1 Day More

After all the coordination, fundraising, and stress, our trip is FINALLY HERE. 

I know that fact has been exceptionally surreal for me the past few days, as well as the other team members.  I am not sure if I'll even believe it until I step off that plane in Cameroon. 

Nevertheless, the fact that our trip is upon us has meant tying up a few last ends, including announcing our business competition finalists.  

Without further ado, a sincere congratulations to .... 

The Universite Catholic D'Afrique Centrale Finalists 
Juste FLorentin Manga Noah 
Alphonse Bekolo
Donald Sileu 
Tina Magloire 
Jean Jacques Mengbwa 

The Universite Des Montagnes Finalists
Eric Martial Nguetchue 
Etienne Ekedi Samnick
Florent Fosting Fomelea

We can't wait to find out who the winners will be!

Tomorrow, our plane departs Charleston at 3pm and we will be on our way to finding out.  

Stay tuned to this blog for updates throughout out week and wish us luck as we embark on this fantastic adventure.

Campus Bamboozle 2013

A very special thank you to 12 professors and 83 students who attended campus bamboozle last Wednesday night! 

The annual fundraiser was a huge sucess and raised $2030 towards the KickitForward Project. 

Filled with laughs, free candy, and mellow mushroom gift certificates for the winning professors, everyone had a fantastic time and we can not wait until next year! 

My favorite part, however, had to be the audience-directed questions all about Disney movies (I am proud to say, I knew 100% of them). 

The sign up table for students

Preparing for the night

The event!

Hygiene Posters Finalized

Our hygiene posters have been finalized with the help of our partners Possibilities Without Borders! The posters will be distributed among schools and communities in Cameroon. 

Laptops Arrive in Charleston

Team receives 8 donated laptops for computer and business training thanks to our sponsor Possibilities Without Borders, Inc and donors.

Our School Supplies and Servers Arrived!

Remember the 1,500 school packages that we sent over in January?  

Today, they officially arrived in the Douala and are awaiting customs clearance!

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Laptops Have Shipped!

The laptops have shipped!

We are bringing eight laptops with us when we leave for our trip in ONLY NINE DAYS, and they are officially on their way.

The team can't wait to see them when we get there!

Microfinance Application Now Available

Our Micro-finance application is completed and ready for Cameroon!  

On Monday March 4th, we will be presenting the Micro-finance program to women in Baffousam to explain the steps of the application process and requirements to obtain Micro-loan funding.  Essentially, the women will create groups, and within these groups formulate an idea for an enterprise to put on the application on March. 6th.  After the completion and evaluations of the applications, we will have financial counseling for the recipients on Thursday, March 7th.  The leader of each group will submit a monthly report detailing: revenue, loan repayment, and product inventory.  Upon our departure for Yaounde the following morning, these women are sure to have a rewarding start creating a successful enterprise to sustain their families.

Micro-finance description

Micro-finance Program Application

Business Plan Competition

Our business plan competition has been posted and we have several applicants who will present to us upon our arrival.  

We are very excited that the competition will culminate with 2 winners who will each recieve 500,000 CFAs to assist with their own businesses. 

As we finalize the competition process, Ali was explaining to us the score cards and other details. 

Can you tell how much fun we are having? 

Sanitation & Hygiene

The team was hard at work last night finalizing our hygiene initiative plan.

We designed cards that we will assit in communicating a hygienic lifestyle and disease prevention to kids and adults alike, and we can not wait to have them printed!

The Tentative Itenerary

Kick-It Forward Project Itinerary

Days	Time	Description	Notes/Action Items
Friday, Mar. 1	1 pm	Depart from Beatty Center	Press release to local media
	3:30pm	Departure on Flight DL 760
Saturday, Mar. 2	4:50pm	Arrive in Douala
	8 pm	Light dinner with friends
Sunday, Mar. 3	7:30	Breakfast
	8:30	Travel to Baffousam	Visit falls and fruit stands (pictures)
	1:30	Arrive at Plantation
	3pm	Plantation visit
	5pm	Project briefing	Pictures
	8pm	Dinner at Plantation
Monday, Mar. 4	am	School Supplies Distribution/Hygiene Presentations	Interview with parents, kids saying THANK YOU CofC
	1 pm	Lunch at Plantation
	3 pm	Micro Loan Program Presentation
	8 pm	Dinner at Plantation
Tuesday, Mar. 5	8 am	Depart for UdM
	11 am	Visit of UdM
	12 pm	Visit of Tech Room/Smart Board	Picture
	1 pm	Lunch at UdM
	2:30	Business Plan Competition at UdM	Pictures
	4 pm	Ceremony for winner and laptop donations	Pictures
	4:30	Meet the students/Professor Conference	Pictures
	5:30	Departure for Plantation
	8 pm	Dinner at Plantation
Wednesday, Mar. 6	am	School Supplies Distribution/Hygiene Presentations
	1 pm	Lunch at Plantation
	2-5	Micro Loan Program Application
	3-5	Soccer games	Videos of kids playing games
	8 pm	Dinner at Plantation
Thursday, Mar. 7	9-12	Micro Loan Program Counseling	Interview with participants
	12	Financial Award Event	Pictures, video of empowerment
	2 pm	Visit of Palace	Pictures
	8 pm	Dinner at Plantation
Friday, Mar. 8	6 am	Breakfast
	7 am	Departure for Yaounde
	1pm	Visit at Embassy	Pictures
	3:30 pm	Business Plan Competition at UCAC	Pictures
	8 pm	Dinner at Hilton/stay Hilton	Pictures
Saturday, Mar. 9	8 am	Breakfast
	9 am	Departure for Douala	Pictures
	1 pm	Arrive Douala/Light Lunch
	2:30	Shopping	Pictures
	7:30	Light dinner with friends
	9:00	Departure for Airport
	11:55 pm	Departure for Paris on AF953
Sunday, Mar. 10	8:33 pm	Arrival in Charleston on DL1607

Oh the Places we'll Go

Cameroon Map

The schedule is in! We will be landing in Douala, the capital of Cameroon on Saturday, March 2nd spending the night, and departing early to the region of Bafoussam Sunday morning.

After five busy and fulfilling days of school supply distributions, a business plan competition, and starting up micro-loan programs, the team will depart for Yaounde after engaging in soccer games with the local children.

In Yaounde, we have the privilege of visiting the embassy and hosting one last business plan competition before our departure the morning of March 9th to Douala.  Then it's just a short 25 hours  back to Charleston!

The Visas are in

Cameroon Visa!

After eagerly awaiting their arrival, our visas are finally here!  They were mailed to the college from the  Cameroon Embassy in Washington D.C this Friday.  With our 6 passports successfully stamped and ready to go, we couldn't be more excited about our March 1st departure.

The countdown continues!