Soccer + Life Skills for Hundreds of Youth

We're gearing up to launch another round of PLAY4PURPOSE leagues in a total of 7 neighborhoods in Cameroon! The focus of this upcoming season is Leadership & Governance and features several topics on personal development and community service. To support this recent growth, we hired 4 new community leaders to join our team and continue to mentor and educate younger kids in their neighborhood. 

Njuki is one of the new neighborhoods where we're growing our PLAY4PURPOSE leagues. Over the past several weeks, the new community leader there, Maurice, has been mobilizing kids to participate in our educational soccer programming. We expect more than 50 youth to participate in the first edition of PLAY4PURPOSE in Njuki... on top of about 400 other youths in the 6 neighborhoods where CameroonFDP now has a presence.

Maurice grew up without his father and his coach stepped in to support him while he was a teenager, so he personally knows how beneficial a caring soccer coach can be to a young person. Looking back, it was the kids in the neighborhood who convinced Maurice to be their coach in the first place. He began training them a few months ago with no other intention other than to give them somthing positive to do. When he learned that we were looking to add a few new neighborhoods to our network, he jumped at the opportunity. We're so proud to give Maurice a job as a community leader because he is so committed to youth in his community.

All of this is possible because of your support! Thanks for helping us achieve our mission to improve lives of youth in Africa through soccer. 

Links:

• Check out this video highlighting Maurice's story

In November 2016, civil unrest began in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon, where we’ve worked for the past 8 years. The instability in our region has caused a lot of uncertainty and harm both directly and indirectly to our staff, youth, families, and other loved ones. Despite the chaos, CameroonFDP manages to deliver on our mission and provide high-quality sport-based programs to youth in Kumba.  Here is a report on activities related to our project:

We hosted PLAY4PURPOSE league competitions in 4 neighborhoods in Kumba, as planned, and here’s what that looks like:

-          332 youth played through the season, participating in games/training sessions several times per week

-          43 youth were trained as peer leaders and served as team captains and referees, and lead community service projects in their neighborhoods

-          8 older teenagers joined our network as junior leaders, gaining experience in organizing activities and mentoring from our staff

-          12 youth councilors elected by their peers in 2017 finished out their terms by guiding community service projects in two neighborhoods

-          More than 80% of our youth participate in ALL activities in their neighborhood EACH WEEK.

After playing in educational games focusing on the 7 core values of PLAY4PURPOSE, each neighborhood played host to their own championship, featuring a festive environment complete with canopy tents and chairs for special guests, a DJ and sound system bumping melodies across the quarter, locally-made iron goal posts (sponsored by friends in Wheeling and Pittsburgh), and serious soccer happening on patches of green grass and brown earth. What’s better than over 300 youth playing the game they love? The number of parents and spectators watching from the sidelines.

Over the course of 4 championship events in 2 weeks, 224 parents joined us on the sidelines of their neighborhood field to encourage their children while 385 community members joined to learn more about PLAY4PURPOSE.

Over the past 3 months, more than 500 adults joined over 300 youth, to witness first-hand the power of sport to change lives in Cameroon. THANK YOU FOR BEING A PART OF THIS!!