After the worse year of my life, five months ago things were finally calmed and I realized that it was time…it was time to make my dream come true, it was now or never.
FIRST COME FIRST. I needed to calculate how much money I could count on (I will tell you later where the money will come from) if I wanted to go as volunteer for at least one year, then find a serious NGO willing to accept me as volunteer within my budget and lastly…get it done.
I talked to my sister Adriana and she told me she had a friend whom was in Kenya helping with an organization there, she gave me her friend’s email and I immediately wrote to her. She gave me the contact at the NGO and after a few emails back and forth I noticed the lack of interest of having me as volunteer.
I was a little sad, but my best friend, sister, confident Rachel, encouraged me to keep on looking and accomplish my goal, so I did it, I started to send emails to a lot of organizations all over Africa, prayed to have what I was meant to be for me, and waited.
Most of the NGOs accepted me, but it a cost fee of 300 or 400 euros a month, plus the plane ticket and all other things, so it was impossible for me…again I was sad...and again Rachel stood by me and cheered me up.
Suddenly, I got the magic email, one from Reach Out Cameroon, with a blessing from Esther Omam, the Executive Director of the organization stating that my profile was a perfect match to what they needed, they were looking for a Communications Officer, as the one working for them was about to leave, he was a volunteer and he couldn’t stay any longer.
She gave me the costs, and I had to thank her for the opportunity and explained her that it was impossible for me to pay that much, so she told me she could sense from my emails that I had a good heart and willingness to help and they also needed me, so she offered me a great deal and I accepted it.
Next thing…I was calling my mom to tell her that I was leaving to Africa, at first, she was shocked and, she thought I was crazy, I reminded her that it was my dream since I was a little kid and she told me “I know, I just didn’t think you were going to make it happen”, after a few minutes, she understood that I was going for it, so she supported me.
Now, I needed to get enough money to pay $2000 for the plane ticket, one year of accommodation, food, water and everything else in Cameroon, $275 for the six months visa (the other six months will go thru a renewal) among other things I needed to get for my trip…and a loan I had with the Bank.
How was I going to get that much money? How was I going to survive for one year with no payment and having to pay for my entire living costs? Easy!! I had to sell everything I had and save as much money as I could during my last months in Costa Rica (I decided to leave to Africa in December, 2011).
After four weeks I had sold everything…everything I had...was living back with my parents in Zarcero and traveling two and half hours by bus to Santa Ana in San Jose.
BIG SACRIFICES.I had to wake up at 4am to get to work at 7am, then traveled back to Zarcero and was there around 6.40pm, luckily I had a great job at Oracle that allowed me to work from home two days a week, and so I could sleep longer those days...wooo hooo!
I also missed not being able to cross the street whenever I wanted and go to Rachel’s house and chat with her and play with Stephan, her baby, my nephew.
Not having my independency after almost 10 years of living by my self was also very hard, although I love my family and love to spend time with them; I was used to have my own things and my own place.
Never the less, JOY was my main feeling for the three months after getting the invitation letter from Reach Out Cameroon and watching my dream coming true so many many years later. I experienced amazing things during my whole life, but what changed my life, happened from July to December 2011 and I must say…I had to get it done!!
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