Connections



Katie, Maureen, Mayor Larry, me, Kathie

Connections happen differently in Cameroon then they do in America.  Perhaps it is from the combination of being an expatriate living in Cameroon and the open hospitality of Cameroonians.  In the middle of February I was at a yoga class and met Chris and Katie.  That morning I was equally surprised to find a place in Kumbo that offers yoga classes and to meet two white people from America.  After asking the usual questions of how long they were here and what they were doing here, I invited them to my house for pizza.  That evening I learned that Katie is from Minnesota, Chris from Wisconsin, they met while attending the University of Wisconsin and quickly understood why they enjoyed the cheese on my pizza so much.  They explained that they do not have a refrigerator at their house and were missing dairy products.  Thus, I wasn’t too surprised when they told me they met the Mayor of Jakiri, a nearby city, who also owns one of the few operating dairies in the country. 




Mborro's deworming their cattle

 

This past week they invited me to meet the Mayor and visit his dairy.  Mayor Larry, as we call him, picked us up in his Toyota 4Runner and during the 45-minute car ride explained that he went to the University of Minnesota and lived in the Twin Cities for ten years learning about the American dairy industry.  I made the connection that this is the same industry that my mother’s family has been a part of since they immigrated to Minnesota from Holland.  In his American accent, he told us that he worked with Land O’Lakes to start a dairy in Cameroon.  The dairy operates like a co-op and works the Mborro farmers to produce yogurt and cheese.  This concept is revolutionary in Cameroon because the Mborro farmers do not tend to settle in one location with their cows, but move around with them to greener pastures. However, the Mborros who are a part of the Tadu Dairy Co-Op stay close the dairy during the wet season and then migrate during the dry season.  This explanation led to a good discussion between Katie, Mayor Larry, and I as we made connections between Tadu dairy and how to bring development from the West that is flexible and culturally sensitive




Processing yogurt

  During the tour of the dairy, we were shown how they produce yogurt, a desired product among wealthy Cameroonians, cheese, an even more desired product among the expatriates in Cameroon, and the equipment for processing milk.  Our tour guide explained that they aren’t producing milk yet because there is not much of a market for the product among Cameroonians.  I knew this, but was particularly relevant as this past week I have als been researching nutritional rickets in Cameroon and making the connection that the cause of the disease is most likely not because of deficiency in vitamin D, as it is typically classified, but because of a calcium deficiency.  I was doing the research in preparation for a health talk I gave for the physical therapists at the nearby Banso Baptist Hospital.  Because yogurt and powdered milk are too expensive for a typical Cameroonian the best local source for calcium is eating chicken and fish bones (which is normal).   Below are some more pictures of the dairy.


  
 

Cheese to sell to the white men




Containers for milk collection







View of the Dairy