Clean Water
in
Cameroon
Day 4: Wvem and the RTC
On Sunday, Boniface picked us up to take us to the Rural Transformation Centre in Wvem (pronounced ‘Voom’). Wvem is a small village nestled in a valley high up towards Mount Kilum, the second highest mountain in Cameroon and the highest in the North-West region. The RTC is a centre built by Boniface, which aims to encourage development in villages; one course, for example, shows how to process raw honeycomb from beehives to produce honey and wax separately, which can be sold for a higher profit that the raw honeycomb. The RTC is a lovely, peaceful centre with great views over the village and down the valley; I could happily spend a long time there! The gardens around the centre are filled with many kinds of fruit and edible/medicinal plants, such as guavas, chikos, lemongrass, eucalyptus and artemesia (the latter used as a treatment for malaria).
On the way, our vehicle suffered a puncture. As we were changing the wheel, a group of boys stopped to stare and comment. They were surprised to see a white man helping to change the wheel!