In 2007 personal circumstances brought me to the decision to go to Cameroon with the idea to give a helping hand there for about six or seven months.

 

I went to an NGO to offer my services as an expert in programming (Windows application and internet services). Furthermore I offered Spanish language classes and wanted to help orphans and other children with problems, for example from poor family background. Unfortunately I had to recognize that the children could not really profit from the project, which I was working for. With some other volunteers who felt the same, I got the idea to create an NGO that is really dedicated to the ones who are in need.

 

In the area where I was – Buea, Southwest Zone, located right at the foot of Mount Cameroon, the land’s highest mountain, – the living conditions are very hard. Growing up as a child is not easy, the kids find themselves often in the streets and are sometimes treated worse as dogs. Lots of parents cannot afford sending them to school, they even lack money to feed them properly or to give them the basic sanitary background. A child who has one meal per day can already call himself a lucky person; this is even more dramatic when you see that this one meal just costs 15 Eurocent!! You can find some more details about these topics in my web articles.

 

The political background is very hard, too – Cameroon is one of the most corrupted countries In the world, and therefore only a few people have good jobs; the majority suffers from unemployment and a low educational level. A well-organized health system does not exist, people suffer from many diseases. One reason for that is the pollution, which you can meet whenever you walk along the streets, which are full of trash. There is hardly a place to find that you can define as toilet, people ease themselves everywhere. Kids normally cannot afford shoes (you can get one cheap pair for about 30 Eurocent!), so they walk through all this dirt barefoot; easy to catch an infection, which already can be a reason for dying. Almost every day the kids came and asked for financial help to go to the doctor or to get treatment – sometimes we were able to save a children’s life with less than 1 Euro.

 

One big problem that came along with the “old-fashioned” developing ideas is a misinterpretation of roles between people there and us helpers: They think WE are the solution of their problems and they give up all their responsibility and motivation to find a solution themselves. My interest is to give them the tools to do so – to let them walk out of their situation, step by step, on their own feet.

 

My project is the following:

 

One the one hand I want to open up a computer and Internet centre. People in Cameroon, who want to get in contact with their families or relative somewhere (for example to ask the to send some money) have to deal with very bad connections, sometimes it takes an hour to open one single mail. My idea is to use Telephonic commit to create a good connection – which costs about 800 Euros per month.

 

I already started to set up a centre with some computers with a companion from Nigeria who takes care of this part. I have also already bought some small VOIP-stations and –telephones, with them they can reduce their costs for external phone calls immensely.

 

I want to instruct and teach people how to run such computer centre and how o earn money.

 

With this money they should open an orphanage, which can offer a meal at least twice per day, which can offer a clean bed and a playground without danger of infection. Likewise I want to make sure, that the children get good education and are able to study on a high level.

 

My project is non-confessional, respecting the freedom of beliefs.

 

With my starting project I also want to help three other already existing NGO-projects, where one can be sure that they go after a clean code of ethics. It’s:

 

- Roots 4 Kids http://www.roots4kids.com, organized by a nice Dutch girl named Christel.

 

- http://www.linkupdevgroup.org officiated by a native Cameroonian, Roland, who is an orphan himself and who wants to dedicate his life kids who suffer from the same situation.

 

-The school of the deaf http://www.bueaschdeaf.org, a partner project between USA and Cameroon, which takes care of about 80 deaf children’s education.

 

All of those projects depend on donations and money from outside, that’s why I want to help them, too.

 

My aim is to avoid that children cannot get food or education or treatment of health just because of a lack of money. Whatever is within my power I want to do – to give them a helping hand, to show them how they can help themselves.

 

In the beginning the computer centre should also give room for this orphans project – later, with some more money, we will buy some land and build a real orphanage on this piece of land. The centre will be called VICTORIA AND CECILIA.

 

You can find all documents and more details about this project on my web site.

 

At the moment we need in the first place devices, even more than money. But however you want to help – every kind of help is needed and warmly welcomed.

 

Thanks in advance!