Cameroon : Collaboration with the Jean Félicien Gacha Foundation on rugby

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In the midst of the Rugby World Cup, the cultural department of the Jean Félicien Gacha foundation showed the movie Invictus, in presence of the rugbymen of the SBA Bangangté centre. After the movie, in order to stay in the theme of Africa and Rugby, a rugby initiation class was offered to the public by the Serge Betsen Academy.
The pouring rain did not undermine the fighting spirit of the SBA rugbymen… After the projection of Invictus, the players recreated the game… and the historical logic was respected: 27 to 17 for South Africa (in blue) against New Zealand… A word from the foundation: “Congratulations to all on this big first for the foundation and the lesson in sportiness it taught us, confirming the belief that ‘Football is a gentleman’s game played by hooligans, and rugby is a hooligan’s game played by gentlemen”.
Thank you for the invitation!

 

 
Rugby initiation at the Gacha Foundation

Cameroon: Donation from BIC!

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Thanks to the generosity of the BIC group, our children have enough blue and red pens for the whole year!

The perfect tool for their academic success is in their hands.

Thank you BIC for helping our children to study in good study conditions!

Cameroon: Visit of the Jean-Félicien Gacha Foundation

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In October, Jenna, our Project Manager and Djibril, the Manager of the Eau Claire Center visited the Jean-Félicien Gacha Foundation. They had an interesting and constructive discussion with the staff of the foundation.

We are proud to collaborate with this beautiful Foundation whose values ​are ​close to ours on the occasion of Philippe’s bamboo and pearl objects training. And we hope we will collaborate again soon on other projects.

Some books have been donated by the foundation to our children and we feel grateful for that.

Cameroon: Setting up the Zoétélé infirmary

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After opening the education pole at the Zoétélé centre at the beginning of the school year 2018, we met a nurse in Zoétélé, who had decided to volunteer and provide consultations to the children from the centre once a week.

In line with what we already set up in Bangangté and Bafia, the centre of Zoétélé will now be operational on our triple focus: Education, Health and Rugby.

We are extremely proud of this achievement! It’s amazing to see the SBA growing!

Cameroon: Charities fair 2019

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Thanks to Nadege, the Manager of the Jardin Eden Centre for representing us at the charities fair on Saturday at the AMT Club, which was organised by the Français du monde-adfe.

The Serge Betsen Academy (SBA) proudly confirms that 5000 young people from underprivileged areas have been welcomed in our centres for the past 15 years and have benefited from school support and health care, the majority of which have also practiced rugby.

It was a pleasure to discuss with our guests and an honor to see H.E. Christophe Guilhou from France back in Cameroon!

Nadège at the fair  The French Ambassador at our stand

 The SBA stand

Cameroon: Visit of the new Ambassador of France to Cameroon

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Jenna, our consultant, went to Cameroon late September to work with the managers of our centres: Abaa, Nadège, Jean-Cyrille and Djibrail. She can happily attest that the work methods implemented for the past two years have given each manager more autonomy and more space to propose new initiatives in order to propose new projects to the SBA board as well as to voice the urgent and long term needs of our centres.

Her trip took place at the same time as H.E Christophe Guilhou, the new Ambassador of France to Cameroon, took office. We took this opportunity to invite him to visit our Jardin Eden Centre in Yaounde, during our Friday afternoon activities, which included rugby initiation. Jenna and Nadège presented to him the different activities of the centre and more broadly of the Association in Cameroon as well as abroad.

The Ambassador of France with our SBA children  Children of the Jardin Eden centre

The Ambassador of France with our SBA team  The Ambassador of France with our SBA children

Cameroon: Renovation of the Netah nursery school, allowing for 40% more students

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Thanks to the generosity of our donors and the support of the Wasps Legends Charitable Foundation, Netah’s preschool is looking great. The school has indeed been renovated and sanitary facilities have been installed in order to accommodate a total of 60 children in better conditions.

This school was built by parents which is quite common in Cameroon. As the budget allocated to the national education is not sufficient, the children of our centre had no space in the nursery school.

In January 2019, the SBA board announced the implementation of these works, carried out thanks to the 9 million CFA Francs (= 13,725 Euros) collected for this purpose. Serge Betsen, Odile Prévot and Sébastien Lovy were filled with joy when they announced the news to teachers and parents during their trip. One of the objectives of the Serge Betsen Academy (SBA) is, as you know, to facilitate access to education for the children of our centres and their classmates.

Netah avant les travaux

In February 2019, Atelewa, a construction company in Cameroon, began the work to allow the school to welcome new children in better conditions as from the start of the 2019-2020 school year.

Netah travaux en cours en février 2019 école de Nétah rénovée avec sanitaires

In September 2019, the children returned to school in a new, well-equipped building. It is a source of enormous satisfaction for the SBA to see these children studying in such good condition.

Djibril, the manager of the Eau Claire centre in Bangangté, also visits the school from time to time to talk to the head teacher and the children. During one of his visits, he made the most of it and coached a rugby session. It’s always moving to see such small children trying their hand at rugby! And for some of them, it was the very first time they saw an oval ball!

We wish these children great learning and more than anything a bright future, and we would like to thank the Wasps Legends Charitable Foundation and our donors for their fabulous generosity allowing these children to grow up and dream of a promising professional future.

 

Translation : Katy Birgé-Wilson

Cameroun : La rénovation de l’école maternelle de Netah permet désormais d’accueillir 50% enfants supplémentaires

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Grâce à la générosité de nos donateurs et au soutien de la Wasps Legends Charitable Foundation, l’école maternelle de Netah a fière allure et accueille désormais 60 enfants dans de bonnes conditions. L’école a en effet été rénovée et des sanitaires ont été construits.

Cette  école avait été construite par les parents, comme souvent au Cameroun. Le budget alloué à l’éducation nationale n’étant pas suffisant, les enfants en classe maternelle de notre centre n’avaient pas d’endroit pour aller étudier. En janvier 2019, le bureau de la Serge Betsen Academy (SBA) a annoncé la mise en oeuvre de ces travaux réalisables grâce aux 9 millions de Francs CFA (=13 720 euros) collectés à cet effet. Serge Betsen, Odile Prévot et Sébastien Lovy ont eu alors la joie d’annoncer la nouvelle aux parents lors de leur voyage. Un des objectifs de la SBA est, vous le savez, de faciliter l’accès à l’éducation des enfants, ceux de nos centres et leurs camarades de classe.

En février 2019, Atelewa, une entreprise de construction basée à Bangangté, a débuté les travaux afin de permettre à l’école d’accueillir de nouveaux enfants dans de meilleures conditions dès septembre 2019.

Netah travaux en cours en février 2019

C’est une source de satisfaction énorme pour la SBA de voir ces enfants étudier dans de bonnes conditions. Djibril, le responsable du centre Eau Claire de Bangangté passe d’ailleurs de temps en temps dans l’école afin de discuter avec la directrice et les enfants. Lors d’une de ses visites, il en a d’ailleurs profité pour animer une séance de rugby. C’est toujours émouvant de voir de si petits enfants s’essayer au rugby ! Certains enfants ont même vu un ballon ovale pour la première fois !

  • école de Nétah rénovée avec sanitaires
  • Netah - initiation rugby

Nous souhaitons une bonne scolarité à ces enfants et un bel avenir. Nous remercions infiniment la Wasps Legends Charitable Foundation ainsi que nos donateurs pour leur générosité permettant à ces enfants de grandir et rêver à un avenir professionnel prometteur.

Cameroon: Happy back to school 2019-2020!

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We wish a wonderful happy first day of school to all the students in Cameroon and especially to the Serge Betsen Academy (SBA) children.

 At the SBA, education is our priority. We are proud of offering school tutoring in our centres and of having participated in the renovation of various schools in the country. A big thank you to our partners, the Arno Group and the ATF Group, for helping us buy school supplies for the children from our centers.

Our Success stories: Ali, a children of Bafia centre and a new Rugby Coach!

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Ali is 17 yo and studies topography at Bafa Technical High School!

Ali discovered the Bafia SBA Center in 2015 and today he carries on coming three times a week (on wednesdays and during the weekends) to study mathematics and physics with his classmates.

He describes the SBA as a big family where he learned “love for his neighbor and life in community”.

That’s not all! Ali has been playing rugby since he came to the center and he loves it! He enjoys “flattening the ball and playing with all my energy” and he would like to create a rugby club. Ali was appointed Rugby Coordinator at the SBA Bafia Center a few months ago which is a great opportunity for him to show us his coaching skills!