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While still in your home country please Contact the Cameroonian embassy in your home country to obtain a visa. Either 3 month or 6-month visas are available, and usually you must provide proof of flights, travel insurance and an invitation letter (which SURUDEV Cameroon will email to you). Check if your country has a Cameroonian Embassy. For the US and UK, please check here: US Citizen | UK Citizens
If you do not have a Cameroonian Embassy in your country, we will need your contacts at SURUDEV in Cameroon to prepare an application to the Director General for National Security in Yaoundé which will take about a month. They may decide to give you a visa or not. You will need to send in your scanned passport. Volunteers / interns should know that they will be responsible for the associated costs. The other alternative is that: volunteers from countries without a Cameroon Embassy could cross over their borders or mail your documents to a neighbor country that has Cameroon Embassy to apply for a visa.
We recommend our volunteers to arrange Insurance themselves. A regional hospital and other effective hospitals exist around town, which will help if there is an emergency with a volunteer. We encourage volunteers to obtain their own travel insurance before they book a flight. Here are some websites where you can get more information: WHO and CDC. If you have any disability or illness, please contact us so that we can advise you on what to do before you come.
Staying in a Rest House will cost of about $100 per month. The Rest House has 2 heated bedrooms, with a shared bathroom (toilet and shower). It also has one general parlor with a seating area and a kitchen for food preparation. You can prefer to live with the Coordination team of SURUDEV and the money will be used for your needs.
Most of our food is organic though inorganic is found in stores, If you cater for yourself, you can expect to spend between $75 to $100 a month which includes cooking for yourself as well as eating out a few times a week. Volunteers can also buy their food and cook together for those who need a cook or with somebody assigned by the organization. The drinking water in Bamenda is very good, and safe to drink. However, most volunteers prefer to filter or boil it before drinking. Bottled distilled water can be purchased at a cost of $1 for 1.5 liters.
We work with the divisional officers and mayors who are the representatives of the government; volunteers will be introduced to the divisional officer and the gendarmeries (police officers) in the project area so as to ensure their safety for the duration of their stay. You can choose to stay with us if you wish.
SURUDEV can pick you up from Douala airport and take you to the project area. Traveling by bus from Douala to the project area will take about 8 hours. As you will appreciate, we have very limited funds, so we have to request that you pay for the pick up before you arrive in Cameroon. The total fee is $133, which includes the costs of transport by bus, taxi hire from the airport, hotel for one night, and food and water needed during the journey to Bamenda.
In the project area there is access to the Internet, and phones are also available to enable you to communicate with your friends and family. We encourage volunteers to bring an unlocked cellular phone from their country in which you can buy a sim card and use in Cameroon. There are many cyber cafes and international calling centers where you can skype or call home for under $.06 per minute.
We work with the divisional officers and mayors who are the representatives of the government; volunteers will be introduced to the divisional officer and the gendarmeries (police officers) in the project area so as to ensure their safety for the duration of their stay. You can choose to stay with us if you wish.