The Pygmies Eco-village plan for Congo Brazzaville

Eco Akwa Eboko Foundation is on a robust campaign to preserve our environment and cultural values is not a usual affair we often hear in our part of the world. There are but a few who might still dispute the over the assimilation of foreign culture in ours, in that our once revered African tradition appears to be ‘second choice’ by most of our people.

In this light, the Eboko Foundation was initiated to help secure and preserve the environment in a region that seemed basically undoable. The foundation tends to champion two clearly spelled-out causes.

They are preserving the environment by developing sustainable and eco-friendly tourism as the first point plan and inspiring African people by highlighting traditional values and heritage as the other equally important vision of the Congolese-based foundation.

In the quest to sustain the environment, the foundation has embarked on a project dubbed ‘Eco Akwa Eboko’ to create an absolute ecological, economic, and tourist “eco” village in Brazzaville Congo, precisely North the Central African country. This project gives pride to the Congo forest’s indigenes known to many as ‘The Pygmies.’ It would practically involve constructing bamboo huts inspired by the Moungoulou huts of the pygmies, which will be covered with raffia and straw. The project pays glowing tribute to the indigenes for their environment protection role as ‘guardians of humanity.’

As a conception of Vanessa Claude Ngakosso-Mavilla, a strong advocate for the feminist cause, the project is expected to be managed entirely by women of substance and environmental interests.

The other major agendum of the Eboko Foundation focuses on the sustained rich cultural values and heritage of the African people, which appears increasingly adrift from regular people.

Foundation President Ngakosso-Mavilla tells us she was alarmed by what appeared to be a loss of identity, landmark, and tradition of the African people’. Our culture, she says, is consistently being undermined by our selves and therefore, it is becoming alien to us as we adopt the foreign ones by blatantly disregarding ours.

She fears the future generation of our great continent would be left with very little from us given that we are ‘unconsciously’ erasing ours. The foundation has to fight for the popularization of our traditional values, customs, and habit, albeit containing the ‘toxic’ spread of exotic ways of life.

The Eboko Foundation seeks to accomplish its goals through education in academic institutions across Congo and Africa.

An ambitious program? Yes, but the president and her team are bent on the belief that young Africans must preserve our values and heritage to reflect their habits in a largely culturally assimilated continent.

The Eboko Foundation is organizing a solidarity trip to the Republic of Congo next April. The upcoming solidarity trip participants will take part in constructing the 100% ecological village during their stay. This will leave an indelible print of connection in the participants’ hearts, haven took part in such a historic eco-village construction. Professionals in the sector would supervise this Eco-construction site.

Mr. Sorel Eta, who is deemed to be the last guardian of the Aka pygmies, and the owner of the museum, received the children and gave them insights and education about the culture of the indigenous peoples, especially their knowledge in terms of pharmacopeias

Who is Vanessa Claude Ngakosso-Mavilla?

Vanessa is a Congolese French resident who deals in real estate business. She is the Eboko Foundation founder, spearheading the Eco Akwa tourism project in the northern part of her country. Her foundation also promotes women to be independent and socially active.

In 2016, she won the Youth Entrepreneurship Competition organized by Future Prospects Foundation in the Republic of Congo. A year later, in December, her ambitious project was selected in December 2017 by WE World Efficiency Solutions, “ONE PLANET SUMMIT,” to be presented at the exhibition on climate at the Parc des Expositions Paris Porte de Versailles in France.

 In June 2018, Vanessa was appointed New Leader for Tomorrow by the Crans Montana Forum in Brussels.

On May 4^th this year, she intends to organize a conference-debate under the theme of the restitution of the African heritage in collaboration with the city of Château-Thierry in France.

Vanessa, who describes herself as ‘Pan-African in the soul,’ very passionate about our integrity as African people and the need for us to actively protect and preserve our heritage not just for the common good but for posterity.

GCBM Feature