Rural Development Centre Association Cameroon(RUDEC)

Volunteering with Rudec is an unique and great opportunity to support a local NGO and to make new experiences with a another culture. I am a female student from Germany and I went to Cameroon first to volunteer for Rudec in 2013 when I was 18 years old. Joshua Chiamba (the leader of Rudec) is a very hard working man, who doesn't work for his own profit. The donations are reaching directly the children in need. Also he cares a lot for his volunteers. Good communication and honesty is a big part of his working philosophy. When there were any problems we could always contact him and he would always find a way to solve them. The working fields were mainly teaching and doing sports and playing games with the children, but we were always free to find or start other projects. Because we weren't in Belo in summer we had only class for two or three hours per day, only teaching didn't take that much time of my daily routine, I had plenty of free time when there was no other work to do. So it's helpful if you are independent and creative and start a new project if there are no other projects to work for at the moment. Like one of my friends who painted pictures on the walls of the kindergarten for preschoolers. But even in my free time I was never bored. It is really exiting to learn about a different culture from the locals. We went to traditional weddings, funerals, the local bars and ''chop shops'', to different kinds of churches, hiked some mountains to see amazing waterfalls and made friends with some local boys and girls. We even tried to learn the local language, which is kind of hard, but a lot of fun. At the beginning it might be difficult to cope with some situations, because the living is very different, but it really depends on the single person how you handel it. But just find out yourself :-) The volunteers are living in a very nice guesthouse with a kitchen and a cook named Samuel, a really kind and polite man from the village. For European standards it might look simple, but for Cameroonian standards its on of the nicest houses I have seen in my time there. Also compared to other volunteer houses in Cameroon is it very comfortable. There isn't always water and electricity, but you'll get used to it. Make the most out of it, have a candlelight dinner ;-) Last year (in 2015) I also went back to Cameroon to visit Rudec and my friends from Belo. Volunteering with Rudec is a great opportunity and I would do it all over again. If you are willing to learn from another culture and work for their community you will grow with your tasks and you won't regret it :-)