KickstarterForum.org

Hello all,

Yes, another shameless plug for a personal crowdfunding page. Well, kind of. This one is for one of my best friends in the world (and my old neighbor from my Peace Corps days), Kenneth Mbene, who is a current lecturer at the University of Yaounde I in Cameroon and a future agricultural chemistry all-star. However, only if he can overcome the financial struggles bearing down on him now, as he is trying to complete his soil science PhD at the University of Buea (also in Cameroon).

Long story short, volcanic soils have enormous potential in West Africa for boosting agricultural yields, but not enough is known about the types of volcanic soils that exist in that part of the region. That is exactly what his PhD is on, and in fact he is finished with the coursework as well as with the lab portion of the thesis. The difficult part for Ken is analyzing his soil samples, as no such equipment exists in Cameroon that can adequately measure the phosphorus fixation and mineralogical composition of the soil he has (in fact, his university lab lacks even the most basic of chemistry equipment, such as centrifuge tubes and pipettes!). This relatively modest appeal ($5,000) is to cover a good chunk of the costs of analyzing his soils, some of which he will have to send abroad, and some of which he will be able to do in country if we raise enough money and purchase/ship the right equipment over. In addition, doing the latter has the benefit of assisting all soil science students at the University of Buea.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2045724330/kenneth-mbenes-soil-chemistry-report

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated since we only have 13 days left! Even a couple social media shares. I hate being one of those people that joins a crowdfunding forum for entirely selfish reasons. But I pledge to do my best to contribute to other people's posts as well, especially as a different friend and I are in the early stages of starting a civic crowdfunding site ourselves, and we have much to learn.

Many thanks in advance,

Kevin