Event: 9th Challenge at the Unifying and eco-friendly vineyard!

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The ‘9th Epernay Vineyard Challenge’, brought together 1,850 rugby players aged between 7 and 12 years old. SBA provided a stand with recycled rugby balls manned by volunteers Chest and Kenos (the TQT finally reunited!).
It was a great success, especially with the ‘Week-End’ bags and the getting together of Belgian, Dutch and French neighbours! There were 39 clubs participating in this sports day from Belgium, Luxembourg, and The Netherlands.

The proceeds from the sale of confectionary items exceeded €3000. Lionel and Christophe were able to interact with Jeff Tordo from organisation “Pachamama of Madagascar” present that day along with many international guests including: Jean-Pierre Garuet-Lempirou, Jacques Boussuge, Francis N’tamack, Cédric Debrosse, Jean-Maurice Oulouma and hundreds of children.

A tombola was organised with great prizes contributed from the profits of the Pachamama and SBA associations. A donation of more than 330 euros will be poured into our association as a result of funds raised. Rugby material (shirts, studs…) were also collected for this event creating a thrilling showcase for the two associations.

A big thank you to Guillaume Martin, Director of Pedagogy (MSc and MBA) at L’INSEEC and to Laurent, the organiser of the Vignoble Challenge. Thanks also to the  École Polytechnique and all the young people attending and offering their support. Congratulations to Racing Colombes, winners of the Tournament!

A beautiful day in the Champagne region!

    

 

Some photos that will help you get a sense of the atmosphere and a copy of an article from L’Union(in French)

(Translation from French version : Raphael Nash)

Success story: Philippe, towards more progress

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Philippe is about to finish his training in pearl objects.

Today he’s proud of showing us his work and it’s Odile’s necklace that inspires him for his future

creations.

  

Philippe also has been following a bamboo training with a local craftsman for the past three months. According to his teacher he still isn’t quite independent but should perfect his technique over the coming months. He’s really happy to learn.

    

Thanks to the different fundraising actions organized for his cause a workshop has been built for him in the center of the “L’Eau Claire” field. This workshop has a room behind, that he showed us with pride with his communicative smile.

The SBA offered him a bed and a solar lamp that will enable him to work after the sun sets…

Success story: Ledoux, a rugbyman of Bangangté

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While Serge visited Cameroon in 2011, Ledoux was already part of Bangangté’s rugby team. He remembers with a smile that he was still playing barefoot at this time. Seven years later, he now works at Yaoundé and is in charge of store shelves in the Casino supermarket of the capital. We are proud of him.

Without forgetting the SBA and his friends from Bangangté, he takes the opportunity of coming back to see his mother and to go to rugby trainings on Sunday mornings.

We love it!

Succes story: Romeo works hard at Congelcam and is grateful to the SBA for our help!

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During her stay in Cameroon, Odile our CEO visited some former SBA members to find out how they were doing. She met up Romeo who has a great story to share with us. 

Romeo used to play for the rugby team of SBA Bagangté. For 1 year and 8 months, he has been working for Congelcam, the Cameroon leader in import, distribution and sale of seafood. Unfortunately, he has no longer the time to join our rugby sessions because he often works on Sundays, but he knows it’s a great opportunity for him to be part of this company. Married and father of a one-year-old child, Romeo did not go to school for a long time, but he worked hard and climbed the carrier ladder step by step. He is housed in Bagangté by his company.

Odile, our CEO, went to pay him an unexpected visit in his company and she was happily surprised to see that Romeo was wearing our SBA T-Shirt. He is indeed grateful to our association for what we have done for him and he does not forget us which warms our heart!

Congratulations Romeo on working so hard and best wishes for the future! 

Success story: Baudelaire, from unemployed to electrician!

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Baudelaire has managed to get a job as an electrician thanks to the help of our charity and his hard work. He is a great example to follow for our students who want to succeed in their professional life!

Baudelaire on the left of the picture is currently working as an electrician for Aéro Mat in Bafoussam and is in charge of managing the stocks. He found this job thanks to the partnership with “Electriciens sans frontières” (Electricians without borders) and Serge Betsen Academy.

Baudelaire has been a child of SBA since 2013. He was part of a rugby team in Bafoussam which played against the rugby team of SBA Bangangté. That day he was introduced to the SBA of Bangangté and a year later, after his study (BTS) in Douala, he joined our center. At that time, he was unemployed despite his BTS in Informatics. He trained during two months with “Electriciens sans frontières” and successfully finished in 3rd place after taking the final exam which enabled him to find a job in the Aéro Mat company in Bafoussam.

Thanks to our partnership, Baudelaire has a real job that he likes. When he received his first salary, he came to the rugby training of the SBA Bangangté team on Sunday and brought bread for everyone including the trainers. He is always ready to help and generously giving back to those that helped him get where he is now. 

Well done Baudelaire for your job success!

Volunteering: Jean Verdon, our new volunteer journalist ready to help our charity!

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Jean Verdon joined us in early Spring as a volunteer journalist. You have probably already spotted his well-written posts on our blog and discovered his passion for rugby. He introduces himself:    

“I am a sport journalism student at the London College of Communication. I reached a social and economical Baccalaureate in Paris. Afterwards, I studied abroad in Dublin. I improved my language skills by attending English courses, as well as several journalism lectures.

I’ve always been a huge fan of sports. I played rugby from 2012 to 2016 and I had the chance to understand and analyse the values of rugby: team spirit, engagement and solidarity.

Early 2017, while working as a waiter in London, I met Serge Betsen. We had a few words about the Serge Betsen Academy and that a collaboration could be possible. He gave me his business card. After exchanging several mails with Jenna, I’m delighted to announce that I will volunteer for the SBA. Field reporting, interviews, translations, video editing and event coverage, I’ll try my best to help this wonderful association.”