PROJECT SUMMARY

In Nkambe, guinea pig keeping allows youths an opportunity to generate their own income and cultivate a less energy intensive source of meat. The money raised through selling their guinea pigs can be used to pay for school, medical, and living expenses. Currently, SYFA encourages its volunteers to raise guinea pigs, periodically donating groups of five guinea pigs to especially enthusiastic volunteers. These volunteers work together to construct bamboo cages and collect the guinea pig manure to help SYFA’s organic horticulture projects around Nkambe.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

• To encourage youths to take care of their own animals

• To produce organic manure for all of SYFA’s sites

• To provide nourishment for households, as it is customary in Cameroon to eat guinea pigs

• To provide a sustainable source of income for the SYFA volunteers

CURRENT PROGRESS

So far, ten SFYA volunteers have joined the project and are caring for guinea pigs. SYFA has already donated guinea pigs to several of its volunteers. Through this project, participants have been able to pay for family medical care, their school tuitions and exams.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

• The guinea pig manure is helping sustain organic farming projects all around the area.

SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACT

• Youth are becoming more financially independent due to the guinea pigs they are able to sell.

• Youth are able to use their guinea pig generated income to afford their own school costs.

• Youth use the guinea pig manure to help care for their personal gardens.

SUSTAINABILITY OF THE PROJECT

The project will be sustainable once enough volunteers have breeding guinea pigs, which they can hand down to future volunteers to motivate them in their own projects.

FUTURE GOALS

• To give five guinea pigs each to twenty volunteers (one hundred guinea pigs in total)

• To expand the project to other local villages.

• For SYFA volunteers to start using the guinea pig manure on their own organic gardens.