Putting Justice in the Bag

by Sharon Gillies, Presbyterian Women Associate Editor

“We want to work every day,” said Beatrice Nganzeu, momentarily pausing bagging papaya to look over at us to say this.

I was standing in the corner of RELUFA’s fruit drying facility in Njombé with two colleagues from Presbyterian Women and RELUFA staff, trying to absorb as much about their operation, plans for the future and personal stories as we could. And what Beatrice and her four colleagues wanted us to know was that they appreciated Presbyterian Women’s investment in helping the fruit drying operation thrive, and that they were committed—as in work-every-day-committed—to the same goal.

In this part of Cameroon—often called the country’s food basket—the majority of fruit comes from an agriculture giant that is affiliated with Dole. The company employs a huge number of Cameroonians, but for low wages, with incredibly long hours and in grueling, sometimes life-threatening conditions. RELUFA’s fruit drying project offers an alternative.

RELUFA and FAIR FRUIT

For the young women who work as fruit dryers, partnering with RELUFA means a fair wage. It means being treated fairly, rather than being exploited as a cog in a giant corporation. And the farmers who grow and harvest the fruit benefit as well. Ever since the large corporation came to the area, many farmers have been evicted from their land. And those who still had land to farm found they couldn’t sell their produce in the local market that was saturated with cheap fruit from the large corporation. RELUFA offers the farmers a fair price for their product and celebrates the knowledge and skill of the farmers and dryers to create together a quality product.

This fair wage for fair work is at the heart of RELUFA’s mission to end poverty, hunger and socioeconomic and environmental injustices. RELUFA is the PC(USA)'s Cameroonian Joining Hands partner and has four main programs that create life-affirming alternatives to exploiting people and the earth.

• Grain banks in northern Cameroon store grain for families of community farmers to borrow in hard times and pay back during the harvest, promoting food sovereignty.
• Monitoring the extractive resources so the profits reach the Cameroonian public creates transparency and equity around the country’s natural resources.
• Microloans reach out to the country’s marginalized people, investing in their personal development.
• The FAIR FRUIT project pays fruit growers and dryers a reasonable wage, while advocating for land and trade justice.
  

RELUFA and Presbyterian Women

In July 2011, Presbyterian Women (PW) awarded a Thank Offering grant to RELUFA’s fruit drying project. As an editor for PW, I had actually edited the Thank Offering materials, taking the information from RELUFA’s application and summarizing it to interpret what the Offering would accomplish. At that time, for me, RELUFA was just one of the 26 projects who received a grant for the year. It was a wonderful project to be sure; members of PW’s Creative Ministries Offering Committee had selected it from almost 70 proposals to receive funds, committing $30,000. While I never doubted that the program was meaningful, I also never imagined that I’d go to Cameroon to see it in person, hearing from the women and men whose lives are changing for the better because of RELUFA. Two colleagues from Presbyterian Women—Virginia Hines (from PW’s Mission Relationships Committee) and Kathy Reeves (PW associate for mission) were my travelling companions in Cameroon. We shared the privilege of seeing PW’s mission dollars at work.

Thank you !!! Merci !!! Thank you !!! ----------- To ALL Presbyterian Women a heartfelt "Thank You" for your generous support of our Farm to Market Strategy ------------ Merci !!! Thank you !!! Merci !!!

FAIR FRUIT and its producers

Beatrice and the other four fruit dryers were working in a small room in a concrete block building. A fan in the corner of the room circulated the warm air and intermittent chatter and teasing between the women. Having cut up papaya and put them in the ovens to dry the previous day, they were now weighing, bagging and sealing the product.

Almost on autopilot, they answered our questions about the fruits they process (pineapple, mango, banana and papaya), how long it takes to dry the fruit (24–30 hours, depending on which fruit), the hours they work (four or five hours a few days a week). After a little prodding, they share their personal stories.

Marie Odette Kamga was just seven when the land on which her mother grew their family’s food was confiscated. Her mother struggled to find another plot to grow what they needed, and eventually found available land, although it was much farther away. Clarisse Bello was 11 when the same thing happened to her family. Working with RELUFA now, Clarisse earns an income that allows her to provide improved nutrition for her 18-month-old and basic needs for her family.

The two other women, Odette Bello and Blanche Nyame, are also thankful to be working with RELUFA. Although all of the women work here part-time, they have other jobs to supplement their incomes. The women sometimes have two-week lulls when all of the cooperative’s fruit has been dried and bagged. Beatrice and all of the women are eager for the operation to avoid such down time.

The farmers who grow for RELUFA hope for increased production as well. Andre Foka farms two hectares, less than a third of what he farmed before his land was confiscated. Only a portion of that two hectares yields fruit for RELUFA; the other parts allow him to piece together an income to provide for his family of 17. He grows palm nut trees to produce palm oil, peppers and a multitude of other crops to sell.

FAIR FRUIT and its Trade Partners

RELUFA’s dried fruit production is already growing steadily. In 2009 they dried and packaged 300kg of dried fruit, and in 2010 this increased to 800 kilograms. At the end of November this year, they had already produced 1,100 kilograms. Partners for Just Trade distributes the fruit in the United States, and select stores in Cameroon also sell it.

The RELUFA network is working steadily and intentionally to grow the business in the right way, ensuring its sustainability and just treatment of workers. They’re studying markets in Europe and the United States to find the best fit for distributing their dried fruit. They’re making plans for the solar-powered ovens they had identified to let them continue sustainable and earth-respectful production.

And in case I forgot to mention it, they’re also making some really delicious dried fruit!

A Whirlwind Tour

by Franck Bieleu, Documentary Maker

Such an exhilarating adventure it is to make a film about socio-economic injustices that for sure will have a positive fallout for the local population ! It’s exactly what is happening with « The Big Banana », the documentary that describes the situation for the people of Njombé-Penja in face of a French-American transnational that is happily exploiting the community’s human and natural resources without great gain for the local population. I would never have imagined, not even in my wildest dreams, that this little project with its tiny budget would come this far touring three continents and, thanks to various film festivals, broadcasted all over the world.

A field day for the media

It all started with what felt like a slap in the face on 26 April 2011, when police entered the Muna Foundation to prohibit the documentary’s screening under the pretext that the authorizations needed to do that had not been obtained. Let me be clear that this event had been organized by RELUFA and its partners of CED and ACDIC under the umbrella of the Food Sovereignty Coalition in Cameroon (COSAC). The initial objective was to show the film to a hand-picked audience to discuss the problems that are burdening that region. The screening fell under the scope of strictly private events, which according to the Cameroonian law don’t need any authorization from the Cameroonian government.

This said, the prohibition of the film’s screening fell like a bomb. I was even more distraught since I had been impatiently waiting for the moment this project was finally going to be screened. But my bewilderment didn’t last very long because paradoxically, the next morning this prohibition actually returned a positive response from the standpoint of media attention. National and international media had a field day. The information was transmitted through Radio France International (RFI) as well as the Bristish Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Voice of America (VOA), Jeune Afrique, Alternative Economique etc.

Europe bound

Having had to conclude that presenting the film in Cameroon was for the moment impossible, it seemed necessary to go beyond the Cameroonian boundaries in order to share this information with people concerned about human well-being.

Thanks to welcoming hands from French organizations like Peuples Solidaires and Survie, a first projection was organized on 16 June 2011 in Paris, and the documentary finally had its première in the presence of about 100 people. This event allowed a civil debate on social responsibility of large corporations, not just in Cameroon but in all of Africa.

Presbyterian support

Having been able to present "The Big Banana" in Paris meant the world for me; but the adventure did not stop there because a few weeks earlier, I already had received an invitation from the Presbyterian Church (USA) through their mission worker in Cameroon, Christi Boyd, for me to go to the US and show my work in different States, where simultaneously conventions were taking place about the agricultural sector in rural areas in the US.

I am most grateful that the invitation so graciously offered to me was fully covered by the Presbyterian Church and gave me the extra-ordinary opportunity to share the story of the Njombé-Penja community; it also allowed me to discover that the problems decried in “The Big Banana” documentary were not just specific for Cameroon but relevant to agricultural laborers in general, be they Cameroonian, American or else. This project, which started in a tiny region of Cameroon was going to take an international scope.

Through Valéry Nodem, the PC(USA) organized several screening-debates events in Oklahoma, Kentucky and Indiana. The tour through these different States allowed me to meet people from different backgrounds and to share with them about the difficulties of the people of Njombé-Penja and the banana workers of the companies there. I can honestly say that without the support of all these individuals and their organizations, « The Big banana » would have gone unnoticed and the situation been more desperate for the people living in this community.

The snowball effect
The adventure continued to the US capital city of Washingtin DC, where I was put in touch with the “Institute for Policy Studies” (IPS), an American NGO that prospers in its political context. This was an excellent meeting orchestrated by a passionate Cameroonian lady, Mireille Dieupe, whom I’ve gotten to know through another very active member of the Cameroonian diaspora in the US, Jules Kontchou. All these people have given their best to make sure the film was shown to the Cameroonian community as well as to an American audience. On 11 August, IPS and its partners of TransAfrica Forum, the Center for Food Safety and IRLS, screened the film in Washington DC with an audience of over 150 poeple.

The film stirred so much emotion in the audience that I received the request to present the film in different film festivals in the US, among others the Africa Diaspora International Film Festival in New York where the film featured on 4 December and aroused even more responses from organizations such as ArtMattan Productions, which asked for the film to be shown at the Colombia University in the next few weeks. I further have been invited to the World African Documentary Film Festival in St Louis and the Aljazeera International Film Festival in Qatar.

There were still more events, like the screening-debate organized by Partners for Just Trade, the Doerr Center and Plowsharing Craft at the University of St. Louis, followed a little later by a similar event at Stanford University. Frankly, the American tour of « The Big Banana » stirred as much emotion for me as for the Americans who traveled long distances to learn what is happening in that small part of Cameroon.

Brussels: in the lion's den

In my eyes the most important presentation that could change things in Njombé, is the one held at the European Parliament on 19 October 2011. Through the Africa-Europe Peace and Justice Network (AEPJN), three Euro-Parliamentarians insisted on having a screening of the documentary at the European Parliament itself, immediately followed by discussion.

It should to be understood that the European Union is annually granting close to 5 millions Euros in subsidies to the Cameroonian banana sector, and that that banana produced in the plantations of the plantations established in the Njombe-Penja area is almost entirely exported for the European market. And so, the European lawmakers are the best placed people to bring a noticeable change to the situation of that community. Initiated by these parliamentarians, a commission will travel to Cameroon to investigate the situation and assess the socio-economic impact of the company on the community.

Change is coming

The three-continent tour has allowed me to bring the problems out in the open; I believe that all these organizations and individuals who have been willing to make this happen should stick their heads together to continue pressuring the main stakeholders in the banana sector, in Cameroon as well as abroad.

RELUFA informs local diamond mining community of their royalty entitlement

Local Communities Organize Against Hunger

by Sandrine Kouba, Program Assistant

The Far North Region of Cameroon is an arid, semi-Saharan area that experiences recurrent problems of hunger. In 2006, RELUFA started establishing a grain bank system which covers now about 40 villages.

By and large, this has proven a successful strategy to break the cycle of poverty, exploitation by speculators and hunger. Over time, however, the communities started to face a few logistical challenges. As integral part of RELUFA’s strategy, the stocks increase each year and some of the granaries became too small. In other communities, the mud structures gave away under the rain or otherwise allowed insects to infest the food supplies.

Rejoicing over new storage facilities

Having first built two large, solid storage facilities with financial support from PC(USA) churches, RELUFA was this year able to add another 25 granaries thanks to a donation from the Japanese Embassy in Cameroon. These facilities now offer ample and secure storage space for the village grain banks.

Earlier in the year, a team from RELUFA had gone up North to inspect the works, meet with the project contractor and auditor, and collect data for the final report on the project. All storage facilities had indeed been built and the communities are very content. The cooperatives have held small collections to pay for wooden support structures to keep the grain bags off the floor and protect them that way against humidity and insects. This constitutes the communities’ own contribution to the establishment of storage facilities.

We further took the opportunity to meet with members from different grain bank cooperatives and the chosen leaders of the four unions RELUFA had helped them organize, to learn of the newest developments. Altogether we visited 20 villages : Dimsack, Katamsa-sikia, Sabongari, Gouzlom, Herzelelek, Betche-hossere, Godola, Gozemey, Ftang, Ouazzang, Kelmey, Zongoya, Kebing, Moudoumboui, Metchezleo, Gagala, Mbiga, Djimiday, Djamdoudji and Tchompel.

Communities finding appropriate solutions
Last year a number of management committees have experienced reimbursement problems in the operations of their grain banks. They have therefore decided to modify the scheme for distributing and replenishing the stocks. The village of Sabongari has for example decided to put another system in place: to get a bag of grain on credit, there is a 2000 francs down payment. This amount stands for the interest, which will allow the grain bank to buy more grain at harvest time and increase its stocks. This way, the borrower will only need to reimburse the amount of grain given during the lean season.

For grain banks that let everyone in the village borrow food from the grain bank, the stocks are inadequate. The management committees of these communities are looking for ways to increase their stocks to better meet the popular demand. The grain bank communities of Katamsa-Sikia et Zongoya have for example decided to start a community field to increase their supply.

This is the context in which RELUFA’s team met with leadership of the two unions of Méri and Zidim. They had indicated that they don’t have sufficient funds to cover their functioning. To participate in meetings and visit other grain bank groups, they need transport costs because the distances between the villages are considerable. They also are looking for funds to start up income generating project.

Each of the grain bank groups pay a yearly adhesion fee to the union they belong to, but some of the the unions are not yet large enough for these fees to cover even half of the overhead costs. As for the Union of Méri, the grain bank groups that make up the union have decided to each start a community field and to give one bag of grain in addition to the adhesion fees.

Unions as advocates of the population
The grain bank groups that are involved in the program are currently organized in four unions with the aim of building strong alliances between the different villages for them to address the challenges in their area. These unions are meant to defend the material and personal interest of their members at the local, national and sub-regional levels through development initiatives, consultations, advocacy and the exchange of experiences.

Earlier this year, the representative of the Union of Méri, Jeunesse Dazi, had been called to a meeting of regional representatives of trade, agriculture and customs. They wanted the community grain bank groups to start paying taxes because they were selling bags of sorghum. Jeunesse fervently defended the cause of the grain banks by explaining that is was a measure to aid the population and not a commercial activity. Her voice seems to have been listen to, because they will not be paying any taxes.

The fact that the head of Meri’s Union had been invited to a meeting at the regional level is a good sign and shows that the people’s voice can be better heard through the unions. And so, it is necessary to strengthen the capacity of the Union leaders for them to better be able to represent their unions and groups.

Problems that persist
It should be noted that the replenishing of stocks is for a large part tied to the agricultural production, which in its turn depends on adequate rainfall. There is a need to adjust agricultural practices to meteorological changes.

The Governor of the Far North Region has forbidden the sales of locally grown sorghum outside the Maroua region, but the market prices have nevertheless remained high.

All said and done, it seems the local population is finding their own solutions to the challenges they face. This is a token of the sustainability of this program, even if certain problems maintain: insufficient supplies for all members in the involved communities, weak agricultural production, and consistently high grain prices. Solutions need to be found for these interconnected problems.