Information for Volunteers

February 21, 2009 by Genesis
Filed under Volunteer Information

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:

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)
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.
Coordinate shipment of computer and other equipment such as medical suppliers and the distribution and installation in schools, centers, NGOs
Serve at our Community IT Training Centre as Office Secretary, Cyber attendant, IT Instructor or IT Technician.
Teach Computer Education at one of our partner Schools or train IT Instructors for these schools
Write project proposals for some of our projects.
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.
Run HIV/AIDS sensitization seminars in schools, prisons, at Community Groups, etc
Train HIV/AIDS Educators at our Centre, in schools, prisons, at Community Groups, etc
Participate in a medical outreach as part of a team.
Bringing young social entrepreneurs together and teaching them basic business skills.
Identify needy orphans especially those orphaned by AIDS in targeted communities for subsequent support.
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.