by Virginija Mickute, OFS
Afua is a village in the North-West region of Cameroon. The village belongs to the Fuli-Kom parish which is part of the Bamenda Diocese. There is a local OFS fraternity of St. Clare and a few YouFra members in Afua. The population of 25,000 people consists of Christians and Muslims.
Afua is a typical farming community cultivating crops mainly for consumption. The majority of local people are farmers and cattle owners, who make a living by selling their farm produce. Some of the villagers work in the nearby tea plantation with a monthly income of EUR 16. People of Afua usually collect water for drinking and cooking from the main river Mugoilum which is polluted by a ranch upstream. What makes this river peculiar is that the villagers drink downstream, while cattle of this ranch drink upstream. Worst of all is that dead horses are disposed of in the same river. The closest clean water source is 3.5 km away from the settlement.
Afua has four main quarters: Mbieh, Centre, Nkfum and Achiantoh. Mbieh quarter has developed a water project with the aim to collect water which comes from the rocks and to supply it to the other three quarters. The villagers have constructed a small catchment (4×4 m) which has a constant flow of water, but it can only supply water to the distance of up to half a kilometer. A bigger catchment (9×7 m) would allow supplying water to all four quarters of the village. Main pipe stands will be built in different locations separated by at least 3 km (St. Francis of Assisi Church, Catholic School, the central junction of the main road and the centres of all four quarters) where all villagers will be able to fetch water.
Teenagers have been trained to work with water supply and will be responsible for fixing small connection problems after installation. All users of the water supply will be asked for a monthly contribution which may be replaced by working in community land or cultivating and selling crops in order to raise funds for the maintenance of the water project.
Capuchin Custody of Cameroon has committed to monitor the Afua water project which is under the responsibility of the OFS National Council of Cameroon.
Only your support enables Well4Africa social initiative to implement water projects like this one in Afua. For possible ways of donation, please refer to https://well4africa.eu/index.php/donate. May the Lord bless you for your generosity!
Photos at top and below show Afua.
