CFDP session at Nkamlikum Secondary School

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Today, I attended my first CFDP sessions with Wallace. As a member of CFDP's management team in Kumba, Wallace is responsible for supervising various CFDP sessions that occur at some of the schools and football academies with which CFDP is partnered. It was really exciting to finally witness how the CFDP programs that I have been reading, talking, and writing about for the past few months actually work. The first program took place at Nkamlikum Secondary School here in Kumba. (A secondary school is comparable to a "middle school" in the US.) The session began around 4:30--5:00 p.m., so it functions as an after-school program for students of the school that are registered with CFDP. Once the kids arrived and the session was under way, my belief in CFDP's mission was immediately affirmed. The "leader" of this session was a man named Ivo. Ivo, like the rest of the leaders at CFDP programs throughout Kumba, was officially trained by CFDP in the organization's curriculum. Ivo led the kids in various ice-breaking activities, soccer drills, and exercises, while holding intermittent group discussions with them about the importance of like skills and values, such as teamwork, communication, focus, healthy relationships with one's family, etc. All the kids were smiling, laughing, and most importantly, fully tuned-in to Ivo. It was great to see. A bunch of other kids from the school even came over to watch the session and you could tell they were jealous that they were not involved, which obviously made the kids participating feel even more confident about being with CFDP. It was really encouraging for me to see that CFDP is actually making a difference in the lives of young children here in Cameroon, Africa.