The Etetack neighborhood is located on the outskirts of Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon. Since 2017, the Catalan club AE Ramassà started a project there that has changed the reality of the area. With the ball as a tool, the initiative includes educational support, cultural and trade training, in addition to establishing itself as a meeting point for the community.
“It’s not just about football.” William Mbianda repeats this phrase like a mantra. This is the slogan that governs the project initiated by the Associació Esportiva Ramassà in the Etetack neighborhood, a commune located on the outskirts of Yaoundé, at the foot of one of the hills that surround the capital of Cameroon.
Mbianda was the link between the modest Catalan club and this low-income area of Yaoundé. In 2017, as president of the Cercle d’Education, Formation et Sensibilisation de la Jeunesse (Circle of Education, Training and Awareness of Youth, CEFOSJEC), he contacted the institution that, every year, carries out a solidarity action in a african country. A long-term proposal emerged from that trip to Cameroon, which went beyond the football school to generate a transformation of the neighborhood.
The soccer field was installed on a raised state piece of land, which is currently attended by a hundred students, both boys and girls. In addition, at the headquarters of ‘Ramassà Espoir’ -as the Cameroonian subsidiary of the Catalan entity was baptized- school support and language classes are given, in charge of five monitors, while some 50 children have been able to attend school from of the project. In addition, a dance and music group was formed and trade workshops are held, such as mechanics or hairdressing.
In this case, football functioned as a tool for social transformation and a unifying element for the community. From these exchanges, the recognition of the problems that affect the entire neighborhood arises and, consequently, they have managed to advance with some significant improvements, such as access to drinking water in the training center and in several of the houses in the area, still waiting for a more universal provision.
Works are also underway to improve the streets leading into the neighborhood, while they await other aspects to be resolved, such as the operation of street lights or access to secondary education.
“We are committed to the project as it is a local initiative, promoted by the population of Etetack and with great acceptance by all the residents of the neighborhood. We believe that this point is very important, since it is a key factor in ensuring the sustainability of the project”, Marc Larripa Fernández, manager of the social and international cooperation area of AE Ramassà, explains to France 24.
Ramassà’s participation in Etetack has allowed this type of need to reach the ears of the leaders. Fokem Georges Ledoux, one of the neighborhood bosses, points out that as a result of this collaboration “we know the authorities” and they have received encouragement from the local mayor’s office to “follow the project”.
“This project is not like the others. For us it’s not just about talking about football. But it serves us as a tool to bring people together and then we can transmit the values. For us, the most important thing is human values. That is the line of Ramassà, to transmit human values to children”, insists Mbianda.
“Since we started with the project, there have been many changes in this neighborhood”
Getting to Etetack is not easy. So much so that William Mbianda acted as a guide for the France 24 team and, with his motorcycle, he smoothed out the curves and steep paths. Upon arrival, the colors of the Catalan flag and a “welcome” well rehearsed by the neighborhood children hit. All this so far from Les Franqueses del Vallés, the municipality in the province of Barcelona in which Ramassà is located.
Mbianda explains that “our neighborhood is marginal, where families have many problems and it is not easy to play soccer”, while “years ago, there were no such projects, there was no infrastructure”.
The Ramassà coordinator on the ground points out that “since we started with the project, there have been many changes in this neighbourhood”. “In this place there were bandits, people who took drugs and the youth were already used to that. But now the youth can do these activities and they know that taking drugs or prostitution is completely prohibited”, remarks Mbianda, painting a before and after picture of the area.
For this reason, Mbianda considers that “this project is like a light for the population of this neighborhood”, given that “it has allowed many things to be done for the youth”.
A reference in the neighborhood, the young coach shows a fighting spirit. Precisely, since 2005 it has participated with CEFOSJEC in the search for improvements for Etetack. But he acknowledges that the entity “was doing things without direction” and that “we were doing it but we didn’t have a real vision of what we wanted to do.” For him, the collaboration with Ramassà allowed them to learn to “organize ourselves and do concrete things”. To expand actions in the neighborhood, Mbianda indicates that, through CEFOSJEC, they seek to add new members, in addition to the Catalan club.
Another outstanding aspect of the initiative is its inclusive nature. At the soccer school, for example, some girls practice alongside boys, regardless of gender. Manfo Princesse says she feels “calm” when she comes to training and that she considers her teammates “like family”. And she is encouraged to dream of “being a great soccer player” in the future.
Tiwa Gedeon, from one of the school’s largest categories, affirms that “in Etetack, life is precarious, but thanks to the ball we will move away from this precariousness”. In addition, he maintains that “when you are here, you are sure that in the future, if you work hard, you will reap rewards.”
In addition, it launches a message: “In essence, what is needed is a spirit of promotion, creativity, courage, a spirit that will allow us to say ‘no, this neighborhood needs to get ahead’. And, really, it would be necessary for the authorities to take charge.”
Ramassà’s future plans in Etetack
The boys and girls at the Ramassà football school in Etetack are grouped into four categories: under 8, under 10, under 13 and under 16. Mbianda leads the coaching team and the students also have the assistance of a physical therapist.
“If a child has talent, we have the training to give him everything he needs to be a great footballer”, explains Mbianda and immediately emphasizes: “But for us it is not just that a child is (Samuel) Eto’o, but that he is a complete human being, at the level of education, and who can leave here as a soccer player, lawyer, coach.”
Among the future plans, the Catalan club is working to register some of its teams in the leagues of the Cameroonian Football Federation (Fecafoot) and will equip all categories with their own uniforms.
“Another important point that will improve the educational part of the project will be the installation of the Internet service in the training center, which will facilitate the organization of computer training activities and joint online activities with Catalan schools and institutes,” says Marc Larripa Fernández, who It also highlights that “thanks to the collaboration of the Fons Català de Cooperació per al Desenvolupament (Catalan Fund for Cooperation for Development), we have obtained the support of several municipalities in Catalonia”.
Larripa remarks that “the project is already part of the development of our entity”. A soccer club that since 2014 has traveled to different countries to play a friendly match with a first division team and carry out solidarity and exchange actions. Ethiopia, Benin, Uganda, Cameroon, Madagascar and Ivory Coast have been destinations visited by Ramassà, an initiative only stopped by the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to the leader, it was from these trips that the club “began to discover that football was much more than a sport and that it could have a very high social impact.” Today, the institution has taken the step of becoming an NGO, which meant “the confirmation of the work that has been carried out in recent years, a totally necessary step to improve and optimize each of the initiatives carried out.” ”.
For its actions, the club is recognized as an ambassador for the UN Sustainable Development Goals. In addition to collaborations in Africa, the institution has an inclusive women’s football project for asylum seekers and/or refugees in Barcelona, supported by ACNUR Spain and integrated into a European plan led by the Barça Foundation.
Meanwhile, the link between Ramassà and Etetack remains firm, looking to the future. The one that Mbianda and the inhabitants of the neighborhood are now encouraged to look at with hope.
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