Experiences: UAC

Elizabeth Lugar from Austria visited UAC in February 2005 and tells of her time:

Being in Africa for the first time can be a very intense experience. Of what I can tell Cameroon is a good place to start discovering this continent. The distance from Europe is doable also for a short-term stay and the climate especially here in Buea is moderate compared to other tropic regions. The host family (that is the Orocks) provide every volunteer with enough time to travel and arranges trips and gives advice where to go and what to see. Because they are used to receiving international volunteers they are the perfect host for foreigners travelling to Africa for the first time. They took care of all our needs like meals, accommodation and also the volunteer’s role in the organization. Usually there are several volunteers working with UAC at the same time which makes it really easy to settle down pretty fast.

During my time here I got to know some young locals who are usually hanging out with the volunteers. Getting to know them was a nice way to get in touch with the local environment in very natural way. It is good to have somebody who is showing you around and is taking care of you during weekend trips. The friendship with these individuals led me to a very positive impression of Cameroon.

The work in the school was wonderful, fascinating but sometimes also a little frustrating at the same time as I saw how difficult it is to implement changes in a very short time. I am very thankful for having had the chance to see UAC as an NGO from the inside and for having the possibility to critically asses its systems and procedures. I definitely learnt a lot about the way people work here and how I can or sometimes cannot cope with it but that’s also a part of my learning experience. I understood that UAC wants to be different to other mostly public run school which is expressed in striving for a holistic approach of education in favor of the child.

When I return home, I plan to write an article for my local newspaper about U.A.C. and I will also give presentations on university about UAC and my life in Cameroon. I am also looking forward to support the sponsorship program that should enable children with difficult backgrounds to pay for their school fees.

My stay here has been incredibly different from everything I have done before and I just hope that my time here had an impact on the future of these kids attending UAC nursery school. These 4 weeks in Buea surely had a huge impact on my personal life and I hope that I can transport the positive picture I gained here back to Austria to change the general perception about Africa in the minds of other people.