Background.
“After sunset in Oku, life ends.”
In Cameroon, 40% of the population does not have access to electricity which increases to 80% for those living in rural areas.
Data are lacking on the number of rural clinics and schools without refrigeration or electricity, or the number of villages without access to electric pumping facilities. The distribution of electricity in Cameroon is limited yet the growth of new subscribers is slow. Given the problems that the urban-based grid systems already experience, it is unlikely that most of the rural population and institutions, under current policies, will get electricity in the next 20-40 years.
Elak Oku is technically on the grid but has been without power for more than two years.
“The population is struggling with kerosene lamps.”
The Village of Elak Oku.
The main village of Oku, population approximately 9,000, is the central political, civil, and economic capital of the North West region, and the seat of the recently-crowned HRM Fon Ngum IV of Oku. His village has had no electricity for nearly two years.
Oku, the place and the people, is famous for its handicrafts, caves, traditional medicine, and its crater lake. Lake Oku lies at the foot of Kilum Mountain (the second-highest mountain in Cameroon) in the Kilum-Ijim Forest, which is the largest area of Afromontane Forest that has not been uprooted in West Africa.
The Kilum-Ijim Forest is community-owned, and home to the largest remaining populations of two globally threatened bird species, the endangered Bannerman’s Turaco (Tauraco bannermani) and the Banded Wattle-eye (Platysteira laticincta).
The Oku fondom consists of 36 villages and includes various traditional institutions which support the Fon’s rule. Over 16 Fons have reigned in this community where traditional cultures and practices still thrive. The newly-crowned Fon Ngum IV enjoys the genuine support of the people he rules.
There are over 290,000 people who farm the fertile soils adjacent to the Kilum forest for subsistence and commerce. Coffee farming and bee keeping are major economic activities which generate income for many households. The local white honey is called ‘liquid gold’ and is sold to tourists, dealers and international buyers (it is certified in international markets). Wood carvers cultivate their own trees in the forest and command high premiums for their work.
Healthcare is provided by the government-owned district hospital in Elak Oku, which is under-staffed and not able to meet the needs of the entire population of the Oku villages. Other facilities are required to help support their primary healthcare needs, especially for women and children.
Life in Elak Oku.
Most families live on $20-50 per month
One liter of kerosene costs $3 or more, depending on black market prices
Children cry because they can’t read at night
Subsistence crops are yams, beans, corn, Irish potatoes, sweet yams, cassava, soya beans, peppers, tomatoes, cabbage and carrots
Most people also raise livestock to eat
After the harvest, people sell their surplus food
After the harvest is usually the only time people have money to shop for clothes, pay for kids’ schooling and books, or pay for healthcare
People also sell livestock to pay school fees and books, e.g. five goats for $250
Coffee farmers grow food crops underneath their coffee trees
“People mostly use bush lamps, that’s why my sales for kerosene has increased.”
