The delegation of African Americans made the pledge at the end of a guided tour of the park on January 1.

A visiting delegation of 54 Cameroonian Americans who are in the country to reconnect with their ancestral roots have promised to support the development of the Mefou National Park in the Mefou and Afamba Division of the Centre Region. Making the disclosure last Saturday, New Year Day 2011 in Mefou village, some 20 km from Yaounde at the end of a guided tour of the park, the Secretary of State in the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife, Joseph Roland Matta said the guests were impressed with the efforts of government and the Cameroon Wildlife Aid Fund, CWAF in rescuing endangered young primates from poachers, raising them in the park before eventual release into the wild.

Though the Secretary of State did not exactly say what form the promised assistance would take, CWAF officials were seen distributing stickers with their website address, urging interested people to donate online as part of the “Help Us Help Them” campaign to protect endangered primates like chimpanzees, monkeys, gorillas, baboons, etc. Mr Matta said the trip had enabled the Cameroonian Americans not only to discover the country of their ancestry, but also for some to see live primates for their first time. He expressed hope that similar visits would be organized.

“I’m so elated at this reunion. I will tell my people back home in Goulfey that we have our kin in the US,” said Chedra Djibrilla, a vet assistant at the park and Kotoko from the Far North Region after meeting an African American woman, Denise Rocark Barnes of joint Kotoko and Guinea Bissau ancestry. To Gina Paige, President and Co founder of African Ancestry that organized the trip to Cameroon, every lap had been an amazing success. She described the tour as “well organised and full of diverse experiences.”