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Home » Television » Our Productions On Demand » Global Energy and Carbon » Following A Trail Of Carbon Footprints » The Amin Family

The Amin Family

A blog update from producer Bob Dambach
June 14 2009

The Amin family lives in the village Muyuka, at the base of Mt Cameroon about 15km northeast of our base in Buea. I would estimate that it has 5,000 residents.

The family owns 5 large plots of land within 20 km of Muyuka where they grow palms, bananas, plantains, cassava, pineapple and some citrus. By Muyuka standards the family would be considered upper middle class. Their home is modest, well set back from the street, on a long and narrow lot.

They have electricity and city water running to a spigot in their back yard. Also, in the backyard they have a nursery for palm trees, a place to crush palm nuts into palm oil, and outdoor toilets. They do their cooking over a wood fire.

The entire family tends to the different farm plots. The children go to school, education is very important to the family, but when not in school they are working on the farms. Often during harvest the whole family will move out to the farm for a week to avoid commuting each day. They don’t own a motor vehicle, so they need to take a taxi or a bus out to the fields. They employ three fulltime employees and seasonal workers as well.

It’s very hard to pin down who are members of the Amin Family. Maurice, the dad, is also the leader of the family consisting of his brothers and sisters. In addition, the neighbors all help out with the cooking and chores. The children of relatives and neighbors often sleep and eat in each other houses. There is never a need for a paid babysitter in Muyuka at the Amin family. For our purposes we are looking at the family having 7 members.

Maurice is the head of the household and the head of his extended family. He has a college degree and taught school for a number of years but realized that he could support his family better by being a farmer. He is still very active in education. He is the president of the Buea Diocese education council and is also on the Bishops advisory board. He is modern in his approach to agriculture but very traditional in his approach to life. He made sure that his older brother Alexander was included in the family introduction even though he lives in his own home farther down the street. He has a ready smile and was a joy to talk to and be around.

Madam Dorothy is the mom and the head of the household, she makes sure that the cooking and cleaning are done and that everything is running on schedule. In addition she also works on the farm. Dorothy also has an engaging smile and spontaneously break out in song as her friends and neighbors prepare the daily meals.

Martin, Alex, Ethel and Stella are still in school. School was ending on the day we were recording and the kids were getting their report cards. Everyone said they did well! Maureen, the oldest daughter, is a college graduate who has an accounting degree and works both in accounting positions and on the farm.

The Amins welcomed us into their home and into their lives. They felt it was an honor to work with us when in reality it was an honor for us to work with them.

The neighborhood kids were fascinated with the cameras and followed us wherever we went. Frode often reminded me of the pied piper, as he had a band of children around him at all times.

 

In addition to giving some small gifts to the Amin family, I handed out lollipops to the neighborhood children and Frode bought them a new soccer ball since the one they had didn’t bounce.

More tomorrow.

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