Event: A charity golf day with Dovehaven care homes!

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On 9 May, the Gilbert family and some Wasps Legends played golf with Serge Betsen at the charity golf day with Dovehaven care homes in order to raise funds for Serge Betsen Academy. The Gilbert family had met Serge in La Manga and decided to support us. We are so glad they made this decision of helping us as they managed to raise £28,770 in one day for us! It seems that they had great fun as well playing golf together.

We would like to say a huge thank you to our dear golf team and the Gilbert family for raising this amazing amount of money for us in order to offer a brighter future to our children in Cameroon.

 

Event: Frenchy Cocktail with Serge Betsen at Boulangerie Christophe in Washington DC!

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The Boulangerie Christophe in Washington DC hosted a fundraising cocktail on 26 April 26 2019 to raise funds for our charity. Serge Betsen who was travelling in the US on this date was therefore delighted to represent us alongside Odile Prevot.

$4,719.38 were raised during this Frenchy Cocktail with Serge Betsen for our young people in Cameroon! Delicious canapés were lovingly prepared by the chefs of the bakery and served with carefully selected French wines. Christophe and Didier gathered many guests around a so Frenchy yummy cocktail, who came to find out more about our actions in Cameroon and shake hands with the  rugby legend.

A big thank you to the Boulangerie Christophe for organizing this warm evening where guests had lively and passionate discussions! Thank you to our donors and to all participants for their enthusiasm and generosity. It’s so inspiring to spend such nice evenings like this one.

During his trip to the USA, Serge also had the honor of meeting with Odile Prevot, His Excellency Mr. Mahamadou Nimaga, Ambassador of Mali to the United States during an audience to present our actions in Cameroon to eventually apply our model in Mali. And of course Serge could not resist playing rugby during his trip so he joined the DC Touch Rugby team on the pitch for a nice training. This great team helps us to raise awareness about our association there, so we are grateful to them.

A big thank you to everyone for your support!

Let’s celebrate our 15th anniversary together!

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2019 is the 15th anniversary of our charity: 15 as the XV de France and of course the rugby 15s, the sport that taught Serge Betsen the values of solidarity and teamwork. The SBA has officially been working for 15 years to enable young Cameroonian girls and boys to have access to free education, healthcare and regular rugby trainings!

All this has happened step by step thanks to our board, volunteers, donors and patrons but of course also thanks to our children and their great desire to make progress. We are proud of what we have achieved so far and there is still much to be done.

The children in Cameroon are the future but they are also the most vulnerable. In 15 years, we have helped 5,000 children in our 5 centers around the country and we need your help to improve our services to welcome even more students, because many are still in need.

To celebrate our 15th anniversary, we will share 15 highlights with you, and we also invite you to share your best memories using the hashtag #SBA15ans.

We are also delighted to invite you to join us on July 23rd for our Gala Dinner at the Hôtel du Palais in Biarritz and on July 24th for a solidarity rugby day on the occasion of the opening of the Fêtes of Bayonne to celebrate rugby in the Pays Basque, where everything started for Serge!

This campaign is also the opportunity for us to raise funds for our charity. We aim to raise 15,000 euros and need all the support we can get, please donate on our helloasso platform. Thank you 15,000 times!

Partnership: Recycling Rugby, the recycled rugby balls initiative will be in full swing for our 15th anniversary!

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To celebrate our 15thanniversary, Lionel Quenardel and his acolytes of Recycling Rugby will be manning stands selling bags, cases, wallets,… made out of rugby balls, recycled at various end-of-season rugby tournaments. This will be an opportunity to purchase nice gifts! All the profits from these sales will be donated to our charity.

Dates for your diaries:

– Saturday 27th of April: for the Grand Est regional finals, from 12 noon at the Stade Matter of Nancy (54). The stall will be manned by Anne-Lise and her children, new volunteers whom we warmly thank.

– Sunday 5th of May, on the last day of ProD2 ‘Rugby Club Massy Essonne – US Carcassonne XV’ (Jules-Ladoumègue stadium, kick-off at 2:30 p.m.) with students from the rugby section of the Diderot College in Massy.

– Sunday 12th of May for the Nancy 7s finals. Come and meet our new volunteers: Anne-Lise, François and their children.

– Sunday 26th of May (Mother’s Day) for the schools of Sainte Geneviève Sports Rugby XV (91) 13th ‘Papa Allex’ tournament, all day.

– Saturday 22nd of June for the 10th Challenge du Vignoble (Vineyard Challenge) (Paul Chandon stadium) in Épernay (51), all day.

We are counting on your support!

Translation by Katy Birgé-Wilson

Event: Our young SBA ambassadors shined at Salon Promote!

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After receiving an invitation by Sharon Ganney and the British High Commission in Cameroon, the Serge Betsen Academy proudly took part in the 7th edition of the Salon Promote in Yaoundé this past February.

Five talented young students from our SBA centres in Bangangté and Bafia took part in the Salon to network and met different companies established in Cameroon. Our champions were accompanied by Odile Prevot, our CEO who attended the Salon during the three days and by Djibril, Manager of the Bangangté Centre. We would like to congratulate Bienvenu, Fanny, Sorelle, Baudelaire and Gilles on representing our charity during the Salon and on managing to introduce themselves to companies with such professionalism. They took part in a fruitful working session with the British High Commission in Cameroon and met with dynamic companies to learn about their activities. They notably had the chance to discuss with our friends from GreenHouse Ventures and our sponsor Victoria Oil and Gas Plc based in Douala. Through this meeting we hope that they were able to build meaningful connections for their future careers.

Odile Prevot also delivered a speech about “Rugby for education: from street idling to community champions”. She was accompanied by Fanny, who shared her experience as a Serge Betsen Academy student and gave details about the impact of our actions on her education and her life in general.

This Salon was a great opportunity for our five SBA ambassadors to develop their business network and for our charity to gain some visibility. We are proud of what they have achieved so far and we wish them all the best in their professional careers! And it seems that our team of superstars had great fun as you can see from their video ;) :

 

Our success stories: Pierrette, always ready to lend a hand!

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Pierrette came to the centre in 2009 at the same time as her daughter Fanny.

Whilst Fanny studied with the other children at the centre, Pierrette was always here and there lending a hand: clearing, cleaning and other manual work…

Pierrette used to be a secretary, now she works for the centre as a well-known cook on the weekends and as a maintenance lady during the week.

She really enjoys the life at the centre: “The children come to see me all the time as I live so close to the centre. When they are not here, I MISS THEM! ”

Thank you Pierrette for helping us breathe life into the centre.

 

Translation by Katy Birgé-Wilson

Our success stories: Diane attends tutoring sessions in Bafia and makes sure that the Center is clean!

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Diane is 16 years old and she studies at the Lycée Classique et Moderne in Bafia.
For the past 3 years, she has attended the SBA Center of Bafia every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. She enjoys spending time at the Center where she found herself a caring and solidary family!
Moreover, she pays a lot of attention to the cleanness of her working environment. She takes part in cleaning and cooking with Pierrette, our head cook. Diane has now been appointed responsible for the cleaning of the Center. She makes sure that the facilities are clean for our students to learn in a hygienic environment and deals with the distribution of meals. Her contribution to the Center is of great value and we love to have her set such a good precedent for our students.

Our success stories : Hermine, a devoted and beaming tutor in the Bafia center!

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Our success stories: Hermine, a devoted and beaming tutor in the Bafia center!

This is Hermine. She is the Bafia Center’s second in charge. Since September 2018, she comes in every day to study nutrition, her favorite subject. 

She is in charge of the Bafia center when Jean-Cyrille is not available : she opens the Center, deals with the homeworks and organises workshops according to levels. 

Cécile, our dear volunteer has asked her what she likes most in her Center : “its dynamism, but also its friendly atmosphere : we gather and we speak about our problems, we share our secrets.”

She ends the discussion with Cécile by telling her : “I used to be shy. Now, people listen to me and I laugh a lot”. 

Madagascar: Marianina’s nursery class now welcomes its children

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Nursery children have taken possession of their new classrooms and are delighted to be there. In the way the two teachers have organised them, one of the two rooms is used for animation, the children dance, sing, play and do physical activities. The other room is used for manual and educational awakening: drawings, paper cut-outs, etc.

We are thrilled to allow an additional 70 students to attend school!

Translation by Katy Birgé-Wilson

Cameroon: Donation of medical supply from the DHL group!

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This year DHL has returned as one of our sponsor and has enabled us to receive first aid medical supply, such as betadine, pads and anti-parasite bottles.

Thank you!!!