Helps International (HINT)

A little help can make a huge difference

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How your donation will make a difference

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We have listed below some of the projects for which you can make specific online donations. Thank you for considering to help us.

Donate one or more Textbooks to our Community Library Project

HINT has set up a library to help provide school textbooks to orphans and children from very poor families, so that they can still be able to get a good education. The children borrow the books at the begining of the year, use them and return to the library so other children can borrow. Over 100 children have been helped already.

4,000FCFA (US$ 9.02 or GBP 5.03) will buy 1 textbook for 1 child.
32,000FCFA (US$ 72.13 or GBP 77.17) will buy all 8 necessary textbooks for 1 child
320,000FCFA (US$ 721.26 or GBP 402.26) will buy all 8 necessary textbooks for 10 children

You can donate online via PayPal or if you want to make a bank transfer, contact us for our account details in the UK or Cameroon. Learn more about our education projects. Thank you.

Help a poor youth gain IT Skills so that he/she can get a job and leap out of poverty.

Help a poor youth gain IT Skills so that he/she can get a job and leap out of poverty. More than 800 have been trained since 2005.

50,000FCFA (USD 105 or GBP 50) will train one unemployed youth,
500,000 FCFA (USD 1,051.81 or GBP 500) will train 10.

You can donate online via PayPal or if you want to make a bank transfer, contact us for our account details in the UK or Cameroon.  Learn more about our ICT projects. Thank you.

Help a poor orphan, youth or widow with a loan or grant for a small business

HINT provides micro loans to unemployed youths so that they can start of grow their small businesses. These businesses provide employment that improves the socio-economic lives of the poor. Pictured here is Joshua who received a 50,000 FCFA (USD 105 or GBP 50) loan from HINT and started a cassava farm 2 years ago. He is now able to support himself and looks forward to supporting his family from his growing business.

Loans range from as small as 25,000 FCFA (USD 53 or GBP 25) to 100,000 FCFA (USD 200 or GBP 100)
We do not only provide loans but also training as well so that our beneficiaries can better manage their businesses.
Let us know if you can support many more entrepreneurs with a larger loan.

You can donate online via PayPal or if you want to make a bank transfer, contact us for our account details in the UK or Cameroon.  Learn more about our economic development projects.Thank you.

Support our efforts towards contributing to stopping HIV/AIDS by 2015.

Part of our mission at HINT is to contribute to the global fight against HIV/AIDS. We do this by training HIV (Peer) Educators whwo are members of groups and who in turn will be able to educate their members. The trainees represent different groups of people in the society and the idea is to help them run HIV sensitisation seminars and campaigns among their own people.

HIV/AIDS in Cameroon in 2005
Adults aged 15-49 with HIV/AIDS = 470,000
New HIV infections, 2006 and Adult HIV prevalence (%) = 5.4
Women age 15-49 with HIV/AIDS = 290,000
Children with HIV/AIDS = 43,000 AIDS orphans (ages 0-17) = 240,000
AIDS deaths = 46,000

It costs us about USD 400 to run a seminar for 25 educators and covers food, transportation, manuals, related material… Consider supporting these seminars.

You can donate online via PayPal or if you want to make a bank transfer, contact us for our account details in the UK or Cameroon.  Learn more about our health projects. Thank you.

Donate a computer to our Computers For Sustainabilty (CFS) Project.

HINT currently depends on spontaneous individuals and organisations of good will to donate to its work. None of these individuals of organisations have decided to support us on a long term basis. HINT does not have any permanent source of funds to support it charitable work. This is very delicate as we must continue with the projects we’ve started as well as expand to other communities.

Computers for Sustainability (CFS) has been designed to help establish a permanent and sustainable base of funds for the work of Helps International (HINT) in Cameroon and the rest of Africa.

Summarily we will ship 400 refurbished Pentium Computers (minimum Pentum III) from the USA (or UK) to Cameroon. The computers will then be exchanged for cash. proceeds from the sales will enable us to continue to make other shipments while the proceeds will then be used to support our charitable work. This way, you support us once and we do not have to keep asking for support from you, year-in year-out. Your USD 50 or more can impact generations to come!

It will cost us 20,000,000 CFA (XAF) (USD 41,797.28 or GBP 20,000) to ship 400 computers to Cameroon and sell them within a minimum of 6-8 months at the cost of 30,000,000 (USD 62,695.92 or GBP 30,000). 19,000,000 will be used to continue the business for the following year while 11,000,000 (USD 22,988.51) will then be used to support our projects annually.

So, we need 800 people (or less if you donate more than one computer) who will give USD 50 each by January 31, 2008. Join us in improving the lives of the poor through technology. Place your own stone on the foundation.

You can donate online via PayPal or if you want to make a bank transfer, contact us for our account details in the UK or Cameroon.  Learn more about our ICT projects. Thank you.

Our partners for this project are:
Hope Outreach International Ministries (HOIM), Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA.
InterConection, Seattle, USA

Information for Volunteers

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Thank you for your interest in volunteering with Helps International (HINT), Cameroon. There are a number of volunteer opportunities to help build individual & community skills, create employment opportunities and place a smile on many faces through our 5 major operation areas:

Your participation will help us get to the point where we 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:

  • Teach Computer Education to students at one of our partner Schools or train IT Instructors for these schools
  • Write funding proposals for some of our projects and help with fundraising.
  • 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.
  • Coordinate shipment of computers and other equipment such as medical suppliers and the distribution and installation in schools and community centers.
  • Teach Computer Basics (MS Window, Internet, Emailing, MS Word, MS Excel, MS Access, MS PowerPoint) at one of our partner scholls in Buea or at our Community IT Centres
  • 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.
  • Serve at our Community IT Training Centre as Office Secretary, Cyber attendant, IT Instructor or IT Technician.
  • Run HIV/AIDS sensitization seminars in schools, prisons and 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.
  • Train young social entrepreneurs in basic business set up and management 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 USD 10 per day per volunteer. We require that each volunteer pays the sum of USD 300 to cover living expenses for the first month and AIRPORT PICKUP BEFORE arrival in Buea. The remainder is paid upon arrival in Buea. This can be easily done via our PayPal account. The monthly fee covers:

  • Airport pick-up and 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, Lunch and a snack for dinner. In our culture, lunch is the heavy meal while most people may just eat a snack or some fruits for dinner. Tea and Coffee is available at all times.
  • Internet Access at our head office
  • Administration and communication fee
  • If you need to, you can convert currency at www.xe.com/ucc.

This fee does not cover:

  • 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 personal 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

Application Process

Fill out our online application form.

Some of HINT's major achievements

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  • 250 computers shipped from the UK to Cameroon for use in HINT’s School PCs Project in 2009
  • HINT is an approved and certified ICIP partner with INVENEO in Sans Francisco, USA
  • ‘s IT project selected as a finalist in the Stockholm Challenge Award in 2008
  • More than 800 youths have been trained since 2003 to be able to effectively use the computer and the Internet.
  • We currently run 2 IT training centres located in Buea, Cameroon equipped with over 35 computers.
  • More than 100 children have been helped to attend school.
  • More than 30 unemployed youths have been trained as web designers.  With their new skills, they can generate income that will help them overcome poverty in their lives.
  • About 40 women have so far received training & loans for micro-businesses expansion or start-up.
  • More than 120 community leaders have been trained to become HIV/AIDS Educators within their communities.
  • HINT is a certified training partner with Kabissa’s “Time to Get Online” Training program. Kabissa is a Washington-based NGO.
  • HINT won the Global Junior Challenge competition in 2004 in Rome.
  • HINT’ was a participant at Africa Source II, which ran from Jan. 8-15, 2006, in Uganda, organized by Tactical Technology, Netherlands.
  • HINT’s Director is a graduate of the 2006 class of the  Global Social Benefit Incubator (GSBI) program at Santa Clara University, USA.
  • HINT has been congratulated by Cameroon’s Minister of External Relations with a letter dated Jan. 24, 2005 and referenced 000219/DIPL/D3/SDCNG/ONG

Our Goals & Objectives

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1. To bridge the digital divide
a. Help school children get ICT exposure and skills through the School PCs Project
b. Help underprivileged youths within the community to gain ICT skills through Community IT Training Centres.

2. To give the poor and underprivileged a chance to be educated.
a. Provide for the educational needs of  orphans and underprivileged children through Child Sponsorship
b.      Set up Community Education Centres in needy communities to cater for the education needs of the poor and underprivileged.

3. To fight poverty and unemployment
a. Provide access to low-interest loans and business management training to the poor for through Africa Rural Investment Fund (ARIF).
b.      Equip underprivileged and unemployed youths with marketable IT skills so help them find employment.

4. To improve the health of the underprivileged poor
a. Train HIV Educators who in turn will educate their communities, social groups and families on how to prevent HIV and other diseases.
b.      Run medical outreaches to educate the general public on healthy living and disease prevention.

5. To help develop needy communities
a. Provide clean water where needed
b. Provide solar electricity where needed.

About HINT

Our mission is to improve the well-being of the underprivileged in our community through education, skill development, and job creation.

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