Event: Our young SBA ambassadors shined at Salon Promote!

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

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!

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”. 

Cameroon: Donation of medical supply from the DHL group!

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!!!

Success story: Brice has learned how to behave in a group thanks to rugby!

Brice has been playing rugby every weekend at the Etoudi center of the SBA for the past two years. Today, he is not only a rugby player but also a coach and he loves it. Rugby has enabled him to join a group, learn how to work in a team, live in a community and control his emotions.

Here is his most beautiful rugby memory: his first match in 2016 during the SBA inter-center tournament in Bangangté!

Event: Rugby Tournament for The SBA Centers.

What a great tournament! Saturday, October the 27th was indeed a great day for the rugby players of the Serge Betsen Academy.  The teams of Zoétélé, Bangangté and Etoudi lined up to meet at Zoétélé to scrimmage at our second inter-center tournament.

Respect to Abaa: Head of the Zoétélé SBA center, rugby coordinator for SBA, and national coordinator of the “Get Into Rugby” program of World Rugby. Abaa organized this event and he was helped and supported by our faithful volunteers: Laurent, Lionel, Francis and Cecile. If you judge an event by the passion and enthusiasm of the players during the tournament, then we can definitely conclude that this was a great success.

The sheer diligence of the teams involved formed the solid foundations for this well organized event. Precision could be seen right down to the position of every pole placed to mark the pitches. The distances were perfectly measured, and a high calibre of referee was present outlining the important details covering safety, practicality and conviviality. The briefing took place the day before upon arrival at the hotel.

In his address to the teams, Abaa reminded us of the important values ​​of rugby and celebrated the festive spirit and origins of this special event. Abaa was followed by Lionel who outlined what the SBA stands for, pointing to the privileges bestowed upon the players, picked to participate on the pitches. They were also reminded of the prerequisite for perfect behavior on and off the pitch, and of their responsibility to convey the values ​​of the SBA from elders to youngers. It also fell to Lionel to outline the rules of the tournament, bestowing well merited respect upon the referees; the importance of safety for all with a stark reminder that rugby can be a dangerous game if not carefully controlled. There were trophies proudly on display, along with the shields that embodied the heritage, culture, pride and tradition all warmly expressed in Lionel’s address.

The next day – the fully briefed players bursting with pride walked out onto the pitch.

As an overture, about 25 of the youngest players aged between 8 and 14 years old provided an awesome display of athletic skills, ranging from running to ball-passing…

Then the tournament began, and six group matches were played out. The competition was tough and the matches were tight. These players knew each other well – making it such a special community event. There were fifty enthralled spectators including officials and dignitaries who followed the games earnestly which further heightened the pride of the players.

  

The Etoudi and Zoétélé first teams found themselves in the final and after an awesome game, Etoudi emerged victorious. We could see the joy bursting behind match-fatigued eyes, victory is never easy.

A photo shoot was followed by a long-awaited awards ceremony. Some noticeable individual performances were called out and then team prizes from 6th to 4th place were presented. Medals and certificates were given to 3rd and 2nd place teams. And a trophy for the best scorer was awarded to Ebo’o Epima Simon Stephan from the Zoétélé first team to congratulate him especially.

Finally, the Head of Sector and a Village Chief presented the winning trophy to the jubilant Etoudi team handing them the magnificent shield of SBA and the Winners Trophy.

A closing ceremony ended this day in style accompanied by a welcomed buffet. It was a wonderful event. And we cannot wait to meet you in 2020 for the 3rd edition of this wonderful tournament!

A big thank you to all the players for embodying the beautiful spirit of rugby, to Abaa for the organization of the tournament, to Lionel Quenardel of Diderot College Massy, ​​Francis Forestier and Laurent for the organization and coaching of the players. Also to Rugby Club Massy Essonne for the supply of pharmacy services for the tournament and to Alain Henin for dedicating the shield. Cécile deserves a mention for her precious help and our gratitude goes out to BBC Sport Africa and Vox Africa for the coverage of the event.

Most of all we send a big thank you to our partner La Financière Arbevel without whom this 2nd edition would not have been possible.

Success story: Guemeni Keon B, a balanced and accomplished young man!

Guemeni Keou B. is a young man from the Bangangté center. He has been a part of the Serge Betsen Academy for the past 6 years, and has regularly attended tutoring as well as rugby training. He just graduated with a diploma in IT and Management, and shared great moments with the rugby team of Bangangté. He arrived in the 3rd position of the 2nd edition of the SBA inter-center tournament. We congratulate him for present successes and wish him all the best for the future.

Cameroon: 2017-2018 academic results

This year there was a delay in the publication of the official exam results. But here they are, and it is with proud pleasure that we present them to you: for the General and Technical Baccalaureate we achieved a 57% success rate that contrasts so well with the 51% national average figure which itself, continues the upward trend from previous years.  See link: https://www.journalducameroun.com/261756-2/

“Probatoire” is the equivalent of the first year (yr 12) Baccalaureate and here we saw an 84.6% pass rate.

CAP : 100% Pass BEPC : 66.6% Pass 100% of year 6 will now progress to year 7.

So, for the intermediary class, 85.8% of the children passed through to the next level.

We are very proud of the results our team have attained thanks to some awesome teaching support. As   a whole, the figure of 82.7% represents a high amount of children progressing to the next class which is even better than the previous year’s attainment of 73%. Good job team! Congratulations to all! Here’s to continuing along this successful path throughout the 2018 to 2019 new school year.

(Translation by Raphael Nash)

Cameroon : L’Eau Claire Infirmary Fully Operational

Last November, we noticed a decrease in the number of patients attending our old health centre. We took action and agreed a partnership contract with the University des Montagnes in order to increase the amount of medical staff we could make available. Previously we operated for just two days with a doctor and a midwife, alas this was just not sufficient to meet our needs. Since March, we have a nurse five days a week in our Bangangté centre. This nurse makes it possible not only for children at the centre and their families to benefit from first aid, but now encompasses other inhabitants of the village. In addition to direct first aid, visitors can receive advice on how to prevent disease; learn how to make early detection of illnesses and know how to ensure rapid transportation to the hospital if necessary. So we are very pleased to have finally put in place our partnership with University des Montagnes (UdM).

In three months, the number of visitors to the infirmary has steadily increased: mainly thanks to word of mouth instigated by Djibril and visitors from Jacques in the city of Bangangté. We ran three awareness campaigns to help drive people to attend and receive their tetanus booster jabs. It is good news indeed that this summer we will host a general practice consultation facility available for all the children at the centre.

This is Jacques our nurse administering a vaccine to Camille, one of our Bangangté rugby players. As planned, the month of June was an opportunity to build education about the need for tetanus jabs for the Bangangté players. There is no way you can forget who manages our Eau Claire center: Djibril, with his yellow T-shirt as he also benefits from the booster vaccine. All that with a smile!

First time back in 10 years!

 

We would like to thank his Majesty Bernard Mbiandou Yongang of the traditional Lafeng Chefferie, who greatly helped us to promote the infirmary.

Translation by Raphael Nash

Success Story: Our little “Angel”

Ange, is a beautiful 4 years old boy with Down syndrome who has received tremendous support with the SBA team thanks to a continuous donation which originated 3 years ago. Ange loves the vitamins he receives from the USA as they are in the form of a teddy bear.

We love keeping track of Ange regularly thanks to our infirmary and his mother Rosanne is often seen in our centre.

Today, Ange eats independently, we are so proud of how he is maturing and moving around. He receives a little help when walking around, however this may not be needed for long since he is making great progress.

     

You can see here in the photos Ange’s mother, Rosanne at work with the SBA Coop. She is very involved in the centre. As you can see, meal preparations are being made for all the children that benefit from her participation and Rosanne feels so proud to be involved. She is well aware of the vital role that she, and other mothers of the SBA Coop perform to cultivate the crops that are an essential contribution: nourishing the children at the centre several times a week.

  

Our dreams of self-sufficiency become more reachable. There is along way to go, but stories like that of Ange and Rosanne warm our hearts and drive us forward. Parental involvement is a fundamental ingredient to ensure the proper functioning of our centres. Especially so that children can feel the support of their parents as they focus on school work and other core activities at the centre.

(Translation by Raphael Nash)