Volunteer
You can help
Friends of Cameroon runs entirely by unpaid volunteers and is always looking for additional helping hands to assist in keeping the organization active and vital. Below are some of the ways in which members can help. FOC welcomes any additional volunteer efforts and/or ideas not currently listed. Please send ideas/suggestions to admin@friendsofcameroon.org.
Newsletter Contributions
Our newsletter relies on the contributions of its members. You can help out with the newsletter by doing one of the following:
- Summarizing and rewriting news articles
- Pulling out the parts that pertain to Cameroon
- Combining several articles on the same topic
If you see a tidbit on Cameroon in a magazine or newspaper, please send it in. Or, if you know someone who has just been to Cameroon, interview them about current conditions and write an article about it or ask them to write something for the newsletter.
Where are they now
Send in news about what you and your RPCV acquaintances are doing for the “Where They Are Now” page. We tend to get a lot more news about recently returned volunteers than about those who served in the seventies and eighties. We have gotten lots of positive feedback on this section of the newsletter and we would like it to be interesting for all generations of Cameroon RPCVs and friends.
Non-profit Status
Friends of Cameroon does not currently have legal non-profit status and is desperately seeking volunteers residing in Maryland with a legal background or specific experience with the paperwork required to gain such status in Maryland. The benefits to FOC would be considerable, ranging from tax deductibility of donations received to better deals on bank accounts and cheaper bulk mailing rates. If you or someone you know would be willing to help, please contact FOC as soon as possible!
Social Activities
Help plan the annual FOC reunion which is held during and at the same location as the annual NPCA conference. Organize a social event in your area. Here are some ideas that have been successful in the past:
- Happy Hours
- Dinner at an African Restaurant
- Tour of an African Art Exhibit
- Movie Night
(Members can borrow Cameroon-related videos from the FOC Video Library)FOC will be happy to provide you with address labels or e-mail addresses for members in your state or metropolitan area.
Development Projects
FOC funds a number of small development projects in Cameroon every year. FOCÕs project committee evaluates project proposals received from Cameroonians, PCVs and the Peace Corps Partnership program and makes funding recommendations to the board of directors. The projects committee is headed by FOC vice-president, Margaret Bate. If you would like to become a member of the committee, please contact her at equopi@juno.com.
Directory
Take a look at your most recent FOC directory and see if you notice entries that you know are out of date, incomplete, or otherwise incorrect, and send that information to us. You may be able to add service dates, posts, or e-mail addresses to existing entries, or there may be friends that you know that are not even listed. The more complete our directory is, the more our members will value it and use it. As you may know, a person does not have to be a member to be listed. We also use this database to recruit new members and advertise national events, such as FOC reunions. Once every 12-18 months we produce a new, updated FOC Directory. Volunteers are always needed to coordinate with our database manager in formatting the document, inserting artwork, editing and arranging for its printing.
French Translation
Most FOC information is currently available only in English. We would like to be more responsive to and inclusive of francophone friends of Cameroon. In order to do this we need volunteers to do the following:
- Translate FOC brochures
- Translate FOC Web Page materials
- Respond to correspondence received in French (Current volume is not high.)
- Write or adapt an article in French for the newsletter
Web Page Expansion
We are planning to expand the web page to be more functional and helpful to all members. Here are some ways you can contribute, or perhaps you have ideas of your own. You can help even if you have no prior experience. Email website@friendsofcameroon.org for more information.
- Recommend Cameroon-related books or videos not currently listed on our site
- Suggest or arrange links to other Cameroon-related Web sites
- Provide information to enable us to feature the work of additional Cameroon-related artists