| |
To volunteer in the United
States, Europe, Australia,
click
here>>

Who is qualified to apply for
these opportunities?
Everyone is qualified to apply.
Where in Africa can I volunteer?
In
Cameroon, Africa, where Shaping Destiny is currently operating.
How much does it cost?
The volunteer is responsible for the entire cost
which includes airfare (which varies according to
season) and a $1000 fee which covers living expenses
in Cameroon (including, pick up from the airport,
meals, lodging, transportation etc in
Cameroon for a two week period).
$500 scholarships plus free meals
and boarding
are available for qualified volunteers
who plan to stay for more than one month. Contact us to see if you qualify.
$1,000 scholarships plus free meals and boarding
are available for qualified
volunteers that plan to volunteer three months or
longer. Also contact us to see if you qualify.
All scholarship winners would be assigned to live at
the orphanage. If room is not available at the
orphanage, we would assign them to live with a good
Cameroonian family or in an apartment. For
volunteers paying for all their services, the choice
of where to stay is theirs. They can choose to live
at the orphanage, in a hotel near the orphanage,
with a good Cameroonian family or in an apartment.
What do we do for the visitors
/ volunteers?
We organize the visit and make
necessary arrangements in Cameroon including pick up
from the airport in Cameroon, transportation in
Cameroon, hotels, and food. Volunteers are
responsible for personally applying for their visas
and getting their plane tickets. We provide advise
for visitors that have not traveled before on how to
get tickets, vaccinations, visa etc. If you need
advise on that, please contact us.
What else can visitors do?
Interested visitors would have
the opportunity to go out and visit historic places
in Cameroon and even to go to the farm with Shaping
Destiny children. There will be much more to discover and
learn about the children and Cameroon. You can
make this part of a great vacation in Cameroon where
you get to serve at the Shaping Destiny orphanage!
Questions Frequently Asked by Volunteers>>
In order to ensure safety and make
volunteer experiences enjoyable, Shaping Destiny
suggests that all prospective volunteers follow the
steps below to apply for a volunteer opportunity in
Cameroon (Africa).
 |
Step 1:
Application
|
Part I of Application
Part II of Application
Volunteer Payments
 |
Step 2: Travel Preparations |
Visa Application
Please contact the Cameroon
Embassy at the following address to apply for
your visa.
2349
Massachusetts Avenue NW
Washington DC 20008
Tel. (202)265-8790, Fax (202)387-3826,
E-mail: cdm@ambacam-usa.org
|
|
|
Vaccinations
Before travel, it is important that
you and everyone traveling with you are up to date
on all routine
immunizations according to ACIP schedules.
So, talk
to your primary care physician and also visit the
CDC website for more information
on how to complete your vaccinations prior to
traveling to Cameroon (Central Africa).
Medical
Recommendations
Before
leaving, be sure that you
have talked with your physician and covered
prophylaxis or
vaccines for
the following diseases:
Tetanus
Malaria
Hepatitis A & B
AIDS
Meningococcal (meningitis)
Rabies
Typhoid
Yellow Fever |
|
Contact us if
you need more info on
vaccinations and other
prevention. |
|
|
Visit
http://www.cdc.gov/travel/cafrica.htm#vaccines
for more information. When on the CDC webpage, be
sure to read the information found on that webpage
under the following sub-titles.
-
Vaccines and
Preventive Medications: Routine Vaccines,
Recommended Vaccines, Required Vaccines, and
preventative medications.
-
What you need
to bring with you
-
Staying healthy
on your trip
-
After you return
Costs & schedules
$120 application fee (non-refundable)
$200 orphans' support donation.
All volunteers are responsible for their air-ticket
and living expenses.
Air-ticket prices usually range between $1600 and
$2000 depending on the season. Depending on your
skills and the length of time that you are
willing to stay and volunteer in Cameroon, you may
qualify for a scholarship that could cover your
living expenses and part of your ticket. Contact us
for more information and to see if you qualify.
Generally, volunteers who qualify usually volunteer
more than 6 months in Cameroon.
Shaping Destiny helps provide resources to all
prospective volunteers to help them raise the money
that they need to cover their volunteer expenses
including their ticket. See part two of the
application for details.
Where is Cameroon located? Click here
Purchasing your flight
ticket
Ticket prices vary depending on the season. In
addition to seasonal variations in prices, you can
often get a better price for your ticket if you buy
the ticket several months in advance. We also
encourage you to shop around to find airlines that
may have better rates. Find below, some suggested
airlines to check.
From the U.S.- The most direct route of travel would
be to Paris, France, continuing on by Air France to
Douala, Cameroon. Feel free to use a variety
of domestic and international carriers into Paris
(i.e., Delta, American Airlines, Continental, Air
France, Northwest, etc). Because Air France is
the only major carrier into Cameroon, please be
aware that if you fly into another country, you will
likely then have a connecting flight that will stop
in Paris before continuing to Cameroon.
U.S. TO EUROPE
www.delta.com www.continental.com www.northwest.com
www.alitalia.com
www.iberia.com
From
outside the U.S. – Same applies to travel from the
U.S.; Feel free to use a variety of available
carriers, but you will find that you will have to go
through Paris to board
a flight for Cameroon.
EUROPE TO CAMEROON
www.airfrance.com
|
Summary
of key steps to volunteer
-
Application (Parts I &II)
-
Visa Application
-
Ticket purchase
-
Vaccinations/Medical Recommendations
|
|
VOLUNTEER DUTIES AND
DAILY SCHEDULES. |
Volunteers may choose from any of the
following activities. Our volunteers are encouraged
to do what they feel comfortable doing. However,
before traveling,
each volunteer is encouraged to tell us the kinds of things they would want to do
from the list below. So, with us, volunteers are
treated as volunteers. You do what you want to do.
You can change your mind anytime even when in
Cameroon. However, we reserve the right to deny any
schedule changes when the volunteer is already in
Cameroon if we feel that we cannot accommodate the
volunteer's request. While we have some structure to
our activities, we are also very flexible because we
believe that such flexibility with our volunteers
lends to better care for our children. Volunteers
can make suggestions about new things that they want
to go and do. Yes, even if it is not something on
our list. We've had volunteers who are talented in
music who want to go and teach our kids music. That
is not on our list but we will work with such
volunteers to make sure that our children get as
many opportunities as possible. So, as a volunteer,
you can make your schedule or we can make one for
you. The only requirement is that your schedule will
have to be approved in advanced and we may require
explanation on how your work will benefit our
children. If it makes sense to us and we can ensure
that its beneficial and feasible, then we'll go with
it.
After we've accepted your schedule or given you ours
(see sample below) that schedule is only tentative.
If you made the schedule, we do everything to make
sure we keep it and allow you to make changes if you
need to (all subject to approval based on our
ability to accommodate the change). If you made the
schedule for you, we also work hard to make sure you
can change it when in Cameroon if you need to. This
ensures that volunteers get to do what they want and
also that we accept volunteers that give the type of
help we need. For example, construction work is
usually done in Cameroon only during the dry season.
In that case, even though we have listed
construction below, it may not be available for
construction volunteers who want to volunteer during
the wet season. Even though most of the other
activities are done year round, indicating what
volunteers want to do helps to avoid a situation
where we may accept more volunteers than we need.
This selection of what the volunteer would like to
do applies to both short-term (less than 3 months),
and long-term ( greater than 3 months).
List of Volunteer Activities to Choose from
Teaching English or French,
Spanish, German or any other popular language (we
need to approve language first):
Mentoring (work with infants, toddlers, young
children, and teens)
Construction (Paint, build, and repair buildings)
Providing healthcare (Only for Medical
professionals)
Care for vulnerable children
Teaching the bible to groups of kids/ preaching to
kids and other local groups / organizing crusades.
Shaping Destiny Volunteer Elective: The volunteer
goes to do something not listed above. The volunteer
is required to inform us what they want to go and
teach and how they think our kids will benefit from
it. Subject to approval. This is a great elective
that gives the chance to impart your genius and
creativity.
SUGGESTED DAILY SCHEDULES (Optional)
Volunteers can make their own schedule and choose
what they want to do and when. However, that is
subject to approval.
Many volunteers have no preference and are open. So
for them, our suggested schedule below may do. They
can adopt it and make changes if they want to. If
they choose that, it must be approved before they
travel. Changes can be easily made even when in
Cameroon (subject to approval).
7:30-8:30: Breakfast
8:30-9:30: Announcements/Prep Time
9:00-11:00: Tutoring/Teaching/construction/counseling
11:00-12:00: Flextime/Recreation
12:00-1:00: Lunch
1:00-2:00: Prep Time
2:00-4:00: Tutoring/Teaching/construction/counseling.
4:00-5:00: Flextime Recreation
5:00-6:00: Free Time
6:00-7:00: Dinner
7:00-9:00: Kid's Movie time/Art/Games/Church
9:00-10:00: Free Time
10:00: Quiet Time/ Bed time |
YOU CHOOSE WHAT YOU WANT TO DO, THEN MAKE
YOUR SCHEDULE. IF YOU HAVE NO PREFERENCE,
YOU CAN TAKE OUR SUGGESTED SCHEDULE. IF YOU
DECIDE TO MAKE YOURS, ALL THAT IS NEED IS
THAT WE APPROVE IT. |
ADDITIONAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR LONG TERM VOLUNTEERS ( GREATER THAN
3 MONTHS)
WHO DESIRE TO DO MORE (OPTIONAL).
Long-term volunteers may choose to get more involved
in the activities of the orphanage and the
organization as a whole. If they decide to do more,
they will be given the opportunity to do the
following. [ Note: This is for long-term volunteers
who want to also volunteer in leadership positions
and go the extra mile. It is not a requirement for
all long-term volunteers. However, we encourage
long-term volunteers who are applying for
scholarships to consider going the extra mile to
choose and do a few more things from the list below]
- Within the first one
month, follow your approved daily schedule as other
short-term volunteers.
-
After the first month, may serve supervisory duties at
the center laying emphasis on servant leadership.
-
May make recommendations to both local and U.S. teams on
how to improve service to the kids and make the
organization more efficient
-
After 3 months may serve as co-manager of the orphanage
with the local manager and make decisions on how to
run the center more efficiently.
If interested the volunteer will contact the U.S.
team via info@shapingdestiny.org three months into
their volunteer term.
-
May serve as a co-liaison officer (with local manger)
between the local and U.S. teams.
-
May send letters and emails that would be sent to
Shaping Destiny partners describing the conditions
of the center and children and any progress that is
being made.
-
May help promote the work of the organization as a
whole as volunteer alumni after return from
Cameroon.
|
SCHOLARSHIPS FOR VOLUNTEERS
1) One $500 scholarship for
short-term volunteers that plan to volunteer for
less than 3 months.
2) One $1000 scholarship for each qualified long-term volunteer that
plan to volunteer more than 3 months. Note that
these scholarships are not monthly stipends.
3) Half Boarding and Food Scholarships cover
half the cost of food and boarding for the volunteer's
stay. All
volunteers that
plan to stay less than 3 months are qualified.
4) Full Boarding and Food Scholarships cover the
full cost of food and boarding for the whole
duration of the volunteer's work in
Cameroon. All
volunteers that plan to stay greater than 3 months
are qualified.
|
|