Helping a Yaounde Orphanage

My wife and I are international teachers who work at the American School of Yaoundé in Cameroon.  We are here with our 10 year old daughter Eliza.  We would like to help a local orphanage that is currently supported by the small congregation of a local church.  We came to know the orphangae through a Cameroonian teacher at our school who is also our Service Learning coordinator.  One of the greatest needs they have is a reserve water tank, as here in Cameroon the running water service goes out frequently, you get the picture 29 children and 3 adults without water!

The pictures below are of the sleeping accomodations for the 29 children. They share 13 "twin size" beds, sometimes sleeping 3 in a bed.  Mattresses and plastic mattress covers are another urgent need.





One of the good things about this orphanage is that they have a school within the orphanage.  The local congregation that supports the orphanage provides teachers to come during the week.  As you might expect they are short on school supplies, basic things like chalk, paper, construction paper, pencils, markers, and lined paper.



Aside from the consumable school supplies they could also use computers for the teachers and books in both English and French.

The last need that we would like to address is indoor cooking.  Currently the orphanage has a small gas stove, there is not gas service in Yaoundé it is all bottled in the same size bottle that Americans use for their gas grill.   Unfortunately, paying for electricity comes before paying for cooking gas. So often they cook outside over an open flame with donated sawdust and other wood scraps.  This is tough during the rainy season.

So here is the breakdown (in US dollars)and how we have prioritized the way we can help.

The mattresses and water tank can be acquired locally.

20 new mattresses and covers at a cost of approximately $60 each = $1,200

We are not completely sure about the cost of the water tank but we are estimating $3,000 - $5,000 .  If we are over we will look at the possibility of tying in a pump.

School supplies are very expensive here, so we are looking at bringing back the school supplies from the States in extra bags after the Christmas break.  $1,000 for the supplies and we are estimating 3 extra bags at $200 per.

Our family has committed to taking care of the cooking gas ourselves. A new stove, acquired locally with the capacity to cook for 29 children will cost approximately $1,500

As the money comes in we will prioritize the needs in the following order

Mattresses                                    $1,200
School Supplies/Shipping      $1,600
Tank/Install                                   $5,000
Stove                                                $1,500
                                                          _________
                                                             $9,300

The GoFundMe fees and expenses are roughly 8% so the grand total we need to raise is: $10,000