The Malima Support Group have just completed the transfer of funds to Cameroon for the purpose of exploring for a sustainable source of potable water in underground lenses. Should this initiative be successful this would be the solution to a problem that has existed since time began in this region.
The village of Gouria goes from a situation of plenty of water in the rainy season, to drought conditions when the most dreadful circumstances prevail. Hopefully, a borehole will find those underground water reservoirs that surely do exist. That would change the quality of life year-round beyond the wildest imagination of the residents.
In order to get a good idea of what residents have to deal with during the dry season, the next time that you wash your floor and are at the point of discarding the water, remember, that is what they have to drink and bathe with. We can only cross our fingers and hope that is all about to change.
And speaking about change, I just received an e-mail from Felix, (Malima’s Director) wherein he tells me that he is taking a course in computer literacy. He has sent me the accounts in XCEL format. Seven years ago when the school began, communications between Spain and Cameroon was painfully slow and laborious. No-one there had even heard of the internet. Indeed, communication between the north and the south of the country was virtually non-existent. Now we are using computers at Malima.
Mobile telephones were just being introduced seven years ago, but only in the capital city of Yaounde. Now, the country is covered, and even in the remote area of Gouria, Felix can go to the top of the Malima crest and find a directional signal and call Spain.
Meanwhile, the internet is coming more into its own. Village people are so excited by this that they will make the day trip into Maroua, or perhaps into Mokolo, which is closer to send and receive and to surf.
Our village was under-served in just about every way when we were introduced to it by Bene Tize, co-founder of the school. Within the intervening period the village has come to acquire the finest school in the Extreme North; a public library, its own shops, electricity, another mill, and a donated 4X4 that will serve several vital functions. The children of the school all have birth certificates that prove that they actually exists, and are vaccinated.
And now, for the most difficult challenge of all: to find a sustainable source of clean and potable water. That would be a dream come true. For that we need everybody to cross everything that can be crossed and to wish with all your might.
Stay tuned!
Eugene
