Report of CFDP After School Session at Kosala

Report of CFDP After-School Session at Kosala school, held on the 26th of January 2011. Provided by CFDP Leader, Nenne, in her own words...

The session started at 4pm because of the school was preparing many activities and competitions geared toward the National Youth Day. CFDP Leadership Present: Dickson, Caroline, Kama and Nenne. We had 30 students; 7 boys and 23 girls. The school football team had a serious match with another school so most of the boys did not make it to the session.

Since the students were not many, we decided to keep them together in one group for activities and discussions. Nenne, Kama and Caroline cultivated the warm-up this time around it was different from other session because the youth were mostly girls they had a lot of interest in football. After spending about 25mins with the warm ups the first discussion was had and the topic was Communication with Parents. The youth responses were very positive and encouraging. The second discussion topic was violence against women. To add a pinch of salt, Miss Nenne sensitized the children about cholera which is very prevalent in Cameroon and most of the victims to this disease are children.

After the discussions, we continued with football drills and towards the end we organized a friendly match among the young and energetic girls, which was wonderful.

We concluded by selecting the youth for the pen pal program took their photos. More so all pictures could not be taken especially those during topic discussion because the phone memory was full that is why a digital camera is inevitable.

Summer Activities Set

Things are falling into place for the 2011 Summer Expo set for June - July in the South West Region of Cameroon. Our Friends from Montreal, FSS are building a comprehensive manual for soccer drills and games. We are planning for two Soccer Festivals – one three-day extravaganza in Kumba and another two-day event the following weekend in Buea with our partners, United Action for Children.

Because we are so lucky to have 14 young ladies from FSS Sabalerry Soccer Club joining us in Cameroon for two weeks - 13 players and their wonderful coach –we thought it would be a great opportunity to work with the Women’s Empowerment Center. FSS Salaberry will lead two workshops where they can exchange ideas with the young women of Kumba and create a positive learning experience for everyone involved. In August of 2010, the Director at the Women’s Empowerment Center asked CFDP specifically, “What will you do for this girls and young women?”

We think she will be pleased with our response!!

And…our Pen Pals will get to spend some quality time together. I know the FSS players are very excited for this…We will get to some feedback from the boys and girls in Kumba soon.

Our Premier Pen Pal Program

Partnering with FSS Salaberry, CFDP will organize our first PenPal Program to connect 16 boys and girls, ages 12 to 18, in Kumba with the 16 FSS soccer players in Montreal. The coolest thing about this connection: After 5 months of relationship-building, the will have the opportunity to meet face to face!!

We started out by encouraging each participant to complete a PLAYER PROFILE. This allows each individual to introduce themselves to their new friend. We hope to use soccer as platform to connect individuals on two different continents who may have never met otherwise.

The PLAYER PROFILES contain information like age, number of years playing soccer, position played, and favorite soccer memories as well as personal information about the youth's family in Cameroon and their favorite passtime (we are pretty sure its soccer!).

Our CFDP team in Cameroon is working now with our two schools to assemble the youth and take some PICTURES too!! Soon, YOU will be able to see the connections once they are made!! Many more good stuff to follow...

These two beautiful women are an example of the wonderful friendship that is creating with Cultural Immersions like this one CFDP hopes to facilitate for our friends in Montreal.
My friend Liz traveled to Cameroon in 2007 and 2008 and worked with us to build the water supply system in Barombi Village. Karen, also known as "Mami", made sure we felt at home in our two-room school house for the two months we spent in the village. She and Liz often spent hours preparing meals for our team. I currently find myself regularly asking Liz for recipes for Cameroonian dishes- which she recorded in her journal as Mami Karen offered them from memory. CHOP FINE !!! (Pidgin for 'We ate very well!)

Montreal Soccer Club Gearing Up for Travel to Cameroon

In planning for the 2011 Summer Expo - we have found one of the most exciting and ground-breaking activities we consider is something we thought possible only in the distant future...

In July, 16 young soccer players from Montreal, Quebec will take off to spend two weeks in Kumba Town, Cameroon, in beautiful, beautiful West Africa. By the time they touch down at the Douala International Airport, all things will be in place for an eventful two weeks to include CFDP training camps, youth soccer festivals, friendly soccer matches with local clubs, treks throught the jungle, heaping plates of wonderul exotic foods, fantastic West African music and dance, and the cultural exchange opportunity of a lifetime.



Founded in 1971, the Federation Sportive Soccer Salaberry has offered community-based soccer to the borough of Ahunstic Cartierville in Montreal for over 30 years. An affiliate of the Quebec Soccer Federation, the club has nearly 800 players on more than 50 teams ranging from four years to senior level (ages 18-23).

Our team on the ground is very excited to welcome FSS!

CFDP

A SHIPPING CONTAINER WILL SOON BE PACKED AND SET SAIL FOR THE PORT OF DOUALA, CAMEROON.














INSIDE THIS CONTAINER:

SOCCER BALLS
JERSEYS
SHINGUARDS
SHORTS
SOCKS
FOOTWEAR: BOOTS, KICKS, CLEATS, SHOES
GOALKEEPER GLOVES
GOALKEEPER JERSEYS
REFEREE JERSEYS
WHISTLES
GOALS
CORNER FLAGS





OUR DESTINATION: AFRICAN SOIL




TO PLANT SOME ROOTS


TO GROW





TO BEAR FRUIT





FOR YEARS



FOR EVER



"LONG LIVE CFDP"

OFF TO THE RACES!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Well...most of the festivites of the holiday season are finished now and its back to work for the start of another year. No 'ho-hum' for us here with CFDP!! We are still celebrating!! We anticipate a groundbreaking year in 2011...one for the record books!

Today we had two kick-off meetings going on - separated by only a few hours...and a few thousand miles.

In Kumba, our team was busy working out details and assigning responsibilities for a number of tasks essential to operations early in 2011:

Coordinating our first PEN PAL program - connecting 16 young boys and girls in Cameroon with 16 young soccer players in Montreal, Quebec.

Maintaining our after-school programs with the same two schools in Nkalikum and Kosala.

Branching our after-school program to another village, Nkambe, in the North West Region.

Registering as a Legal Non-Government Organization in Cameroon and Coordinating Logistics for the 2011 Expo set for June and July of this year.

In Pittsburgh, we held our first US Team Meeting. We are a team of around 12(+) with a few constituents currently in other cities...and countries. Our goals for the first half of 2011 are simply summarized as follows: empower our team in Cameroon with capacity and resources to own and operate CFDP through 2012. More on our meeting later...Cheers to A Great Year!

Check out our Friends in Cameroon!

While our team is busy organizing for an Annual Meeting to formally launch activities in 2011, we wanted to share some information about a great organization not too far from our home base of Kumba. We are very excited to work with them and have already started communication for projects this summer!!


United Action for Children (UAC) is a Non-Governmental Organization based in Buea, a city in the South West Region of Cameroon. UAC is a non-profit, philanthropic, and non-political organization committed to the development of a caring society for children and young people.Created in 1996, UAC has grown substantially over the past few years with the help of local staff and international volunteers!


UAC runs so many different Programs!!

Jamadianle School began in May 2002 as a nursery school with 11 children in a one-room schoolhouse. In the 2006-2007 school year, 465 students were registered and 16 classrooms were being utilized. Every year the school adds another class and will continue to do so until the oldest students reach class 6.


In 2002, United Action for Children (UAC) established a Vocational Training Centre to provide disadvantaged street- and rural youth with skills they can use to find work. Vocational training makes students more attractive job candidates, as well as providing them with skills that can be used for self-employment and contract work.


The UAC Community Sports for Development Program is aimed at facilitating the development and integration of young people into the society through sports activities with a view of providing appropriate methods and skills. UAC uses the power of football to mobilize children and young people particularly those living in rural areas channel their energy towards productive initiatives. In this program, we encourage young people to do cleanup campaigns in communities, cooperative farming and thematic discussions on issues affecting their growth and development.



Through “Kicking AIDS out of South West Region and Cameroon” campaign, UAC equips young people through Football, skills and life skills that will help them to guard against the deadly HIV virus and channel their energy towards productive activities.

Report on the Barombi Kang Youth Camp on Dec.28th

Provided by:
Aminkeng Brian
Kumba, Cameroon

The camp started at exactly 9:00am,immediately after the registration exercise which began at 08:15.We recorded a total number of sixty five(65)youths from this community, with five(5)of them being girls and sixty(60)boys, and their ages ranged from 12-23.Present at this camp were the following board members: Dickson, Nenne, Caroline, Wallace, Ashu and myself.


The youths were subdivided into three groups of twenty (20) each, with two board members per group. During the camp, the following topics were discussed; Adolescence, Healthy Relationships, Teenage pregnancy, HIV AIDS and lastly Communication with Parents.


So much emphasis was laid on the last three topics because the Youth Community President revealed that youths were increasingly becoming parents(boys and girls)as early as sixteen(16). Also some were so much involved in alcohol and drug consumption, leading them to physically abuse their parents on many occasions. Thus we had to spend much time on these topics, to try to enlighten them on the dangers and consequences of being involved in such acts. Their general participation during the discussions was encouraging. Though in the beginning they were a bit timid and withdrawn, they later on opened up thanks to the jovial atmosphere we created around the camp. We also pointed out to them the health, psychological and social consequences of fathering a child at the tender stage of adolescence.


When it came to the football drills, the youth were very enthusiastic about the various ones we presented to them. They were ready to try drills like the inside drag, dribbling between the cones, precise passing of the ball, both short and long passes and lastly, movement on and off the ball. During these exercises, they could easily perform it with their right legs, but when it came to them doing it with the left, the was a problem. Thus we had to ask them to do it repeatedly till we saw some improvement. But what most of them excelled in was the passing of the ball, both short and long passes.


Worth noting is that we had a water break of about 20minutes. Also the discussions were mostly done in the morning, reasons being that since we are in the heart of the sunny season in Africa, it was good to discuss these topics when their brains were still fresh and the morning was the appropriate period. So after water break and lunch in the afternoon, we mostly concentrated on other football drills. Later on at around 2pm, we organized a mini tournament of30 minutes each to see if they could put into practice some of the drills learned. And the result was encouraging.


To crown it all, the camp was a success, especially as we had the support and participation of the President of the youths in the community and some elders. Also not forgetting open hands the Chief of this rural community, Chief Akama welcomed us.