Tag Archive for: L’EAU CLAIRE

Cameroon : Trip in April 2015

 

Pictures : here !!!

On April 18th Serge Betsen, Lionel Quenardel a SBA volunteer who is a professor of EPS at Diderot Massy, and Jenna our SBA project leader arrived in Cameroon.  Serge and Lionel stayed one week, while Jenna stayed for over a month to assist the Cameroon SBA directors.

Upon our arrival the centre L’eau Claire, we were greeted by the Bangangté rugby team, Djibril who is the centre’s director, and Elisabeth the SBA’s president in Cameroon.

We were pleasantly surprised as we were greeted with the local Haka in Medumba, the local language, which was performed by the rugby players!  The originality of this Haka had its charm, but also instilled some fear from the performers!

 

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Cameroon: Lionel, our ambassador visits the centres

Lionel Quenardel, volunteer in the association for several years, came back from a week in Cameroon after visiting the centers of the SBA with his girlfriend and a friend.

Flaskback on his journey.

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Banganté: New partnership with the Clinic UdM

The L’Eau Claire Centre in Bangangté remains our pilot centre 

 

The L’Eau Claire Centre in Bangangté remains our pilot centre: one hundred children are coming four times a week for tutoring, access to the vast library, lessons on how to use a computer, to learn Mâdumba (local language) and traditional dances.

Twice a week, from 6am to 10am, a team of 19 young people (including a girl) practices rugby on the muddy pitch of the village. They began participating in the championships, the latest being on June 21st in Bafoussam where they unfortunately lost against a team of professionals. 

A nice change: since the team exists, we have noticed a nice evolution as most of the children now have shoes to play as well as swimwear and equipment thanks to various donations collected in Cameroon, France and the United States.

The medical drop-in clinic will be even more dynamic by September as the charity has signed a partnership with a clinic that will provide us with a midwife and a pediatrician twice a week.

Academic records: the 2012-2013 school year ends with 95% success concerning the children of L’Eau Claire. We support and encourage all of them.

 

 

Bangangté: Spotlight on the Tcha Kounté Family

Far from being an ordinary family, the Tcha Kounté family, of the Fatgo’o Bangangté linage, represents what we seek to achieve through our work at Serge Betsen Academy.

 

In a clay house, three generations live in a main room and a living room: the grandmother, parents and their two daughters Jessica (10 years) and Sabrina (8 years). The house is in the middle of the forest, surrounded by corn fields reaching maturity in this rainy season.

Jessica has been coming to the centre since 2008, she is delighted to come despite the one hour walk to get there. Her radiant smile wins you over the first second you see her, the intelligence of her gaze captivates you and you find she is a child out of the ordinary.

Context: we are in Western Cameroon, in a poor family. Jessica is a child sponsored by the centre * “Eau Claire”, which allows her to go to school and study centre during the days it is open and during school holidays. “I am happy to come to the centre, because there are many books in the library (the only library in the village!). We can ask the teacher when there is something you did not understand in class. You also learn to read and write Medumba ** (pronounced Medjimba). “
Jessica has passed the entrance into 6th year form (equivalent to Year 7 in UK), and she scored in the top 20 of over 600 applicants!

“Only Daddy passed this exam in the family but he did not go further.” Like Jessica, her sister Sabrina is no exception as she scored first in her class with 18 of average. They are the pride of their parents and teachers at the centre.
Jessica admits that the centre “opened her mind to the world with the computer room and internet access”, but she knows that the road is still long to accomplish her dreams of “being able to go to university”. We will endeavour to do all we can so that one day her dreams become a reality.

The Eau Claire centre functions through the hard work of director Elisabeth despite her 73 years of age.

She never stops finding new projects and seeing them to completion. The latest: the creation of a cooperative.
This cooperative, of which Jessica’s mother Marie-Claire is a founder, aims to improve the lives of families of children from the centre. In practical terms, the sum of FCFA 15,000 is allocated to each micro project: Marie-Claire whose business palm oil wholesale (buy-sell), recognises that despite a difficult economic situation “the cooperative has enabled us to improve our everyday lives”. With Marie Claire, three other mothers have benefited from this capital contribution. The cooperative has invested in the purchase of four hives that will soon be harvesting quality honey and above all a source of additional income for the women of the cooperative.

Today is the turn of English speaking*** Ernest, the guardian of the centre, to join the cooperative. His activity: carving wooden objects (statues, stools, etc.). Like a true artist, he makes traditional sculptures of great beauty.

*Jessica’s sponsorship allows amongst other things to pay for her school fees, manuals and school supplies.

** Local dialect

*** In the past Cameroon was placed in trust of the United Nations, who was represented by France and the United Kingdom.  The West part of the country is English speaking, the Centre and East parts speak French.

Tag Archive for: L’EAU CLAIRE