Dear members, supporters and interested parties
The 2020 club year began with a trip by board members and friends of the club to Bekoko. Some of them set foot on African soil for the first time and were able to take a deep dive into the local culture, traditions and cuisine, getting to know the country and its people. Others returned to Cameroon, quickly found their way around the village and already knew which food was best for their stomachs.
This year, we are once again looking back on an exciting but also challenging time. A lot has happened in Cameroon – not only in our project, where we have been able to celebrate great progress thanks to the tireless efforts of the local team and, above all, the voluntary commitment of the KamerunGO! board members, but also in the country itself. The political situation has escalated, more and more people have fallen victim to the conflict in the Anglophone region and Bekoko is bursting at the seams due to the internal flow of refugees. For us and our NGO Hope and Life Cameroun A lot has changed as a result. But as a small association that is in daily contact with our Cameroonian colleagues, we can use our experience to react to changing conditions quickly, in a solution-oriented manner and with a high degree of flexibility, also thanks to strong and long-standing partnerships.
From the board’s point of view, one of the highlights of the year was definitely the trip by board members to Cameroon. Thanks to the active support with painting, furnishing, cleaning and planning, the planned opening in January was able to take place. The time spent on site further strengthened the partnership between the clubs. Friendships became closer and thus the exchange between individuals during the year became easier, more direct and more intensive.
As president and initiator, I am delighted by the extraordinary interest in our project in Cameroon and the personal commitment of the board members. I was moved to tears when we were able to celebrate the opening on the big day together with the local population, NGO members, partners and employees of the Medical Center. It was a wonderful, colorful celebration with good music from local artists, delicious food and a lively atmosphere.
We actually wanted to travel to Cameroon several times over the course of the year to continue to support our team there. Unfortunately, Corona put a damper on our plans and the planned trips turned into numerous video conferences, lots of emails and phone calls. The young Hope and Life team was thrown in at the deep end, so to speak, and had to immediately keep itself afloat.
When I was finally able to travel to Cameroon again at the end of the year, I didn’t have great expectations and decided to just take the situation as I found it – the task we had left to our friends in 2020 was an incredibly difficult one. But everything I saw in the center filled me with incredible pride and great joy: that despite Corona and the associated circumstances, the building was in good condition, structural investments had been made, the cleanliness, hygiene and order went according to plan and there was also a small Christmas tree with lollipops waiting for the patients at the reception.
All in all, we close the club year with a lot of satisfaction and look forward to the future with excitement and highly motivated! At this point we would also like to extend a warm welcome to Rina Zuberi (Marketing) and Jana Arnold (Marketing). At the same time we would like to say goodbye to our writing guru Andrin Schmidhalter and thank you for your commitment, your ideas and, above all, the wonderful trip to Cameroon together! We will miss you in our meetings.
In addition to our new board members, we have gained other new members. Welcome Elliot Tamo, Martina Leutenegger, Lisbeth Honegger, Natalie Baggenstos and Margrith Neff.
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Goals achieved in 2020 for CameroonGO! and Hope and Life Cameroun
In 2020, we were able to achieve a lot despite the difficult circumstances caused by Corona. In January, we celebrated the opening of the Medical Center after 2 years of intensive planning and preparation work. The demand for treatments quickly showed the need for the Medical Center in Bekoko. It soon became apparent that expanding capacity to 24/7 operation would be unavoidable due to the high demand. As a result, from October onwards, the center was not only open at night and on weekends for exceptional reasons, but generally.
In addition to the day-to-day operations, the Hope and Life team was responsible for planning and implementing awareness campaigns. The implementation of the 2nd ID campaign “IDPs (internally displaced people) back to school” took place in September. The planning and implementation of the advanced training course Hospital hygiene and QS management for the Medical Network Cameroon (MNC) with Hope and Life. We provided administrative support to the Hope and Life team throughout the implementation of these actions. A large part of KamerunGo!’s work consisted of strengthening and building partnerships in Switzerland, Europe and Cameroon, as well as collecting donations from private individuals, institutions and companies. This also included the sale of dried pineapples and mangos.
The project was further developed throughout the year, including a needs analysis for further offers and projects in the region. Unfortunately, due to Corona, physical support on site was smaller than planned. However, support was often provided via video conferences or telephone calls.
In the second half of the year, a large and successful crowdfunding campaign for the incinerator took place.
Activities planned for 2021 for KamerunGO! and for Hope and Life Cameroun
We have already planned a lot for 2021 and have set ourselves high goals. One thing that is ongoing is the strengthening and maintenance of existing partnerships. We also want to build further partnerships. Marketing campaigns and, if possible, events in connection with pineapple sales and other goodies will also take place again this year. Fundraising from private individuals, institutions and companies should be somewhat higher than last year. We are also applying for subsidies for the consultations so that we have an additional contribution to the running costs.
Hope and Life Cameroun ’s IT and communications must and should continue to be actively supported by KamerunGo.
Structural extensions are also planned. A major and important point is increasing the capacity of the solar system so that daily operations can function without power outages. The waste management project with an incinerator and waste bank, which was launched in 2020, is to be further developed; a small part of the village’s waste is already being burned there in addition to the village’s own waste.
The public outdoor area has already been brought to life with the magnificent murals, and the expansion of the playground and a public toilet are on the list for this year. Public sockets are also to be installed in various places for charging small devices. The construction of the MNC warehouse and a repair shop for medical goods is also planned.
Hope and Life Cameroun has several health campaigns planned again this year, which will be carried out by our doctors and nurses in surrounding schools and clubs. The community work and offers for different age groups are carried out by Hope and Life Cameroon carefully planned.
Information from the departments
Project coordination and support Hope and Life
The many new employees of the Hope and Life Medical Center and the office of the NGO Hope and Life have mastered the first year well as a team, despite the most adverse conditions caused by the Corona crisis and the still difficult political and social situation in Cameroon, especially in the project region. At the administrative level, there were many hurdles to overcome, such as employment contracts, tax issues, social insurance, operating licenses, the accounting of the Project Medical Center as part of the NGO and new projects that have been planned and partly already implemented. There was a lot of discussion about responsibility, competencies and division of tasks as well as work and team culture and accordingly new structures for 2021 were developed. The relatively flat hierarchy is new for the employees. This has led and will continue to lead to discussions in the future, which are then organized with the support of the “neutral” KamerunGO team.
Due to the Corona situation and the corresponding measures, the number of patients was significantly lower than expected, especially in the first half of the year. At the beginning of the pandemic, people increasingly stayed at home for fear of infection, companies reduced operations and schools were closed for months. These circumstances have slowed down and made it difficult to build partnerships. In addition, several Corona prevention campaigns were carried out during this period to raise awareness and provide vulnerable people with masks and protective material. A big compliment to the entire Hope and Life staff for these extraordinary achievements.
In terms of construction, not much was done in 2020 after the opening, partly due to a lack of financial resources and partly because other projects were in the foreground. It was only towards the end of the year that we were able to invest again in improving the floors and completely finish the veranda.
Since we are already reaching our limits with the current solar system, it became clear that another major investment would be necessary in 2021.
All in all, the entire Hope and Life team as well as we at KamerunGO look back on this extraordinary pandemic year with satisfaction and pride and are looking forward to an exciting new year and the many moving stories that we will be able to witness.
IT, Marketing and Communication
The Hospital Management System implemented at the Medical Center in Cameroon in early January 2020 has proven itself. The software works very reliably and supports medical staff in their daily work. The data collected allows us to create anonymized statistics in order to optimally tailor our offering to local requirements.
We were able to further strengthen our online presence last year. The website was expanded, translated into French and English and given a small redesign. In addition, we can now offer potential donors specific donation packages (see image). This gives our supporters the opportunity to choose where their donation should be used.
These and other measures have enabled us to increase the number of visitors to the website by 50.13% compared to the previous year.
In terms of our presence on social media, we were a little less active compared to the previous year. In 2020, we published 41 Facebook posts. Our social media presence can therefore be further expanded.
At the end of 2020, our long-standing board member and marketing specialist Andrin Schmidhalter left us. We would like to take this opportunity to thank him for his creative ideas and expressive texts! We have now found two committed successors. Rina Zuberi and Jana Arnold joined the board at the beginning of the year. We are very pleased about this new addition!
In 2021, we in the new marketing team want to increase our reach through various strategies. On the one hand, more in-depth content, such as well-researched blog articles, should be published. These should not only address medical issues, but also provide a broad insight into the country of Cameroon with its history, culture and politics. We also want to provide more regular information about the progress of our current projects.
Donations and fundraising
Unfortunately, the donations from companies and foundations did not meet our expectations and our budgeting. It turned out that it is very time-consuming and difficult to send applications to the right places, especially foundations, and to deliver them to the right people. The Corona situation has also meant that many institutions have had less income (e.g. collections in the church) and that we must also expect a difficult fundraising year for 2021. So we are doing everything we can to raise the necessary funds, support our team on site and drive the projects forward. Fortunately, in 2021 we are again allowed to submit an application to the Catholic Church in Winterthur and WMF Barmherzigkeit, who have placed their trust in us from the very beginning. Thank you very much!
On the other hand, the numerous donations from private individuals were pleasing. Here, our ambitious goals were largely achieved and we thank each and every one of you for your trust in our project and our work.
Healthcare and Medical Strategy
At the Medical Center Hope and Life Cameroun, we were able to gain a lot of experience in the first year of operation. In addition to the Covid campaigns and measures, in the first few months we concentrated mainly on general medical services. The team started with 5 operating days a week at 10 hours each. Over the course of the year, we switched to 24/7 operation, meaning that patients could also be cared for overnight. At KamerunGO, we still have the goal of making our health center (now more of a community hospital) self-sustaining in the medium term. However, due to the difficult situation in the region and the high unemployment, it is proving difficult to finance the running costs with the income from patients. On the one hand, because we have to and want to keep costs low so that they are at all affordable for the population, and on the other hand, because we pay our employees decent wages and social benefits, which in turn have a positive effect on work performance and quality. In addition, marketing/communication turned out to be more difficult than expected, as the state guidelines for advertising by private hospitals are very strictly regulated. For 2021, we are expanding our services and will enter into further partnerships with surrounding schools and companies in order to receive a contribution to the operating costs, similar to the solidarity principle of our health insurance companies.
We firmly believe that only through local know-how and stable financing can health care in Cameroon be sustainably improved. However, it is important to us that we provide the treatments in the medical centre to the beneficiaries at fair prices, or can offer free of charge in individual cases. If a person cannot afford the amount, a solution will be found so that they can still receive treatment.
From 2021, our services will include the following areas:
- General medical treatments
- Wound care and minor surgery
- Laboratory tests and analyses
- Gynecology and birth support
- Dental treatments and preventive examinations
- Ophthalmological examinations
- Patient visits at home
- Physiotherapy
- Sports programs & nutrition coaching
- Counselling services (nutrition, HIV, family planning, mother counselling)
- Monthly prevention campaigns in schools and other institutions
- Community activities in the new public space in the Medical Center
- Events for different target groups combined with prevention (Kickin for Health -> healthy nutrition / sports as part of a football tournament in which all 4 surrounding villages compete against each other)
Partnerships
KamerunGO! is working in an alliance with other European partners (WMF Barmherzigkeit eV, Bon Secours eV and Humanitäre Hilfe Landsberg eV and other associations are constantly being added) to build up the medical network “Medical Network Cameroon”. The aim is to connect hospitals and other medical institutions in Cameroon, to promote exchanges among themselves, to organise transports of medical supplies for the partner institutions in Cameroon and to offer training opportunities. In the meantime, our NGO Hope and Life does a lot of administrative work for the MNC. A major project is planned for 2021/20211, namely the construction of a warehouse with high-bay storage, including a medical technology workshop, training rooms and studios. From there, the material will be processed, maintained and repaired and distributed to the partner institutions as needed. In addition, the building offers enough space for further training (in 2020, for example, a hospital hygiene and quality training course was held) and conferences.
Financial Statements, Administration and Members
As can also be seen in the annual accounts, the entire Board of Management works on a voluntary basis for KamerunGO! All expenses for domains, printed matter, campaigns, marketing, travel and stays in Cameroon or for the MedicalNetworkCameroon were paid by the individual members themselves.
For 2021, we have set ourselves the goal of finding 10 more members (active or passive) who will support our association with their membership. Membership is open to everyone and we look forward to everyone joining. You can easily register on our website KamerunGO.org.
Finally, we would like to express a HEART THANK YOU to all of you. Because without you, dear board members, members, sponsors and friends of the association, this project, including planning and construction up to the opening of a medical center in Cameroon, would not have been possible in only 2.5 years after the founding of the association and the local NGO. Everyone has contributed their own personal part to ensuring that we have already achieved so much. With this in mind, we say goodbye with deep gratitude for the trust you have placed in our work.
THANKS NEXT MERCIE THANK YOU
Greetings
Ursina Sprenger Joel Schmid
President Vice President
Annual financial statements 2020
| Account balance as of | 01.01.20 | CHF 396.66 |
| 31.12.20 | CHF 22387.99 | |
| revenue | ||
| Donations Private | 27230.53 | |
| Donations from companies, foundations and institutions | 7748.8 | |
| wemakeit (garbage incinerator) | 5175 | |
| WMF Mercy Germany | 20984 | |
| Membership fees | 515 | |
| Pineapple/Mango Sales | 4030 | |
| Events | 1192.45 | |
| Total revenue | CHF 66’875.78 | |
| Expenditure | ||
| Project support | 42000 | |
| Storage and transport | 1417 | |
| Bank charges | 151.8 | |
| Pineapple and Mango | 844 | |
| Other expenses | 471.65 | |
| Total expenses | CHF 44,884.45 | |
| Profit | CHF 21,991.33 |
Thanks to the generous support of WMF Barmherzigkeit Deutschland, we were able to achieve an unexpectedly high profit. This is not least due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Projects planned at the beginning of the year could not be implemented due to the travel ban. Ursina Sprenger’s trip to Cameroon over the turn of the year 2020/2021 enabled some projects, such as the design of the waiting area, to be tackled. The payments were made at the beginning of 2021.
In order to cover the hospital’s running costs and carry out minor maintenance work, we needed around CHF 3,500 per month. In addition to the Catholic parish of Winterthur, we were also supported by the Ingenboler Sisters Foundation. The Catholic parish of Wattwil took a collection for us. At the beginning of the year, an amount was transferred from the University of Zurich’s 2019 Christmas event. No further events took place due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A good 4,000 francs were raised from the sale of pineapples and mangoes.
Budget 2021
| Revenue | CHF |
| Membership fees | 1’000 |
| Private donors | 25,000 |
| Crowdfunding | 5,000 |
| Institutions, companies and foundations | 45,000 |
| Actions | 9’000 |
| Total | 85,000 |
| Expenses | CHF |
| Project support Hope and Life Medical Center (running costs) | 24,000 |
| Project support Hope and Life NGO Waste Management | 20’000 |
| Project support Hope and Life prevention campaigns | 6’000 |
| Project support Hope and Life Increase capacity of solar plant | 25’000 |
| Material purchasing for Hope and Life / Transport Switzerland | 5’000 |
| Provisions / unforeseen events | 5’000 |
| Personnel costs (voluntary) | 0 |
| Total | 85,000 |
Support us by buying delicious pineapple or mango from a fair project in Cameroon!
