The Chicago Presbytery Overture to the 218th GA of the PC(USA)

The H.R. 6066, the Extractive Industries Transparency Disclosure Act

Announcement by the House Committee on Financial Services

An Expert Assessment on Water Points

by Valery Nodem, RELUFA Coordinator

Building on the observations and experiences from a few of its member organizations, RELUFA took the Chad Cameroon Oil and Pipeline Project as case study to adress the so-called resource curse that holds the region in its grip. This project extracts oil from landlocked Chad, which is pumped through a 680-mile long pipeline across neighboring Cameroon to an offshore loading platform, and onto a fleet of tankers bound for North America and Europe. All along its path the Pipeline traverses rivers, fields, villages and tropical rainforests.

The construction of the pipeline has been finished since 2003. Oil has already been flowing for almost five years, but hundreds of local communities are still crying for justice, calling the companies in charge of the project to repair all the damages that they sustained from the pipeline. For several years now, RELUFA has been working with a few non-profit organizations to monitor the developments and push the Cameroon Oil Transportation Company (COTCO), a consortium made up of the oil companies Exxon, Chevron and Petronas, to meet its obligations. But things are moving very slowly and COTCO has not shown a clear commitment to speed up the process to resolve these issues.

Drinking water concerns

From among all the complaints brought forward by the communities, RELUFA is treating the drinking water problems with the highest priority. Many water points had been built in compensation for destroyed natural springs or other damages, but have never produced clean drinking water. And so, through network member organization the Centre for Environment and Development (CED), two Israeli environmental engineers were sollicited to asses the situation around the disputed water points. Their final report reveals that most of the revamped water points are now either abandoned or show serious problems. It is important to point out that 90% of the villages where repairs were needed, had to wait for 2-5 years. Most of them did not have water at all during that time.

Summary of the main findings

In 2008 the two experts visited a total of 73 water points constructed by COTCO in 32 different villages. In short they found the following situation:

• Less than 5 years after their construction, 48% (35 waterpoints) of the 73 water points are currently abandoned or have serious problems. Waterpoints are expected to last at least 15 years
• 15% ( 11 waterpoints) have “relatively small problems”
• 12% (9 water points) have no problems
• 19% (14 waterpoints) are still under construction, or were finished very recently
• out of 31 points that were finally repaired after several years, 17 (55%) were abandoned before the renovation and 11 (35%) other ones had serious problems. In most of the cases, according to the villagers, the problems started during the first year after construction ended.
• Of the 73 waterpoints, 40 were prioritized for repair. From these 40, 15 are abandoned or have serious problems (flooding, no water during long periods of the year, serious damage to equipment or bad water quality that prevent using it for drinking). Only 2 of these 40 waterpoints have no problem.

Of the currently abandoned points from among the 73 wells visited, the total number of users is approximately 3,500 people. Total number of users of points that have serious problems is approximately 7,500 people. The types of problems encountered during the field visits are : no water at all in the well or coming out of the pipes, no water during dry season, bad quality or severe risks of water pollution, flood with source flooded with dirty water, broken or missing pipes, lack of disinfection, etc.

No money?! We won't buy that!

The report stresses the fact that this situation urgently needs to be resolved. During meetings of the platform made up of civil society representatives, COTCO and the Cameroonian government, the oil transportation company argues it doesn't have the money to speed up these repairs. Knowing how much money is made by the companies from the exploitation of oil, and hearing about Exxon' record breaking profits we simply cannot believe and accept this excuse for letting the villagers wait this long. In the current context of rising oil prices, it certainly is a hard argument to sell to the local communities traversed by the project. Considering the fact that the pipeline was built with the latest, high performance technology, and knowing that oil is already flowing anyway, this clearly is for the companies just a matter of “business as usual”!

In a closed meeting last May, CED and RELUFA jointly presented the expert report to COTCO's leadership, who are now preparing their response. We certainly hope that COTCO will urgently attend to the recommendations made and solve as soon as possible all the cases presented by local communities. We expect from COTCO concrete answers, repaired and well functioning water points and a plan to follow up on the water supplies in future.

Read the executive summary of the expert report

Believing in Change

by Ann Ohlrogge Johnson, Chicago JH Team member

 Parish Associate at Northminster Presbyterian Church, Evanston

As I prepared to return to Cameroon five years after my first trip in 2003, I began reading a book suggested by network coordinator Valéry Nodem. The Bottom Billion’s Oxford author presents four traps African countries are experiencing, which keep them from making progress, and he suggests four solutions to enable positive change.

My second visit to Cameroon confirmed for me that there is progress in Cameroon, and that RELUFA is an effective agent for that change.

Change through Trade Justice

I joined Christi Boyd on two consecuive days as she visited and interviewed five different women’s vegetable and fruit drying cooperatives in the context of RELUFA's new Trade Justice program. I learned of positive changes for the individuals we met and of some discouraging realities for others. But they were part of the preparation for change-- about the new fair trade possibility for Cameroonian fruit drying groups through Partners for Just Trade. This is a project around which RELUFA needs PCUSA congregations and Presbyteries to make connections throughout the USA.

All visits included an educational dialogue in which Christi Boyd explained fair trade, why the church is supportive of fair trade, and what being a fair trade partner would mean to a cooperative. In each case Christi asked, “Where did you get your fruit?” And IF the response was: “In the market”, and the drier did not know where and by whom the fruit was grown Christi explained that the fair trade means fair EARNINGS for each person in the producing chain and that the church wanted to be sure that no one was taken advantage of by a “middle man.”

Another reason for knowing the origin of any produce is being sure that there are no pesticides or other harmful products being used in the fields. She also asked each producer if financial records were kept of their business transactions. In several cases, the women brought out neatly handwritten records of their sales.

As a resident of Barack Obama’s home state of Illinois I am delighted to tell you about the first drying cooperative we visited, as it is led by... Mrs. Obama! Her introduction of herself created a response of warm hugs, laughter and the exchange of political hopes FOR CHANGE among us all. The fruit drying oven at the Obama's concession was the most basic one we would see during our visits, using charcoal as fuel despite all its fire hazard.

If RELUFA's Fair Trade program will indeed take of, the cooperative will likely apply for a CAP loan to purchase one of the modern gas oven models other groups use.

They already have a good record as CAP clients, having repaid a first loan that has helped them grow into a fish smoking business that is important to the entire neighborhood and beyond.

Change through peaceful campaigns

The main reason why my second visit to Cameroon came at this time was for me to represent the Presbytery of Chicago Joining Hands committee at a parralel training to the one we had received from PC(USA) Joining Hands staff a month earlier in Chicago. It began on Friday morning April 18th, when representatives from network member organizations gathered in RELUFA's office for a workshop on Campaign Organizing for Peaceful Social Change.

I was privileged to give the opening meditation in which I reflected on lessons learned five years ago from the late Rev. Woungly Massaga and the Rev. Louise Tappa, two Cameroonian pastoral leaders who presented at the 2003 conference of RELUFA on Global Trade. Their messages five years ago, calling each one of us to be who God intends us to be, and calling us to walk together to achieve social action and change, were an important part of what calls me back to Cameroon.

I was privileged to give the opening meditation in which I reflected on lessons learned five years ago from the late Rev. Woungly Massaga and the Rev. Louise Tappa, two Cameroonian pastoral leaders who presented at the 2003 conference of RELUFA on Global Trade. Their messages of five years ago, calling each one of us to be who God intends us to be, and calling us to walk together to achieve social action and change, were an important part of what calls me back to Cameroon.

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The morning also included theological reflections from Rev.Dr. Anyambod Emmanuel, Dean of the Protestant Theological University of Central Africa, in Yaounde, and Adamou Yaya, an Islamic leader, each of whom shared a perspective on change. Both days included instruction from Lionel, as well as exchanges of information and ideas by the participants. In my observation this RELUFA group was far more ready to take action as a Cameroonian network than the group that came together five years ago.

Discussions were more open and critical on governmental domination, and the calls for change sounded far clearer. In the small group discussions, ideas were generated for projects that would bring about needed changes: an investigation of the government’s structure and how the church might be an agent of change; the lack of safe water and food in the north of Cameroon; how to address unemployment of youth, and advocacy for the disabled within Cameroon.

Listening in belief

Our call as Chicago Joining Hands companions is to walk with our partners from RELUFA, making connections between their work and the need for change in Cameroon and in the wider world. The difference in how I experienced Cameroon five years ago and what I felt this spring came as I deepened my listening. Listening is in and of itself a gift we can give-- but this time I found myself focusing more on believing in the brave people of RELUFA and Cameroon, instead of wondering what we, as their partners, ought to be doing. What we need to do is believe as we listen, trusting that they know best which changes need to happen in their country and that the solutions to their problems lie within them. The opportunity to be part of the changes they initiate and carry out gives us a gift we all share as we work together to bring into being God’s intended shalom-- peace, wholeness and well being-- for us all.

It's not fair!

by Jeanne d'Arc Noubissi, Jeunes de Bonandam Group Leader

We are a group of four young women and men called "Jeunes de Bonandam" (Youth of Bonandam) and we process and dry various fruits and vegetables. Our drying unit is located in the town of Njombé in Cameroon’s Littoral province. In our drying activities, we have often benefited from technical support offered by the Agricultural Research Center for Plantains (CARBAP), which is based in Njombe. This center has a post-harvest laboratory sector, which also does research on fruit and vegetable drying activities in collaboration with local cottage industry drying groups. Anytime we want to, we can get our products examined there, and when they have foreign partners and interns come and visit them, CARBAP has them pass by us to see our drying unit.

One day, Mr. Max Rennes of the European Union (EU) came from Montpellier in France to Njombe, and brought with him a group of other representatives from the EU. As they visited our facility they were amazed at our drying unit and the simplicity of our  equipment. A few months later, some lady came from Belgie to organize a meeting of dryers from all over Central Africa in Douala, Cameroon. Mr. Max Rennes thought this would be a wonderful opportunity to promote the work and products of our drying activities. Unfortunately, his colleagues from the EU did not share his idea. Because when I requested to participate at the gathering, they said that, because our operation was not worth at least 50 million CFA francs (at the time about $75,000), we could not be invited to this important gathering of dryers.

After the event in Douala, the participants were brought over to Njombé to visit CARBAP. But Max Rennes took advantage of the occasion to express his dismay, and decided to stop by our "petty" drying facility with a large team of radio and television journalists. He insisting that, to strengthen the struggle against poverty, small grassroots operations such as ours should be prioritized for support and technical assistance, above already-powerful organizations. Interviews and on-camera reporting followed. Two days later, we received telephone calls from friends and family members who had seen the report about our drying unit on television.

All this was really upsetting and it gave us a sense of disillusionment from having been the victims of such outright inequality and unjust marginalization. We send hereby an impassioned S.O.S. to all people of good will, to help us advance from the grassroots level.

Credit Against Poverty (CAP)

We have so much more good news to share. But, even if on a webpage you don't seem to run out of space, readers do tend to run out of time. So we'll keep our story about Nelly's CAP Holidays catering project and her dreams for the future until the next edition of the Joining Hands Newsletter. It's a promise!