General Clothing

• Professional clothes, slacks, button-up shirts, including blouses and skirts for women (business casual)
  
• Casual clothes for informal and after-work occasions
  
• Pictures of clothes you might want to have made (clothing patterns or photos from catalogs or magazines)
  
• Good-quality cotton shirts in dark colors (the dust in the air during the dry season and the sediment in the water year-round quickly discolor light-colored clothing )
  
• One dressy outfit for ceremonial occasions
  
• Plenty of good-quality underwear, boxers, socks, and bras
  
• Sweater
  
• Rain jacket
  
• Two more formal outfits (female teachers, especially, should bring several nice-looking dresses they can wear in the classroom until they can have some clothes made in-country)
  
• Durable jacket (i.e., jean jacket or fleece)
  
• Shorts
  
• Bathing suit or swimming trunks
  
• Hats or baseball caps 

Shoes

• One pair of comfortable dress shoes
  
• One pair of sandals for general use (e.g., Tevas or Chacos) and another pair for work
  
• One pair of running/athletic shoes
  
• One good-quality pair of work or hiking boots (especially Agriculture Volunteers)
  
• Waterproofing lotion for leather boots (if you bring boots)

Personal Hygiene and Toiletry Items

• Antibacterial wipes or hand sanitizers (useful when traveling)
  
• Any vitamin supplements or herbal remedies other than multivitamins
  
• Items that smell good, like lotions, incense, soaps, and sachets
  
• A three-month supply of all prescription drugs you are currently taking
  
• Two pairs of prescription eyeglasses (if you wear them) and repair kit. Contacts are not recommended due to elevated rates of eye infections and contact solution is hard to find.
  
• Sunglasses
  
• Hair clips and ties
  
• Initial supply of toiletries (if you have favorite brands, bring enough to last two years)
  
• Sanitary pads (the Peace Corps usually supplies tampons, but they may not always be the size you want)
  
• Hair-cutting scissors
  
• Cosmetics

Electronics

• IPod or other MP3 player (with speakers)
  
• External hard drive with music, recent TV shows, or movies
  
• Digital reader such as a Kindle or Nook
  
• Rechargeable batteries and battery charger
  
• Reliable watch (durable, water-resistant, inexpensive)
  
• Travel alarm clock
  
• Compact flashlight (e.g., Maglite or Fenix)
  

Kitchen

• Measuring cups and spoons
  
• Plastic storage containers and zip-top-style bags of assorted sizes (large containers are good for organizing items such as medicine and clothing)
  
• Good kitchen knife and knife sharpener (if you’re attached to a certain kind or quality)
  
• Favorite recipe book
  
• Packaged mixes (sauces, salad dressings, soups, drink mixes such as Crystal Light or Gatorade)
  
• Favorite spices
  
• A variety of open-pollinated (recyclable) vegetable seeds, if you like to garden
  

Miscellaneous

• 12 passport-size photos (make sure to have them in hand when you arrive; Peace Corps/Cameroon will need them the day after you arrive for in-country documents)
  
• Anything that will make you happy and feel at home (personal touches)
  
• Map of Africa and/or Cameroon (those available here are expensive)
  
• Travel-size games, such as Yahtzee, Scrabble, and Uno, as well as playing cards
  
• Art supplies (paints, brushes, paper, colored pens, and crayons)
  
• Books (each Peace Corps satellite office has a library, but classics are hard to come by)
  
• A favorite writing utensil, with replacements or refills
  
• Stationery and an assortment of greeting cards
  
• U.S. stamps (returning Volunteers can take mail home for you)
  
• Addresses of people you may want to write
  
• Weekend-sized backpack
• Bandannas
• Extra absorbent micro-fiber towel (small and great for traveling)
• Sleeping bag (good for overnight stays at other Volunteers’ homes)
• Bicycle shorts and gloves (a helmet, repair tools, and an under-seat bag are provided by the Peace Corps)
• Heavy-duty duct tape (good for everything)Concealable money pouch or belt
• Water bottle (e.g. Nalgene or Sigg)
• Swiss Army knife or Leatherman tool (very important to many Volunteers)
• Combination padlocks
• Good-quality portable umbrella
• High-school grammar books and literary anthologies (for English teachers)

• If you plan to travel to other countries for vacation, you may want to bring extra money to suit your travel plans; credit cards or traveler's checks are preferable to cash. There are ATMs in larger cities, and most towns so you may want to bring an ATM card to access a bank account in the U.S.

• Small gifts for host family and friends (not required); knickknacks for the house; pictures, books, or calendars of American scenes; souvenirs from your area; hard candies that will not melt or spoil; photos to give away