An international volunteer, German national Nico Fischer recently thrilled trainees of the ERuDeF Institute when he said his trip Cameroon, the first he made alone, was the most rewarding.

Fischer was talking to the trainees after his visit to the newly created Tofala Hill Wildlife Sanctuary in Lebialem Division in May/June 2015.

The German said international travelling can actually help in career development, as he enumerated all the places he has been to from childhood and how those places and the different people he has met along the way brought positive changes in both his person and career.

Meanwhile, ERuDeF CEO Louis Nkembi reassured the trainees that where one comes from does not really matter but creating a brand name, staying focused, being diligent, consistent and hard work were all the tools they needed to become whoever they desired.

The ERuDeF International Volunteer Programme was created in 2010 when the team expressed the need for monthly monitoring of apes in the then Proposed Tofala Hill Wildlife Sanctuary. This programme was originally designed to recruit international volunteers who were passionate about the fate of the apes to volunteer from two weeks and above during which they would take part in tracking as well as develop new projects to better conserve the apes.

With time, the programme gradually grew in different dimensions to include capacity building of some ERuDeF staff and now to include trainees of the ERuDeF Institute.

By Bedwin Asoh