Achu Valery also known as Chef Chepele, has reached out to internally displaced persons of the Angloohone crisis and orphans in Douala, with basic commodities ti sustain their lifestyles.
Mr Valery who ran away from the Anglophone crisis in Bamenda to Douala in 2017, took basic commodities such as rice, oil, vitamins, soap, salt, Fluor amongst others.
As the crisis persists, Chef Chepele says he recalled how he used to struggle as an IDP in Douala and thought about these persons in need as he celebrated his birthday.
“I celebrated my birthday on January 25 and only thing that came to my mind was to reach out to persons in need especially internally displaced persons of the Anglophone crisis. Having faced the repercussions of the ongoing crisis that pushed me and my family out of Bamenda in 2017, I know and understand the challenges faced by IDPs. Community integration, language barrier, lack of basic commodities are just few of these challenges.’he said. “Visiting these persons is my own way to show them that they are not forgotten”, added Chepele.
A mother of six, an IDP since 2018 said she was touched by the actions of Chef Chepele at a time when few persons still remember they exist. Mbangwe Victorine lost her husband in the war and ran away to Douala where she now hawks fruits to earn a living.
“I am very glad to meet Valery because he brings hope to us and he is a reminder that all is not lost. When I came here I didn’t have clothes but today I wear this little on me. I took in kids of my late brother and we all are trying our best to make a living”, she shared.
Valery runs a restaurant in Logbessou Douala, which many have referenced to a touristic site due to the diverse traditional cuisines served and the natural environment that contained to attract tourists. However Valery says it was not a bed of roses in 2017.
“I used to run a snack bar in Bamenda before the crisis and was a major supplier of Guinness products but the crisis drained everything I had to the extent I couldn’t sell up to 7 bottles a day. The threats and attacks from both parties also made me to run away. “, he shared.
He said building up the restaurant took him over three years after he left Bamenda. “It all began like a joke as I would cook for my friends and family. They all loved my meals. My wife and my mother advised me to cook and make profits out of it since my friends loved it. That is how I started with one traditional meal every Saturday. Today I cook and sell every other day thanks to God”, explained Valery.
According to him, reaching out to these persons in need on the heels of his birthday is also to bring hope and reassure them that you can still make lemonade out of lemons, giving that Douala has been a good host.
To show his culinary skills, Chef Chepele held a live barbecue in both locations for these persons in need, as a sign of love of fraternity.
