Sharon Davis, a former covenant missionary to Cameroon, has been working with rural villages in Cameroon for years. Over time she had developed strong relationships with the communities in the area and has created some flourishing development projects with partnership with CWR. A new project that is in the works is called “
palm oil enterprise.” This project came about in an interesting way. Sharon Davis was approached by community members who wanted to learn how to make soap and lotion, so she led a seminar for a group of 25 women in the community. After the women were taught how to make body lotion and soap they realized they had an abundance of palm kernels going to waste in the village and if they had a press and cracker they would be able to produce kernel oil, a main ingredient in the soap and lotion. Six of the women who attended the seminar began pursuing this idea with Sharon and eventually developed the palm oil enterprise. The women decided that they will not work on creating soap and lotion yet but will make kernel oil from unused kernels from the village and sell the oil for cooking and for the treatment of various ailments.
The building for the palm oil press.
As of early March, the women with partnership with CWR have been able to purchase a building and the two machines needed for the production of the oil. They have also participated in trainings about bookkeeping and about running the machines. The project should be up and running right now!
A significant detail about this development project is that Sharon Davis, though she helped with the project, wasn’t the driving force behind it. In fact Sharon Davis has been in the United States and most of the work up till this point has been carried out by the women leaders in Cameroon. This is a great example of a development project because of how it works to empower the people involved. Sharon Davis will visit Cameroon in April and hopefully return to the US with an encouraging update of the work God is doing there!
