Tag Archive for: girls education

SBA Project: Support the Big Brother & Sister Project to help our young people in their higher education

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For the last 20 years, the Serge Betsen Academy has provided its children with academic support courses up to Baccalauréat level (equivalent UK A-levels) and also occasionally helps some of its higher-potential children to pursue their university/higher education.

The support of the French Development Agency (AFD), as part of the “Academies” Program, allows the SBA to strengthen its support in higher education, and with the backing of local businesses we will be able to strengthen our positive impact.

 

As part of our SBA Big Brother & Sister (B&S) Project, we are requesting that your business support our high-potential young people by:

– Offering qualifying internships to young people from the Serge Betsen Academy and monitoring them closely,

– Speaking in our centres to present the professions represented in your company and thus encouraging vocations,

– Showing our young people round your business facilities to introduce them to these professions,

– Making a financial donation to enable a student to pursue higher education.

 

This year, 5 SBA students (3 from the Bafia centre and 2 from the Zoétélé centre) passed the prestigious Ucac-Icam (Catholic University of Central Africa – Catholic Institute of Arts and Crafts) competitive entrance exam and without external funding from companies, they will not be able to carry out their engineering or advanced technicians studies on the campuses of Pointe-Noire in Congo or Douala in Cameroon, given the financial difficulties of their families.

By financing the studies of one of our young people over 3 years, you will allow this young person to study in a high-quality institute, to obtain a highly recognised license and to realise their professional dream! A donation of €16,669 (or FCA 10,918,000) allows a young person to complete a Bachelor’s degree in Douala. And for a degree in Pointe Noire, a donation of €18,915 (or FCFA 12,389,000) is necessary.

And of course, as soon as they leave university, with their diploma in hand, priority will be given to you for the hiring of this young person.

For more information, please contact our team: sylvie@sergebetsenacademy.org and mailys@sergebetsenacademy.org

 

Translation : Katy Birgé-Wilson

Mali: The SBA Mali is born!

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With more than 16-years’ experience in Cameroon, the Serge Betsen Academy (SBA) opened a branch in Mali. The opening ceremony, kicking off the start of the rugby training, took place on Saturday 24 October at the AS Real stadium in Bamako. As for the daily after-school tutoring, this will begin in a few weeks, the 25 young girls aged 8 to 13 having now been selected.

SBA Mali banner SBA Mali Girls

Through rugby, we want to offer new perspectives for the future of the 70-90 children who will follow our program. Among them, 25 young female rugby players from very disadvantaged backgrounds will be offered tutoring every day after school, except on Saturday, training day. By preventing them from dropping out of school, we seek to protect them against the scourges that plague Mali, namely forced marriages, teenage pregnancies and female genital mutilation (FGM).  A long struggle for girls’ education and gender equality is underway at the SBA Mali.

It is thanks to our volunteers on site, that this opening ceremony was able to take place in the best of conditions. The get together was set-up at the AS Real Bamako stadium located in the Djikoroni district. It is on the site of the Sports Association of AS Real in Bamako that the SBA Mali will be able to train and it is thanks to Mr. Sow, its president that we will very soon be able to install, on site, a mobile structure to accommodate our tutoring courses.

Joy and pleasure could be seen on all the faces, especially those of the little ones. About a hundred children were present as well as a few parents and guests who honoured us with their presence.

Before 4 p.m., young and old were ready on the ground and at 4:10 p.m. Our team greeted the first guest: Mr. Sow’s representative: Mr. Abidine Maiga. We then began the opening ceremony with a presentation of the SBA in Bambara, the lingua franca of Mali.

Ceremony launch SBA Mali

The rugby games kicked off at 4.30 p.m. first with the big players: the national rugby sevens team taking on a team made up of other players from Bamako. Then, the U13 and U15 boys each played a game.

Rugby Matches SBA Mali Rugby Matches SBA Mali

At 5:00 p.m. we played the short video of the great Serge Betsen so that, in a way, he could be there with us too. Because of the global pandemic, sadly he was unable to be physically present for the big occasion. Still, his encouragements rang out throughout the stadium and served as a good transition, prior to the girls’ games.

The girls appeared on the field and played very close games. Their game was eagerly awaited, the girls holding a key place in the mission of the SBA Mali.  In the attached video you can appreciate their presence and their fighting spirit on the ground.

It was with great pride that the 25 girls aged 8 to 13, who will receive daily after-school tutoring as part of the first year of SBA Mali, were presented to everyone. As you may know, they were selected among the Anges Noirs (Dark Angels) players and a meeting with the parents had been organised beforehand. We specifically chose these young girls to provide them with academic support through Malian teachers. The aim is to help them continue their studies in order to provide them with a safe and healthy environment.

Girls of the SBA Mali tutoring programme

The opening ceremony ended with a well-deserved snack and some dancing. Our children all seemed happy to meet again next Saturday for another training session.

The SBA Mali is launched, dreams will be fulfilled, lives will be changed.

We would very much like to thank the Malian authorities, H.E. Mahamadou Nimaga and his team from the Embassy of Mali in the USA, Mr. Arouna Modibo Touré, former Minister of Youth and Sports, for their support without which our branch could not have seen the day.

A big thank you also to Mr. Lauran, Vice President of the Rugby Federation of Mali, Dr. Seydou Sow, President of AS Real in Bamako who provided us with the ground for our training and the site for the after-school tutoring.

Our children also greatly appreciated the presence of Manhi Dembelebb, the champion of Mali in bench-press and Samba Benzema Doucoure, Credit Manager at Banque Atlantique, two models of success!

To learn more about the genesis of SBA Mali, please read our Press Release and share it with others, friends and more.  We also take this opportunity to thank the journalists who helped us share the good news about our branch in Mali.

 

Translation : Katy Birgé-Wilson