It’s been a while since we’ve updated here, but rest assured that the Cameroon team has been keeping busy! We’re just putting the finishing touches on our Post Assessment Report, which is required by EWB-USA, but is also a great opportunity for us to write down everything we did on our trip while it’s still fresh in our minds. Here’s a short re-cap of what we’ve been up to the last few weeks.
Public Health & Education
The public health team has been sorting through the mountains of data we collected from the various focus groups and key-informant interviews. After this information is transcribed, coded, and analyzed, it will be used to design additional public health and education activities on the next trip. Already we’ve learned that in addition to issues with water availability during the dry season, there is a strong desire for improved health services in the community. This type of knowledge will help guide us in how we focus our public health and education efforts in future trips.
Water
The water team is analyzing all the GPS data collected during the trip to determine population concentrations and where to best focus the first phase of implementation. The GPS data gives us a visual reference for how wide the community is spread, its distance from water sources, the location of current water infrastructure, and the approximate boundaries of the community.
Mbokop: Settlements, Structures, Rivers (Blue), and Approximate Boundary (Red)
The Google Earth file of all the GPS data we collected can be downloaded here. Additionally, in the spirit of sharing and access, we uploaded GPS data collected for Mbokop and Ntisaw (a neighboring community with its own separate EWB project) to OpenStreetMap. We’ve literally put these two villages on the map so that future travelers will have a much easier time locating the villages.
Fundraising
Saving the best for last, we’ve got a lot of fundraising activities in the queue. We’re lining up bands for a music event later this summer, getting a regular happy hour scheduled, and will be hosting a silent auction for all the crafts we brought back from Mbokop. Check back here for more updates on these upcoming events!