In the industrial sprawl of Douala, Cameroon's economic capital, where concrete has taken over much of the greenery, one man has found a meaningful way to bring greenery into his everyday life through agriculture. Joel Kamgaing, a former welder whose dreams once pointed toward Dubai, now cultivates bell peppers in a self-built greenhouse—all from the seat of a wheelchair he engineered himself.
"I was a farmer before being in this wheelchair," Kamgaing said, wheeling between rows of vibrant crops. "I had a two-hectare pineapple plantation. I was farming at Awaé, near Yaoundé. During one of my regular supervision visits, I was involved in a fatal accident that left me like this."
The accident left him permanently disabled. For months, the trauma felt like the end of his story. But Kamgaing embraced the pain and rebuilt his life. "It messed me up, and I said that was the end. But as time went on, I garnered the strength to start all over."
Starting over meant more than recovery — it meant innovation. After receiving lessons and support from GreenHouse Academy Cameroon, an initiative of GreenHouse Ventures Cameroon, which was founded by a Cameroonian entrepreneur and activist, Kamgaing transformed a modest plot in Douala's Yassa neighbourhood into a thriving hub of climate-smart sustainable agriculture.
Read more at Prime Progress
