Yesterday the travel team for the first assessment trip had its first meeting and, I have to say, we’re a good looking group:
(L-R) Front: Jonathan, Rahul, Lisa. Back: Dirk, Ben, Rachel, Diana, Ashley, Monica, Stephen.
We’ll call this the “Before” picture.
We had a really productive meeting and agreed on March 8-22, 2013 as tentative travel dates. Jen, one of our in-country Peace Corps contacts, will be traveling this weekend with Pastor Julius, our primary in-country contact, to Mbohkop to verify that the dates are good for the community. Hopefully Jen will be able to do a lot of recon for us while she’s there too!
We’ve got a huge to-do list before we travel: water testing training, GPS survey training, wilderness first-aid training, practice health/education interviews, visas, vaccinations, packing lists, and then there’s all the paperwork/approvals EWB-USA requires. Luckily we’ve got a motivated group and lots of support from the Home Team.
So far we’ve already crossed two major EWB-USA hurdles before traveling: the 521 Pre-assessment Report and the 600 Health and Safety Plan (HASP). These two documents are required by EWB-USA as their way of making sure a chapter has done the proper planning before an assessment trip. Everything from personal protective equipment to schedules and budgets are covered. Collectively, these two documents weigh in at 130 pages and it required the input and hard work from everyone in the Cameroon team. Thanks everyone!
Things will be moving quickly between now and March 8. The Cameroon team will be meeting weekly until then so check back or subscribe for more updates!