Why I immigrated to Africa

I have discovered Steemit not up to 3 months ago. I was really amazed and enthusiastic about our new social network which is based on altruistic behaviour. It allows me to learn how to interact with a community in a digital world, how to criticize personal statements in good manner, how to simply communicate with people having different opinions and use it for my self-development, for my own Steemit ideas to be able to use it as a fundraising tool for my self-coordinated conservation program in Cameroon. We have already established a Steemit account of our organisation @kedjom-keku and the fundraising voting bot @treeplanter which is helping us to achieve our goal to save and restore at least 1,000 hectares of Misty Mountain Forest in Northwest region of Cameroon.

I found it a bit difficult to express my own experience and life stories using the account of the organization. I decided to established my personal one, where I am going to write about life in Cameroon, what I love and what I hate, how to deal with one of the most corrupted governments, what are the biggest issues Cameroonian people are facing and what makes them happy, why the world does not care about serious problems Cameroon is recently facing and far more.

So let me introduce myself first.

Martin Mikeš
1986
Founder and coordinator of Kedjom-Keku association (@kedjom-keku)
Manager of Steemit voting bot @treeplanter

I considered myself almost as a usual Czech guy studying biology in bachelor program at Charles University of Prague, trying some more or less stupid and absurd part time jobs while preparing for my future - whatever it was supposed to be - 10 years ago. I have to say I do not even recall much of what I was actually doing around the age of 21. I remember I was always interested in observing people and to learn from them.
My friends and my family considered me as a selfish and high egoistic person. And I can confirm it, I really was. I guess I am still the same as I was 10 years ago, but with a better experience in observing completely different cultures - precisely African people in Cameroon as well as in CAR and Tchad.

Who I was

I never bothered much about people's opinion about me. The ability not to care about what others think about me helped me a lot to focus on more important parts of their expression like useful ideas, inspirations and experiences. I found those skills truly helpful while setting my own way to survive in this crazy fast growing and over-populated world. The more people you meet, the more inspiration and opportunities you earn from it. More people you know, more problems you actually usually have. Finally I found myself in the middle of experimenting with different drugs to avoid the reality and an addiction to women to make myself happy. Yes, sex is the best antidepresivum if you haven't yet realized.

June 2007 changed everything

At least my studies seemed to be useful while looking for sense in my life. During my first academic year at the university I have met Ondřej Sedláček - researcher, biologist, ecologist, environmentalist and, what is most important, a great person, who cares not only about himself and his success, but helps his students to develop as well. He and his team offered me to join them to do research in Cameroon where they have been going since 2001. So I went to Cameroon in 2008 for the first time. After few weeks I have spent in this beautiful diverse country I knew I want to come back again. I still cannot say what exactly drove me here,what was the trigger. I just felt that this is the opportunity I was searching for. When I came back from my second research mission in Cameroon I realized that I thoughtlessly promised local farmers to build a school for their children in Kedjom-Keku, the village where I did the research. Me and my friends established an NGO named Kedjom-Keku and we begun working towards the main goal: save and restore Abongphen Highland Forest through education, livelihood improvement, research and ecotourism. From that point on, I never lost sight of my goal. My job is my life which I live out every second. I used my selfishness and egoism to achieve protection of a valuable forest in Cameroon. For the last five years, I have spent 90% of my time in Cameroon focusing on different strategies how to achieve the protection step by step together with the local community.

More happy in Africa

I can clearly say I live in Cameroon and I am not planning to change it. First of all once you start with environmental protection you cannot give it up. Secondly I feel more happy here in Cameroon than I did in Europe. I would like to introduce you to my view of Cameroon with its society and life as it is without distortion. I am also trying to convince my Cameroonian friends to express their minds on Steemit to give everybody access to proper information from a forgotten continent.

To get more information about our conservation program visit @kedjom-keku

If you wish to plant trees in Cameroon and be paid for it check out our voting bot @treeplanter