Brendan Sherry, UK

We would like to welcome Brendan Sherry to HINT.

Brendan is from Imperial College London and currently completing his M.Sc in Environmental Technology. He will research on the project “Enabling Safe Water Supply” that is intended to  provide safe portable water to three villages: Bonduma, Wotolo, and Bokoko.

For more information on the project, click here or visit the project on the website of Engineers Without Borders, UK.

Welcome Brendan

To contact Brendan by email: Brendan Sherry

William Douglas, UK

We would like to welcome William Douglas to HINT.

Will is from Cranfield University in London and currently completing his M.Sc in Environmental Technology. He will research on the project “Enabling Safe Water Supply” that is intended to  provide safe portable water to three villages: Bonduma, Wotolo, and Bokoko.

For more information on the project, click here or visit the project on the website of Engineers Without Borders, UK.

Welcome Will.

To contact Will by email: William Douglas

Volunteer Application Form

Thank you for considering to volunteer with us. There are a number of volunteer opportunities currently available as summarised below. If there’s anything you can do in the list, fill the following form and we will contact you as soon as possible.

You can help by doing the following:

• Project Proposal writing
• Fundraising
• Help build a database of very poor and needy children in our community.
• Secretarial/Office work (typing, sending emails…)
• AIDS literature preparation and production
• AIDS education and awareness in schools, community groups, university, …
• Identification of Orphans & street children in the community
• Teaching Computer and Internet skills
• Computer hardware/software  installations, repairs
• Teach young entrepreneurs business management skills
• Teaching tailoring & interior design
• Teaching Carpentry skills

Please fill out the following form so we can get to know more about you. All fields are required except the photo field:

Samuel Lee, USA

Samuel Lee of America nationality joined our rank of volunteer in October 2008.

While working on an internship studying HIV at the University of Buea, he still took off time to help at HINT.

Sam was able to update our Funding Proposal on our Microfinance Project aimed at providing training and loans to rural women in Cameroon. Right now we need fundraisers whwo can help raise the required funds for the project. If you can help, please contact us and let’s work together.

To contact Sam by email: Samuel Lee

Phebe Etchu, USA

We would like to welcome Phebe Etchu our newest volunteer at HINT.

Phebe is an Economics Student at the University of Texas in Austin, USA and will be spending just 2 weeks with us.

During her time, we will be working together on a Business Management Seminar for young entrepreneurs. While the seminar is originally intended to benefit our current loan recipients, it will be open to the general public. Those in business or who are planning to go into business are advised to attend the seminar as valuable business success insights and tools will be delivered.

I will be coming alongside Phebe with knowledge I gathered from the Global Social Benefit Incubator (GSBI) at Santa Clara University, USA.

The seminar will run from Jan. 8-10, 2008 at BCC Auditorium in Buea.

Seminar Documentation:

Click to download Seminar Information

Click to download Registration Form

To contact Phebe by email: Phebe Etchu

Computer Hardware/Software Technicians to help repair & maintain our PCs

Start Date: Ongoing

End Date: On-going

Working Language: English/French

Duration: flexible, based on volunteer’s availability

Skills Needed: Experience and training on computer hardware and software installations and maintenance.

Job Description:

• Hardware maintenance
• Software maintenance
• Hardware/Software advice
• Hardware/Software Training
• Hardware/Software purchase (parts or whole machines)

APPLY FOR THIS VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY

Provide Counseling on HIV/AIDS and train Community HIV Educators

Opportunity Title: Nurses and Health Workers

Start Date: On-going

End Date: On-going

Working Language: English

Duration: flexible, based on volunteer’s availability

Skills Needed: Trained Nurses and medical Officers. Working experience will be good.

Job Description:

• Provide counseling on HIV/AIDS to infected and affected person.
• Train HIV trainers
• Run seminars on HIV sensitisation in schools, prisons, community groups
• Help with development and production of health material.
• Volunteers in groups are accepted. Groups will run 3-7 days medical outreaches in remote areas.

APPLY FOR THIS VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY

Teach Computer skills in schools & at our Community ICT Centres.

Start Date: On-going

End Date: On-going

Working Language: English

Duration: flexible, based on volunteers availability

Skills Needed: Very good Computer Knowledge in some or all of the fields listed below.

Job Description: Teach one or more of:

• Computer Basics
• Use of Microsoft Windows OS
• Internet (Using Internet Explorer & Mozilla Firefox)
• Emailing
• MS Word
• MS Excel
• MS Access
• MS PowerPoint
• MS Publisher
• Web Design
• Microsoft Networking
• Hardware/Software maintenance
• Photo Editing (PhotoShop)

to youths and adults aged 18-45 years. Teach for 6 hours in a day, 8-11am & 6-9pm. Training manuals already available. Volunteers will be acquainted with how to use our manuals.

APPLY FOR THIS VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY

Information for Volunteers

Helps International (HINT), Cameroon has volunteer opportunities to help build individual & community skills, create employment opportunities and place a smile on many faces through our 5 major operation areas which are:

• Information & Communication Technologies (ICTs)
• Health
• Education
• Economic Development
• Community Development

Your participation will help HINT get to the point where she can approach and collaborate with the international development community in a more effective way.

We accept volunteers with a wide range of skills and a strong belief in the value of sustainability and who are willing to make a long-lasting contribution in the work we are doing. Volunteers will bring the most value in their organizational skills, reliability, project and people management, and basic enthusiasm. Each volunteer will be provided with ‘SMART’ objectives upon arrival. At this point, our work depends largely on volunteer support and involvement plus their generous financial support to kick-start some of our projects or replicate sustainable ones.

Volunteer Location

Currently, all of our projects are taking place in the town of Buea in the South West Province of Cameroon. You can learn more about the historic town of Buea on Wikipedia Volunteers will be accommodated at home, usually living with an assigned caretaker and his/her family. Security and cleanliness are of prime importance to us when deciding where to place volunteers.

Examples of projects you could be working on:

1. Teach Computer Basics, MS Window, Internet, Emailing, MS Word, MS Excel, MS Access, MS PowerPoint at our IT Centre daily to about 20 students broken up in two sessions of 10 students each (8am-11am and 6pm-9pm)
2. Teach Web Design or Networking, or Computer repairs and maintenance, Desktop publishing or Photo Editing to about 10 students in class for 3 hours a day.
3. Coordinate shipment of computer and other equipment such as medical suppliers and the distribution and installation in schools, centers, NGOs
4. Serve at our Community IT Training Centre as Office Secretary, Cyber attendant, IT Instructor or IT Technician.
5. Teach Computer Education at one of our partner Schools or train IT Instructors for these schools
6. Write project proposals for some of our projects.
7. Organize fundraising activities for our projects including contacting and following up donors. This can be excellent for online volunteers who do not or cannot leave their home countries to Cameroon.
8. Run HIV/AIDS sensitization seminars in schools, prisons, at Community Groups, etc
9. Train HIV/AIDS Educators at our Centre, in schools, prisons, at Community Groups, etc
10. Participate in a medical outreach as part of a team.
11. Bringing young social entrepreneurs together and teaching them basic business skills.
12. Identify needy orphans especially those orphaned by AIDS in targeted communities for subsequent support.
13. And there can be other opportunities…

Volunteer Requirements

Volunteers with HINT are required to:

• Be at least 18 years of age.
• Be available for a minimum of one week.
• Be able to speak English fluently. Ability to speak French will further ease communication because Cameroon is a bilingual country.
• Be able to mentally adjust to new culture and way of life.

When do we recruit volunteers?

You can volunteer at any time throughout the year. Volunteers can stay from a period of 1 week to 12 months.

Cost to Volunteers

HINT asks for a contribution of XAF 125,000 per month per volunteer. Volunteers wishing to serve for less than a month will contribute the same amount. This is paid upon arrival in Buea.

The fee covers:

• Airport pick-up. Volunteer is responsible for airport drop-off
• Accommodation (Home stay with a family, a room of your own, shared baths with other volunteers or you may have a bath of your own depending on number of volunteers present), water, electricity, Phone use (at home and in the office), documentation, etc
• Breakfast and Lunch. Volunteer is responsible for Dinner. In our culture, lunch is the heavy meal while most people may just eat a snack or some fruits for dinner
• Internet Access at our head office
• Administration and communication fee
• Support for local volunteers workers at HINT.

You can convert CFA (XAF) 125,000 to your local currency at www.xe.com.

This fee does not cover:

• Airport drop-off.
• Your flight ticket to Douala International Airport and back
• Cost of visa processing in your country and visa renewal in Cameroon (if need be).
• Personal sightseeing & photography in Cameroon.
• Insurance (Health), if necessary
• Departure tax of XAF 10,000 ($20) per person at the Airport
• Bottled water (Tap water in Buea is pure and quite healthy)
• Beverages and entertainment
• Any other related cost

Basically you can get by on US$20 per week for your miscellaneous expenses or US$ 30 per week if you do not want to live on a tight budget.

About Cameroon and Buea

• Learn more about Buea where you will do most of your volunteer work: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buea
• Learn more about Cameroon: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cameroon
• This is a very informative book about Cameroon on eBay: Cameroon by Ben West (Good for volunteers).
• Buy books about Cameroon on Amazon.com

Application Process

Fill out our online application form.

Tobias Blaser, Switzerland

Tobias worked with HINT for over 3 months from November 2007 to February 2008. He holds an M.Sc in Electrical Engineering and is also a specialist in computer hardware maintenance and networking, with additional knowledge in software and computer administration. Tobias’s IT contribution to HINT has been very huge and transformational. His major achievements were:

1. Setup of a server with backup and a router with a decent firewall (blocking file sharing traffic)
2. Migrating to Open Source Software – Linux and enabling dual boot
3. Switching our timing software to Outkafe – Open Source
4. Redistribution of UPSes to computers
5. Arranging Ethernet Cables in an easier order
6. Writing documentation to ease understanding of his set up at HINT and to enable easier set up of other Open Source IT Centres

Right now, while back home in Switzerland, Tobias still provides technical support through email and remote access/login to our servers.

Tobias, we cannot than you enough for your tireless support tot HINT. We are very grateful.

To contact Tobias by email: Tobias Blaser

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