Samuel Eto'o named African Footballer of the Year!!!!!!

Samuel Eto’o, the face of soccer in Africa, was named the continent’s player of the year Monday, the fourth time the Cameroon forward has won the award.

Eto’o beat out Didier Drogba of the Ivory Coast and Asamoah Gyan of Ghana for the award voted on by the coaches and captains of all 53 African national teams.

This year was the biggest in African soccer history, and it began with Eto’o and Drogba competing to be the face of the game on the continent. Both strikers led their teams in the African Cup of Nations in Angola in January. Eto’o set an African Cup scoring record and Drogba’s panache garnered much of the attention, but neither Cameroon, eliminated by Nigeria, nor Ivory Coast, knocked out by Algeria, made it past the quarterfinal. Gyan, the third finalist for the 2010 award, led Ghana to the final, where the Black Stars finished second to Egypt.

Eto’o was the model for the 2010 World Cup poster, which was based on the player’s distinct profile. He has won the European Champions League with Barcelona and Inter Milan, and just the other day hoisted the Club World Cup trophy after a goal and an assist in the final in Abu Dhabi.

-NY Times

CFDP local team participates in HIV Workshop

On December 22^nd, 9 members of the CFDP Board of Directors in Kumba, Cameroon came together to participate in a day-long training workshop. Mr. Eugene Atabong Atem, whose title is National Expert on HIV Mainstreaming in the South West Region for the German Development Service (DED) in Cameroon, held a day-long workshop on HIV Mainstreaming. The focus was two-fold: incorporating HIV education, prevention, and awareness strategies into the activities of CFDP and creating a one-year plan of action to identify goals and measure achievement.

The team measured the workshop a great success!

"Working closely with Eugene, a local expert on such an important topic as HIV/AIDS in Cameroon, really created for a beneficial exchange of knowledge and will open doors for CFDP" said one board member, Diba Dickson.
CFDP will work closely with Eugene and DED over the next year to mainstream HIV education and prevention activities into our regular soccer sessions. Consider this continuing-education in a professional development capacity.

A Holiday Gift from Washington, DC: Youth gives time and resources for Cameroon

Skyler Weisskopf is a senior at The School Without Walls Senior High School in Washington, DC. He began playing soccer at the age of four years. As a youth he played for a traveling soccer club and continued his career throughout his high school years. He will tell you "Soccer has made me the person I am today".

Upon the start of his senior year, like many of his peers, Skyler was tasked to complete a "Senior Project". While many high school seniors would see this as another mind-numbing hurdle in the race to graduate, Skyler found it was a great opportunity to help under-privileged soccer players far from his home. So he began to collect soccer gear.

In a few short months, he had accomplished his goal! Thanks to his fellow students at The School Without Walls Senior High School and players from the Stoddert Soccer League of DC, Skyler was successful in collecting 62 jerseys (mostly team sets), 56 shorts (team set), 53 pair of socks (team set), 10 sets of shin-guards, 12 soccer shoes, and 12 brand new soccer balls.

Skyler's report will focus on stressing the importance of soccer in conflict resolution and building community: the power of the game to deter kids from engaging in delinquent activities in their neighborhoods and keep them in school. He found activities of CFDP to in sync with his view of the game.

Upon graduation, Skyler intends to study International Relations at the University of Vermont. He wants to pursue a career in diplomacy, as he has always found much interest in other parts of the world.
On behalf of the youth in Kumba and the local leaders of CFDP, we wish to extend a great "Thank you" to all who made this possible – especially you, Skyler! All of this equipment will be transported to Cameroon THIS SUMMER and included in our activities to reward outstanding young players and institutions that work with CFDP in our mission to empower youth and provide them skills to achieve great success.

Window to CFDP in Kumba

Check out our first video post on YouTube! Subscribe to our Channel (CameroonFDP)!

This video was taken during the 201o CFDP Kick off in Kumba - July 26th to August 4th. The Kick off consisted of three days of training for our local Board of Directors (Leaders) and three days of camps for youth ages 12 to 22. After the camps, CFDP leaders played friendly matches against local clubs. The Kumba community embraced us and we look forward to building a great relationship with them as we plant our roots in the soil. Kumba is home.

Quick Update!

CFDP had a great week with a lot of things going on 'behind the scenes'.

The after school sessions are on haitus until school resumes after the holiday break. We are actively planning for a holiday camp to take place in a suburb of Kumba during the next few weeks.

Ngwane Peter has proposed to bring CFDP after school sessions to his community in Nkambe where he is a literature teacher at a government technical high school. Two young adults in the community have VOLUNTEERED their services to help run the sessions. Proposed start-up date in January after holidays!

A good friend of ours, Mr. Atem Eugene, will hold a day-long workshop on HIV Mainstreaming - incorporating education/prevention/awareness tactics into the activities of CFDP. The workshop will take place in Kumba and is tentatively scheduled for December 22nd. Eugene is the National Expert on HIV Mainstreaming in the South West Region for the German Development Service (DED) in Cameroon. He also is the founder and director of Youth Alliance for Democracy and Development (YADD). "Like them on Facebook"

Here is the US, we have been busy sorting through and editing all of the wonderful video footage we got this summer during the Kick-off activities. Here is something for starters:

Cameroon Football Development Program - Video on Facebook Page...YouTube Channel coming SOON with the good stuff!!

And lastly, we are excited to report that two Americans have made it their mission to collect soccer equipment for those less-proveledged youth in Cameroon!! Emily, a 12 year-old girl from Pittsburgh, has taken this project on as part of her Bat Mitzvah and Skyler, a 17 year-old boy from Washington, D.C. has reached out to his local soccer community as part of his High School Senior Project. More on their stories later...

Pictures From Last Week's Session at Kosala

Ashu engages youth in a discussion about Success and Healthy Relationships during an after-school session last Wednesday at Kosala.

Nenne juggles with some young girls during the soccer drills portion of the program. While she is well-equipped with boots and soccer gear - donated by friends here in the US - many of the youth play with sandals or barefoot.
Youth practice dribbling while Ashu and Caroline take time to answer questions from one of the participants.

December, You Are Welcome!

Youth in Barombi Mbo - suburb on the lake - outside of Kumba, 2008.

Things got off to a good start in December with another after-school session in Kosala!!

Peter, the Coordinator and Co-Founder of CFDP, is back in Kumba for the weekend. The team will sit and discuss plans for an upcomming holiday camp in a rural community outside of Kumba - very similar to the day-long Mambanda camp held in August.

Something I learned this summer: the term village is no longer "politically correct"...at least in some instances...in Cameroon, these small communities are now referred to as suburbs!