women can be especiallydifficult, and the rewards of their labor are usually small.

The good news is that creating a better livelihoodfor rural women often requires little investment. The key ingredient is simply opportunity.

TakeDiana Asua, a 37-year-old wife and mother of three children, for example. Shelives in a rural community of Santa in Cameroon and is her husband’s secondwife. In addition to her own children, she is raising the six children of herco-wife, who is now diseased.


Dianadescribes herself 11 years ago as “a mere housewife who depended on my husbandtotally for everything about my upkeep and that of the family.  I was also engaged in farming, as any villagewoman would do.”


Agift of pigs from Heifer in 2007 turned things around for her. Soon, theavailability of manure meant better farm production, there we pigs to fattenand sell, there was income to pay for school fees and medical bills. There wasa path out of poverty. Inthe time since she first received her animals she’s sold 116 pigs and manykilos of vegetables.

“Ihave collected at least 120 bags or 12,000 kg of manure from my pigsty. If Iwere to buy this manure, it would have cost at least 480,000FCFA ($898.50). I nowproduce corn, beans and Irish potatoes on the same half hectare of farm andhave gotten another half hectare for cabbage, leeks and carrots. I started allof this after having gotten seeds from Heifer. I harvest at least 1000kg ofcorn, 50kg of beans, 150kg of Irish potatoes, 6,000kg of cabbage, 2000kg ofcarrots and 750kg of leaks yearly. All of these were reserved just for menbefore; now look at where I am as a woman.”

Lifeis tough for rural women. It takes a great amount of industrial spirit to eke alife in places where there is so little. Yet, a large percentage of the worlddoes it every day, in the remote recesses of the earth, in places that areoften un-named and uncharted.

Soit is meaningful that on the International Day of Rural Woman we all pausefor a moment to recognize the brave, industrious women who make it happen. It’simportant that we look at them, if only for a day but hopefully for longer andsay to them: “We see you, you are making a meaningful contribution to the world, and we acknowledge you.“

A Commitment to Feed 100,000 Families

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We all agree – global hunger is a big problem, and there’s a need for big solutions. Today, Elanco announced its commitment to end hunger for 100,000 families globally through a partnership with Heifer. Together, we’ll identify small communities in developing countries that could substantially benefit from the gift of an animal, as well as training in animal husbandry, health care and other practices.

Elanco is a division of Eli Lilly and Company. At their Indianapolis-area headquarters today, Elanco’s president Jeff Simmons said, “We believe every person is born with the right to a hopeful future, and the right to be fed, but today, 1 in 6 people globally are hungry. More than 25,000 people die each day from hunger and malnutrition. That’s like 60 fully-loaded jumbo jets crashing each and every day.”

That’s a sobering thought.

Heifer’s CEO Pierre Ferrari was also on hand for the announcement, and he talked about the importance of a global network that will work in unison toward this shared goal. “This partnership involves more than just Elanco the company. It’s about the employees, too, and customers, the company’s entire network, working with us and with smallholder farmers to help them transform their own lives and futures.”

Already Elanco and Heifer work in Indonesia and Zambia, where we’re working jointly to establish local milk market outlets, improve production and conservation practices and train animal health workers. Today, Elanco announced it will partner with Heifer to work in the Hebei province of China, where more than 20 million families live on less than $1 a day. In that region, we’ll deliver the gifts of livestock and training to 800 families.

A group of Elanco executives and Heifer staffers just returned from a visit to Cameroon where they saw first hand the work Heifer is doing with smallholder farmers there. You can read their thoughts about the trip on their blog.  

So what do you think? What are some big or small solutions to the hunger problem? How could large companies follow Elanco’s example and make a real difference in the lives of hungry families?

The Question of the Day in Cameroon

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Heifer International is fortunate to have a partnership with Elanco, and a number of people from their Swine Business Unit are visiting Heifer projects in Cameroon this week. The Elanco group chose Cameroon because Heifer has a number of pig-focused projects in the country. The giving of pigs means a food source that allows a village the opportunity to thrive through the continued benefit of sustainable agricultural practices. 

The group is keeping an online travelogue, and the following is an excerpt from the post they shared at the end of day two…
“As we approached nightfall, we arrived in Bamenda. During our group dinner we discussed the question of the day: “Why are we here?” As this group is a combination of Elanco employees, Heifer International staff (including three native Cameroonians) and Elanco customers, we had some differing but overall cohesive reasons for coming to Cameroon and participating on this study tour:
  1. We want to understand more about Heifer International, their work in Cameroon and how to get involved.
  2. We realize we are fortunate for everything that we have and what we are able to do as U.S. citizens. We want to exchange knowledge and show other people back home what is happening in the world and how we can play a greater role.
  3. Personally and professionally, this is a great way to grow and stretch ourselves. This is an opportunity for us to take this experience back to our friends, family, customers, students and peers back home to make it more personal to each of us.
“The question also posed to the group this evening was “What is one thing I want to learn or do before I leave Cameroon?” We will be making a list and holding each other accountable to do and discuss these things prior to heading home on May 31. If you are interested in seeing what this list looks like and learning about the next couples days we will spend in the Western Highlands of Cameroon exploring culture and agriculture, continue to join us on [our] blog…”

Out of Poverty with Snails in Cameroon

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Written by Heifer Staff

Eating snails for meals has long been associated with certain tribes in Cameroon. In the South West region, snail meat is an important food for all occasions. Lean and low in cholesterol and fat, snail meat contains high levels of iron and carbohydrates. In some parts of Cameroon, snail meat is also recommended to nursing mothers and malnourished. Due to its affordability and availability all year round, it is often preferred over beef or pork.A pilot project on improved snail farming was first launched in 1999 in the South West region by Heifer Cameroon, with funding from the British High Commission. The results of the project demonstrated that snail production has potential to increase household incomes.

A few years later Heifer Cameroon launched a full-scale snail program funded by Bothar, Ireland. The project was aimed at assisting farmers in improving nutrition by alleviating protein deficiency and scaling up production to match supply with demand. Project participants received training in snail farming techniques including construction of snails’ habitat, nutrition, promotion of good health and reproduction.
“When you provide the right conditions, they [snails] actually do multiply and get ready for the market,” explains Dr. Henry Njakoi, Heifer Cameroon Country Director. A snail matures at 5 months on the average and lays between 100-150 eggs annually. Under intensive and good farm management, hatchability is about 90% of 100-150 eggs.
Joseph Wamba, a member of a Heifer-supported group is gradually pulling his family out of poverty thanks to the Heifer-supported snail farming project. Joseph received 1500 adult snails alongside training in improved snail husbandry, agricultural inputs and equipment. Through his relentless efforts in snail farming and gardening, he saw his annual income more than double.
Joseph Wamba and his daughter, Meda Rachelle, aged 8
“This boosted our family nutrition. We supplemented our meals twice a week with the consumption of snails. Our health improved as food availability became a reality in our home thanks to this Heifer supported snail project.” He admitted joyfully. Before joining Heifer, his household faced major livelihood challenges. “I spent my day hustling with passengers around the motor park to earn $2 daily. With this, I bought food for the family.”
Today, with increased income and nutrition derived from this project, Joseph and his family are now living a healthy lifestyle. Beyond his home, he has also gained respect and recognition as head of the snail monitoring committee and chief of farm works in his group.