Child Protection Cameroon Project #17096

Safe Center for Vulnerable Children in Douala

by AGAPE ASSOCIATION

Safe Center for Vulnerable Children in Douala

Project Report | Jan 4, 2017
The first trimester at AGAPE

By Adama, Charlie, Germain, Ruth & Antonina | Project Leader & AGAPE Team

English - Emma, Maths - Rachel

Like many other kids in Cameroon and all around the world, the AGAPE kids got back to school last September. On the one side, the beginnings have not been very easy for some of them - especially for the ones in the "3 eme" grade who are going to have exams at the end of the year and for the ones in the "CM2" grade who are getting ready for the Brevet exam marking the end of the primary school. But on the other hand, some others like Desire and Oliseh who entered the secondary school seem to be facing no difficulties as they respectively are first and second of their classes with an average of 14/20 at the end of the first trimester. In order to help help those having difficulties and further stimulate the others, Antonina, a member of the team, seaked for more volunteers for some school support.

This is how Corinne first joigned the team. Corinne is a French teacher thanks to who the results in spelling have already clearly improved as they were between 0 and 2/20 before and are now between 7 and 10/20 on average.

Then Rachel, a mathematics teacher came along as well as Emma who helps them with their English lessons. And lastly, the couple Sylvain and Sandrine who are bringing their support in Maths, foreign languages and many other areas. As the "dream team" is still new, the first trimester results were not the ones we expected - although there have been some slight improvements. But the kids are truly realizing the importance of working hard and we hope that the last two trimester will be better, and that the exams will be passed greatly!!

Although the emphasize is really made on improving their school levels, the kids still have extra activities after school such as music and theatre on Wednesday and Friday afternoons. Through those activities we can really see the talent and huge potentials of those kids. This is how thanks to Jean Louis, a theater troupe is born! The Troup is called Naga Mboko from AGAPE and have their own show: "at the Soya Ministery". They had a representation at the beginning of September at the Carre des Artistes in Bonapriso and they shall soon have another representation at the Goethe Institute in Yaounde (February or March) as they got have been selected as winners at the theatre discovery award 2017.

All in all we keep in mind that 2016 has once again been a good year for the AGAPE association and center. The dynamic is very positive and the kids are growing in the best possible way in many different aspects of their lifes. We hope to go even further in 2017 especially with the construction of the new Agape center.

The AGAPE association and center are thanking you deeply for your precious support and wish you a Joyful and Beautiful 2017 year in peace and good health!

Theater - Jean Louis, Music - Joseph

Representation: "Au ministere du Soya"

The first trimester results

The Christmas celebrations

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Oct 7, 2016
Going back to school for the AGAPE kids

By Adama, Charlie, Germain, Ruth & Antonina | Project Leader & AGAPE Team

AGAPE kids back to school

The holidays have been very busy at AGAPE this summer. During the visit of Blanche, Pierre and Nicolas of the Stagieres sans frontieres (Trainees with no border) association, the boys could discover lots of news activities, funny and instructive at the same time. For instance, they have learnt to play petanque, slackline etc... But they have also continued to learn thanks to Antonina's French lessons as well as Solenca that came 2 weeks before the kids going back to school to help them refresh their memories. To put it in a nutshell, the holidays went well because they were pleasant and useful.

But at the time of going back to school, the kids were lacking a bit of enthusiam as they were surprised to realise how time is flying! Some were even saying that it is only when they will be back at school that they will realise that the holidays are over. But they came back to reality quite quickly and took it with philosophy. And there we go for nine months of studies!

As often, going back to school is not an easy thing especially when it comes to the financing. But thanks to the support of the donors, the AGAPE association always accomplishes its mission to get those kids to school, to bring them the necessary support and to follow their progresses.

The boys actually went back to school being very determined. Amongst them, there are those who are at the end of the primary school, those who are very happy to finally be at secondary school and also those getting ready to have and pass their certificate (le brevet). It is a year full of exams and lots of work will be required. So far, everything goes very well. Some of the kids are even already having exams. As usual, the objective is that 100% of them are passed.

Petanque - paint - soccer

SOLENCA

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Jul 11, 2016
The AGAPE Association and the academic success of the young people under its care

By Adama, Charlie, Germain, Ruth | Project Leader & AGAPE Team

Every day the AGAPE Association works towards achieving its very challenging goals.

One of the goals is to educate the young people under its care and to make sure that they succeed in their studies.

Initially, these youth were faced with many difficulties, and here we are referring to school work only. They were: unable to attend classes everyday and on a regular basis, unable to read, count, and write, and unable to stay focused from the beginning to the end of an exercise or activity, just to name a few.

It was indeed very challenging and we knew it was not going to be an easy ride. In spite of this we never doubted our ability to make it. Our first challenge was to send all the children to school and thanks to the many donations received we were able to do just that. We knew it would be important at a later stage to hire a home teacher, or a teaching assistant to supervise them while they do their homework.

This was to help them better understand what they were doing and to know that there will always be someone to assist, support and most especially motivate them to continue to put in more efforts. We did not want them to become discouraged. Sending a child to school is very important but more so is providing support and mentorship.

Some children dislike studying and keep away from subjects which they find difficult. As was the case for many of the children, they believed they were studying for their parents or for the Agape Center. They were not disciplined, were not going to school and did not come to the center every day as expected. One always had to go after them to get their homework done; they were not motivated at all and even refused to study. Their results were always very poor.

We were very patient with them and kept on encouraging them and talking to them about the importance of school. By building a relationship based on trust we were able to make the children understand that whatever we do was for their good and the good of their families.

We taught them that nothing was obtained without effort and that they should never let go or give up, even if their goals seem very difficult to achieve.

Thus they were able to reverse the trend, becoming more disciplined, more regular at school and at the Agape center. They went from a situation of low grades to average students and their work improved as well.

Their academic performance is improving. Last year the success rate stood at about 75%, while this year it is 100%, with distinctions such as honor rolls for the more brilliant among them.

Without doubt, we each learned something more, that hard work pays. We will most certainly keep working even harder to make sure that there is continuous growth.

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