The number one item I am determined to buy for the children while I am here in Douala is a water filtration system. I recently found out that the orphanage is not using tap water for drinking, but is collecting drinking water from the river. The water is not filtered nor treated, so the staff and children are drinking filthy, polluted water. After passing several water sources on the way to the orphanage, there is no telling what the river water has been exposed to chemically, garbage-wise, as well as human waste-wise. The children are often sick due to the untreated water, and all of them have a skin rash on their bodies that is in the form of numerous bumps on their skin.
I am in the midst of searching for a water filter system, so I cannot tell you as to how much money I need in order to buy one yet. It has been quite difficult to find someone who knows of a business who sells water filtration systems, so I have Jeromie and another friend asking around. I can find water filtration systems online with no problem, but have not found where to purchase here in Cameroon as of yet. Even so, I am not giving up my goal of clean drinking water for the children and am determined that they have access to clean drinking water prior to my parting at the end of this month!
Many people have been stoked to ship things to the orphanage; however, I have found that shipping here from the U.S. is extremely expensive. A 21”x21”x13” box was quoted as being $929.61, and a 17”x13”x11” box was quoted to be $355.47-that doesn’t even cover the weight of the box shipped. The other problem with shipping is that when a box arrives, the orphanage must pay taxes on the box(es) and taxes are very expensive here even for a not-for-profit orphanage.
I have tried my darndest to set up a Paypal account for donations, but unfortunately Paypal has blacklisted Cameroon. This is why I am posting donation requests so late, as well as my laptop being stolen has not helped! A lot of people have asked about sending donations to the orphanage website; however, it is not working. I have found that the link does not work in the U.S. because there are no banks that have any direct business links to Cameroon banks.
Due to my limited time here, I am asking people to send me their donations by MoneyGram (cheaper) or Western Union, and then e-mailing me the transaction number at superswade@gmail.com. Be sure to enter my full name: Susan Charles Wade, and you should only need to enter that I am in Douala, Cameroon. I can pick donations up anywhere at a MoneyGram or Western Union location in Cameroon (they are everywhere), so you wouldn’t need a specific address for me here. If you would prefer to not pay to send donations to me, my parents are collecting money in order to send me a lump sum donation. If you decide to do this instead, please contact my parents at my Dad’s office at 336-882-4131 or at my parents’ house after 6 pm at 336-476-4670 in order to make arrangements to get money to them. Just please keep in mind that I am only here in Douala until Feb. 28 and need all donations to be sent to me no later than Feb. 25.
Here in Cameroon, the government has no such system for donations to be tax deductible; therefore, the orphanage must depend on donations locally and abroad in order to continue to stay open. Someone asked me a very good question and asked, “Why does the orphanage not get help from local churches, companies or the government?” The Cameroonian government is so corrupt that it only cares about continuing to be corrupt. Companies will not donate due to donations not benefitting them (no tax write off). Also, many companies have run into problems where people who have requested donations have falsely posed as volunteers from an organization only to keep the financial donation or selling donated material items at the market. The majority of people in Cameroon are poor, so the churches do not collect many donations and as a result, the churches do not have money to spend on needy families or orphanages.
As you know now, all orphanage donations will not be a tax write off. I truly hope that this will not prevent my friends, family members, schools and churches from opening their hearts and donating to these wonderful children in need of not only clean water, but food and other necessities. I promise you that all money collected will only be spent on the children. Money leftover after my purchasing a water filtration system will be invested in the following requested items by the orphanage director, Solange: food, children’s underwear, children’s clothes, a table where the children can sit to eat, a radio (have none), TV (current one has no sound), chairs, mattresses, pots/pans, screen material to cover up screens with holes, and a new computer. I will continue to collect money after I leave Cameroon, so if I receive late donations, it will be fine. I will send a lump sum to Solange a few weeks after I return to the U.S.
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