Jessa joined HINT as a fellow with Frontier Market Scouts in March 2015. She leveraged her knowledge of impact investing and social entrepreneurship to revitalize the Kingdom Community Fund, building the internal capacity for it to grow in coming years. She instituted a new accounting and management system for the fund; started new non-solidarity groups and brought in new members; hosted monthly business training seminars; and developed a detailed, long-term business plan to present to donors for funding. In addition to her duties as KCF Fund Manager, Jessa supported HINT by redesigning the website, creating a Twitter account, and updating the HINT Facebook page. Most importantly, she facilitated a lasting partnership with Frontier Market Scouts to guarantee FMS fellows as volunteers to work with HINT in the future. Jessa stayed with HINT for four months before moving on to pursue a Master in Management at Hautes Etudes Commerciales in Paris. To contact Jessa about her experience at HINT, you may email her.
Kristi and her husband, Eric, arrived Buea on Tuesday July 6, 2010 to volunteer with HINT for about 6 months. Kristi joined the rest of the team to work on the School PCs Project. Kristi put her fundraising and project proposal writing skills to work to help HINT attain more resources for its programs.
I am currently the Development Coordinator for a local non-profit organization. I research and develop grant proposals to obtain funding for our organization. I also maintain our donor database and am largely responsible for donor relations. As a member of the development team, I help develop and execute marketing schemes, as well as aid in coordinating special events.
While in school, I worked as a social work intern for two health-related organizations (one hospice organization, and one focused on patients with cancer.) At these agencies, I had the chance to work one-on-one with clients, conduct needs assessments, and help clients work toward psychosocial well-being.
I also volunteered as part of the full-time summer staff with an Orphanage Outreach in the Dominican Republic.
Eric arrived with his wife, Kristi, to volunteer for HINT. Eric worked in IT on the School PCs Project. Through DevelopAfrica.org and Firsrgiving.com, the Zans raised more than $3,000 to support the School PCs Project. Thank you Eric and Kristi for your support!
I got my undergrad at the University of Texas in Computer Science in 2004. I’ve worked as a software engineer for the past 6 years building simulators for aircraft. I will be there [Cameroon] for 6 months starting July 6. I’m interested in international development and the digital divide. I heard about this opportunity through idealist.org and coincidentally found out Genesis was good friends with a co-worker of my brother-in-law…small world.
Amber Shevin arrived Buea from the USA on Sunday July 4, 2010 to volunteer with HINT, specifically working with the School PCs Project. Amber was able to raised $4,100, enough to help set up 3 computer labs in 3 schools with 10 computers each making a total of 30 computers! The school PCs Project facilities access to ICTs in school by proving up to 60% of the total cost of a complete computer lab with 10 computers. Thanks for being a HINT Hero, Amber!
I am currently working on my masters in International Relations and Sustainable Development at Chapman University and living in Southern California. I have traveled a fair amount around Southern Africa before but have never been to Cameroon or the West African region. I will be there from the beginning of July through the end of August. As for random facts, I love to surf and I horseback ride competitively around the US.
Andro is originally from Chile but lives in the USA. He joined a large team of 8 international volunteers from the USA and UK at HINT.
I am originally from Chile, but lived some years in the States (7 in total). I studied commercial engineering (mix between industrial engineering and business administration) in Universidad Adolfo Ibañez. Then I moved to Miami where I worked for LAN Airlines in the Pricing department for 3 years.
Personally speaking, I consider myself very open minded. I love to travel and highly appreciate diversity. I love to meet new people, new cultures, new ideas, new foods, adventures, etc. I am looking forward to experience all that and of course to help as much as I can while sharing with a group of great people.
Robert arrived Buea on June 16, 2010 (together with Brandon Turner) to be involved with our School PCs Project that is installing computer labs in schools and other educational establishments and providing IT training to teachers and students. Together with Brandon, they raised $9,900. The funds were used to pay for their trip, their stay in Buea and up to $3,000 went towards supporting the School PCs Project.
I’m a Physics major pre-med Woman and Gender Studies minor at MIT. I run a server here and I’m employed as a resident computer consultant. I’ve also done computer work for businesses in the Bethlehem, PA and Reno, NV area.
I am also one of the founders of Blackstone Operations, along with Brandon and will be accompanying him in Cameroon.
I have lived in North Carolina, Ohio, Pennslyvania, and Nevada. My family is from Chicago and my brother lives in New York.
Brandon Turner arrived Buea on June 16, 2010 (together with Robert Arlt, Jr.) to be involved with our School PCs Project that is installing computer labs in schools and other educational establishments and providing IT training to teachers and students. Together with Robert, they raised $9,900. The funds were used to pay for their trip, their stay in Buea and up to $3,000 went towards supporting the School PCs Project.
My name is Brandon Turner and I am a Biophysics student at Wake Forest University. I live in California (when not in school) and am particularly interested in teaching and research. I’m going to be in Cameroon from mid June to Mid August. I got involved with this as a member/leader of a group called Blackstone Operations that specializes in connecting kids with different opportunities and encouraging interaction and exposure to new things.
Random fact about me: I love baking and enter a few baking competitions from time to time (never won anything though but it’s all for the fun).
Adam Jones arrived Buea on Monday June 14, 2010 to continue research on improving water supply for the people of Buea. The initial research was carried out by Brendan Sherry and William Douglas (both students from Universities in the UK) and their results suggested that further research be carried out into the possibility of harvesting, treating and using the plentiful amount of rain water in Buea. Adam’s research focused on Rain Water Harvesting as suggested by William and Brendan. Adam’s research was an excellent way to continue on the work done by previous volunteers with HINT.
Sabrina volunteered for HINT by joining local nurses in conducting a number of medical outreaches and training Community Health Educators to educate their “worlds.” These “worlds” consisted of those the Educators could reach and influence in their local communities. The program began on June 10 with a 3-day Seminar to train Health Educators on HIV. The Health Educators were equipped with information to enable them educate their communities, families and the social groups to which they belonged. Following was a 2-week outreach to freely screen the population for diabetes and hypertension. The first week took place in Bonduma village in Buea and the second week at a banana plantation camp in Muyuka.
Brendan joined HINT from Imperial College London while completing his M.Sc. in Environmental Technology. He researched a project called “Enabling Safe Water Supply,” intended to provide safe portable water to three villages: Bonduma, Wotolo, and Bokoko. For more information on the project, feel free to contact Brendan. Brendan worked as a member of Engineers without Borders on the project. His research is a great example of how to develop your own volunteer project to suit your needs as well as those of HINT and the people of Buea.
Will visited from Cranfield University in London while completing his M.Sc. in Environmental Technology. He also worked on the “Enabling Safe Water Supply” project. Feel free to contact Will by email. Will worked as a member of Engineers without Borders on the project. His research is a great example of how to develop your own volunteer project to suit your needs as well as those of HINT and the people of Buea.
Samuel Lee joined our ranks of volunteers 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 updated the funding proposal on our microfinance project aimed at providing training and loans to rural women in Cameroon. Sam may be reached by email. Sam’s initial hard work on this project helped give it the ability to grow. Today, this small microfinance project has grown into the Kingdom Community Fund, a certified micrfinance fund in its own right, and a benefactor of the local economy in Buea.
Phebe spent two weeks with us while an Economics student at the University of Texas in Austin, USA. During her time at HINT, she worked on a Business Management Seminar for young entrepreneurs. While the seminar was originally intended to benefit current loan recipients, it was opened to the general public. Phebe was joined by Pastor Tinshu who shared knowledge he gained as a participant in the Global Social Benefit Incubator (GSBI) at Santa Clara University, USA. To ask Phebe about her experience, email her.
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 was transformative. He set-up of a server with backup and a router with a decent firewall (blocking file sharing traffic); migrated our platform to Open Source Software – Linux and enabled dual boot; switched our timing software to Outkafe – Open Source; redistributed UPS’s to computers; arranged ethernet cables more efficiently; and wrote documentation to ease understanding of his set-up at HINT and to enable easier set up of other Open Source IT Centres. After returning to Switzerland, Tobias continued to provide technical support through email and remote access/login to our servers. Tobias, we cannot than you enough for your tireless support to HINT. We are very grateful. You may contact Tobias by email.
Joanna worked with HINT from July to September of 2007. She continued to work on the proposal for a Community Library Project written by Heather Talbot. She wrote down all the rules and regulations governing the set up and functioning of the library and made the process of running the library easy for HINT staff to follow after her departure. Joanna has a Masters of Librarianship with; 14 years experience as a community college librarian, working extensively with ESL students and native-speakers enrolled in vocational programs, college-level classes and pre-college classes. She has also bought materials for the ESL collection. Thank you, Joanna, for your time and resource investment.
Helen worked with HINT for several months from May to September of 2007. Helen engaged in several activities while at HINT. Helen engaged in several activities while at HINT. She continued with Heather’s HIV Educators Seminars as well as an HIV Sensitization program. She also worked on our microcredit program, researching and writing proposals and clear guidelines for for our microcredit project. If you want to hear more about what it is like volunteering for HINT, then you can contact Helen through email for more information about her time with us. Thank you, Helen, for your hard work.
Hev worked with HINT for one year, from July 2006 to June 2007. While here, she conducted research in the Bonduma/Buea area that revealed the urgent need of the population for a health centre. She then overcame many obstacles to found the Wotolo Community Health Centre. The Wotolo Community Health Centre provides free consultations, general health advice, HIV/AIDS counseling, and access to affordable drugs. If you want to hear more about what it is like volunteering for HINT, then you can contact Hev through her web blog or email Hev for more information about her time with us. Hev is a Senior Nurse at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, England.
Joe and his wife joined HINT for a full year, from July 2006 to June 2007. While here, he re-built our website, giving it a real professional touch and enabling online donations. He also wrote a manual: An Introduction to Web Design, and taught more than 20 students the fundamental of web design using HTML and CSS. If you want to hear more about what it is like volunteering for HINT, then you can contact Joe through his website or email Joe for more information about his time with us. Joe is a Senior Project Officer at the Oxford University Computing Services in Oxford, England.
You must be logged in to post a comment.