Partnership: Sports d’Epoque during the 2019 World Cup

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For the 2019 Rugby World Cup, please support the Serge Betsen Academy (SBA) and the French Team by proudly wearing the colours of “les Bleus”. Choose from our garments, born from the Sports d’Epoque (literally Vintage Sports) and Serge Betsen collaboration, bearing our first tricolour rooster!

Grab yourself a tricolour polo shirt or sweatshirt from the vintage Serge Betsen X Sports d’Epoque line. The collaboration will last until the end of 2019. And 5% of the profits will be donated to our charity!

Click here to order.

 

Translation by Katy Birgé-Wilson

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

Event: WateRugby, rugby on water in Toulouse

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A massive thank you to our awesome team in attendance at WateRugby Sud de France from the 13th to the 15th of September 2019, on the “Quais de la Daurade” in Toulouse!

Our volunteers Boris, Isabelle, Aurélien, Caro, Marius, Djamel, Stéphanie, Élie, Guilhem, Thierry and Claire were wonderful! Thanks to all of them, we collected a little more than $1450 (€1300) over the weekend and met new partners.  A big thank you also to all the rugby players for the show and entertainment, for coming to our stall to meet the volunteers (they were really happy) and for advertising our activity. Thanks also to the team in charge of organising the WateRugby event.

For those of you who were not able to come to our SBA stall, you can order a bag, wallet, purse … made out of recycled rugby balls on Recycling Rugby!

 

Translation by Katy Birgé-Wilson

 

WateRugby

 

Partnership: Since its creation 3 years ago, the Recycling Rugby initiative has raised…

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Recycling Rugby represents USD 48,646 which is the amount raised for SBA by the recycled rugby balls initiative within 3 years! Lionel Quenardel is definitely a second Santa Claus for our children in Cameroon.

A huge thanks to Lionel, his pupils from the Sports Association of the Collège Diderot (91, Massy) and to all the partners for your hard work.

And for those who want to buy a handbag, a travel bag, a wallet or a case, please visit the Recycling Rugby Facebook page to order your wonders.

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!

Event: Journée Rugby Solidaire #SBA15ans on 24 July in Bayonne

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Enjoy rugby at the Fêtes de Bayonne!

Come and join us on Wednesday 24 July at the Christian Belascain Stadium in Bayonne for a rugby solidarity day. This free and open event will feature junior tournament, women’s rugby, rugby 7s, and matches with former French rugby legends.

This will be the perfect opportunity to celebrate the 15 anniversary of the Serge Betsen Academy which will support for this special day the Aupa Jakes charity.

See you all at the Christian Belascain Stadium in Bayonne for a busy schedule:
10 am: U10 Rugby Tournament, U12
11:30 am: Women’s match
12:30 pm: Match 7’s and rugby 7’s initiation for all
2 pm: Basque Country vs Basque Coast Match
3:30 pm: French Legends vs Xapirons & Archiballs Match

The benefits of the stands will be entirely donated to Serge Betsen Academy.

More information on our Facebook event.

Event: Gala Dinner #SBA15ans on 23 July in Biarritz

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Come and celebrate our 15th anniversary!

In honor of our 15th anniversary, we are delighted to invite you to our Gala Dinner at the Hôtel du Palais in Biarritz on Tuesday 23 July 2019 at 7:30pm.

The dinner will be prepared by Vivien Durand, one Michelin start Chef at Le Prince Noir in Lormont and Jean-Marie Gautier awarded “Meilleur Ouvrier de France” and Chef at the Hôtel du Palais.

The theme of the evening will be the Rugby World Cup since its beginning. On this occasion, all generations will be represented: Pascal Ondarts, Olivier Roumat, Philippe Bernat-Salles, Serge Betsen, Imanol Harinordoquy, Patrick Tobacco, Nicolas Brusque, Pepito Elhorga, Jérôme Thion, Damien Traille and many other rugby stars. They will gather to support Serge’s initiative, which has been operating for 15 years!

The evening will be punctuated by musical interludes, rugby stories and an auction with exceptional prizes: a stay in Porquerolles, a stay in Cognac, a weekend at the Hôtel du Palais, some beautiful sculptures, unique spirits, signed jerseys and also jerseys of Dan Carter and Matthieu Bastareaud.

We hope you will all be able to attend!
Advance reservation required here and business attire dress code.

A big thank you to our sponsors for making this event possible: Financière Arbevel, our Principal Partner and Audio Network Limited, our Partner.

// SOLD OUT NOW!!// You can still write to Jenna on jenna@sergebetsenacademy.org to feature on the waiting list and you can still make a donation to support our charity via this form.

Event: Fundraising French Cards Games Event in Action!

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It seems that playing belote and jeu de tarot and raising funds for a good cause are more than compatible! Roger Nash, our dear volunteer proved it by organizing an amazing fundraising event at Wasps FC in Action on 3rd May 2019 which brought £4,410! It is a great amount of money to support our underprivileged children in Cameroon.

 

About 50 people gathered in Wasps FC to spend a nice evening together playing cards, enjoying a delicious duck confit, hearing great stories about our charity and donating money.

A huge thank you to our organizer Roger Nash, our hosts, the sponsors (Flint Wine, Europa Foods, Chanteroy, Papa Chef, Eric Merceron), the auction buyers and all the French cards games players for this fun evening together.