Different communities within Bamenda II have been resilient and collaborative with Chima Ernest, who've taken the responsibility to ensure that the city, especially Bamenda II subdivision is void of filth, though he complained of not having the sophisticated machinery to carry the filled thrash cans provided by Hysacam.
"...Controlling traffic while picking up garbage is a problem, some people are rude and impatient. We have encouraged the population to rather dump garbage on the ground as we don't have sophisticated machinery to carry those cans, what we usually do is, we pour it on the ground and reload it into the trucks. This makes work more tedious harder".
Chima has explained to Civiclens that it hasn't been easy to clean the city, "the problem of insecurity exist as the boys don't allow dirt to be carried by the council or Hysacam".
He mentioned having noticed some level of monitoring from non-state armed groups whenever he is on the field and remains thankful to the community that have been watchful, while giving their support to what he is doing.
"..When we go to the field, they come arround, just to discover that it is communal work ongoing; the cleaning of garbage by the community and they allow us do the work without interuption. We hope the situation remains calm while we are at work".
The team complained about the dumpsite that needs work to be done arround the area, to avoid any disease outbreak as a few families live and farm on the site.
"We need to hire a bull dozer from time to time, the dumpsite was abandoned for more than five years and women have cultivated in the area. Work is not progressive on the site because they need to be compensated for the crops they have planted. Once this is done, we can clear the area for effective use".
Chima Ernest says most of these cannot be done by him, but pleads with the City Council to step in and ease the process because not just manpower is being used but some dispositions should be taken so that work is done properly.
"We don't have enough finances, the budget allocated isn't enough, the support being given by the council cannot be measured to what we put in daily to ensure that this is done, but the zeal for community development remains. That's why my team and I are still on the field".
"This is not my first time in taking up a developmental initiative. I have been part of teams which constructed bridges, organized football tournaments and more. In my own quarter we provided a bore hole, a bridge, open roads linking various quarters".
Explaining all of these to describe his passion for community development, carrying garbage to him is just part of it. Sons and daughters of the soil have been encouraged by him to create initiatives that will handle daily difficulties or challenges faced in their communities.
Chima international has been able to carry dirt from about 29 quarters in the Bamenda II subdivision, with approximately 10 720 tons of dirt carried so far from the streets of Bamenda.
By Bamenjo Petronila