ABaCoDe | African Ball Community Development

ABaCoDe Ghana | Big Launching in Two New Communities, Feb 2012

ABaCoDe — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 16:06:29 +0000

Saturday February 4th was a big day for ABaCoDe-Ghana as we officially extended our activities to two new communities. Jamestown is the oldest district in Accra; it’s close to the sea, and is mainly inhabited by a fishing community. Though it has a lot to offer, the town is in a state of decay following years of neglect by subsequent governments. Latebiokorshie, our second new community is similar to Nima, our original project base in Ghana. Although a little neglected, we can still use the basketball court, right next to a huge sandy football field.

The first week of the project proved a great success. Respectively 56 and 72 kids showed up to learn how to play basketball. Mohammed Khaled, Emmanuel Nii Lartey and some leaders from our Nima project, enabled these kids to have fun and learn about the game all week.

Week two was even better. Children in Jamestown got there earlier, swept the court and started the warm up before the ABaCoDe staff members were even on site!

This really shows how promising these projects are!

Education Through Sports.

ABaCoDe Canada | Pack The House Fundraiser Event, Feb 10th 2012

ABaCoDe — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 15:53:00 +0000

This February, the Champlain Cavaliers organized their annual “Pack the House” basketball tournament. For the first time, the school decided to offer the proceeds of the game to a charity, and they chose ABaCoDe. Over 500 Champlain fans were there to cheer on the team at a home game against Collège Montmorency. With all admission and concession sales going to ABaCoDe, we were able to raise over 500$. But it was the great games and cheerful ambiance that made this 2012 edition into a definite success. ABaCoDe would like to thank everyone who helped out: Subway, Super C, Champlain Charity Club, Cavaliers Cheerleading Team, Cavaliers Athletics, Champlain Student Association and Champlain Cavaliers Basketball Teams.

Education Through Sports.

ABaCoDe Uganda | Our Community Team wins over Kabira International School.

ABaCoDe — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 03:59:18 +0000

On Tuesday 17^th January 2012, ABaCoDe received an invitation from Kabira International School,Uganda, for a boys’ friendly basketball game. ABaCoDe was represented by its Community Team, which was fully constituted and started training on 3^rd January 2012 under Coach Bajunga Ronald. The game ended 46-32, in favor of ABaCoDe. For ABaCoDe, this was a good opportunity for us to evaluate our Community Team and we were able to identify our strengths as a team.

Our gratitude goes out to Kabira International School, Uganda, for having invited us and are looking forward to yet another visit. We greatly appreciate the warm welcome, and the beautiful facilities we competed on.

Education Through Sports

ABaCoDe Ghana | Xmas Party – First Experience at the Movies

ABaCoDe — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 04:54:48 +0000

The Christmas party started after the parents meeting in the study hall. After sharing juice and pastries, the kids were divided into 5 different groups with leaders in each group.
TiGo was inviting 70 of our children to watch a movie at Silverbird, Accra Mall. In total 76 of us walked to the bus station to pick up cars that would bring us to the Mall.
The children enjoyed their free popcorn and drink, as well as their new TiGO bags given by TiGO Santa Claus. “Puss in Boots”, the movie, was also given great remarks.
Thanks to TiGO, 70 kids from ABaCoDe were invited to the movies. For most of them, it was their first time! We are grateful for these wonderful moments!

ABaCoDe | Appointment of Founding Member, Marie-Ève Lemieux, on the BOD; Dec. 2011

ABaCoDe — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 03:16:13 +0000

As of December 1st, 2011, Marie-Ève Lemieux will be seating on ABaCoDe’s Board of Directors, along with Robert Kibaya (Founder & Country Director; ABaCoDe Uganda) and Nicolas Michaud (Founder & Country Director; ABaCoDe Canada). This dedicated and motivated colleague will take over the role and function of the Founder and former Director, Simon Gillespie.

Having founded the ABaCoDe Ghana branch in 2011, with the help of her colleague Mohammed Khaled, Marie-Eve has been a great support to the team since 2009. For her dedication and tremendous contribution with ABaCoDe, Marie-Eve is considered a great value to ABaCoDe! Marie-Eve Lemieux is now considered as an ABaCoDe Founder & Director. Thank you Marie-Eve for cherishing, and sharing, our passion and vision.

We call on all of you to join us congratulating Marie-Ève for her great achievements.

Thank you

The ABaCoDe Team

“Education Through Sports”

ABaCoDe Ghana | “Voice of the Voiceless” Photo Project

ABaCoDe — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 13:42:33 +0000

“VOICE OF THE VOICELESS” PHOTO PROJECT

ABaCoDe’s program in Ghana is taking place in one of the most deprived communities of Accra, where the unemployment, illiteracy and criminality rate is higher than normal. During our work, we get the opportunity to identify disparities existing between girls and boys, affecting the girls’ involvement in sporting activities. Sport here is considered a boy’s thing; girls have more chores than the boys, resulting in less free time to play. Education is another problem; in a poor community where some parents cannot afford to send all their children to school, they will invest in boy’s education rather than the girls’s. Consequently, girls are less educated, feel shyer and less confident.

The initiative called ‘Voices of the voiceless’ uses photography as a form of art and expression, but also as an educational activity. Their main goal is to give girls a voice and opportunities through pictures.

We often hear that a picture is worth a thousand words. Through this project, ABaCoDe wants the world to hear the voices of young marginalized girls. We are happy to announce that this project is sponsored by NAWA (North American Women Association).

ABaCoDe Ghana | Ball for Social Change; Lady Soldiers Nov. 2011

ABaCoDe — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 16:01:40 +0000

‘Ball for Social Change’

Community development and empowerment are part of ABaCoDe’s mission, therefore we actively try to educate the children on various subjects. As we’ve mentioned before, there is a need to change the mindset of the society when it comes to girls’ education. ABaCoDe wants to initiate initiate change through an all female basketball team.

The all women’s team is now composed of 15 wonderful girls. They practice twice a week, Fridays and Saturdays and are benefiting from the great expertise of their coach, Bintu. Bintu is a woman who used to play professional Basketball in Ivory Coast and is as such a true role model for the girls.

The ‘Lady Soldiers’, as they call themselves, – being part of the ABaCoDe Family – will also follow the 5 values training that every team undergoes. Focused discussion forums will include important topics such as illiteracy and teenage pregnancy.

Watch our video ABaCoDe Ghana introduces: Lady Soldiers!

Our goal is to give these, and other girls the tools they need to be the change they want to see in their own community. By defying traditional mindset, becoming ambassadors of their own values and healthy lifestyles, these girls will lift the barriers and build a bright future for their community, the whole of Ghana and themselves.

We are happy to announce that Alexandre Victor, Founder of Dynastie Victor Inc., Montreal, Canada, will be sponsoring this project!

ABaCoDe Ghana | We have 3 new volunteers as of Oct. 2011

ABaCoDe — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 04:23:45 +0000

As you might already know, we have an ongoing partnership with Projects Abroad who sends us volunteers and at this time we’re happy to welcome 3 new additions:

- Paul from Germany will be helping us out for 6 months

- Johannes from Germany is coming for 2 months

- Teagan from Canada will be here for 2 weeks

We greatly appreciate the support and help the volunteers give us and we always aim to give them a memorable experience and strive for a successful collaboration. We always encourage volunteers to stay in touch and hope to inspire them for future partnerships. If you know people interested in volunteering with knowledge of basketball, don’t hesitate to contact us!

Education Through Sports

ABaCoDe Ghana | Barrier Breaking Session in Sweden

ABaCoDe — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 04:16:04 +0000

away Sweden. This session allowed us to meet some amazing people and be inspired by their passion and their exciting projects. In fact, from September 24 to the 30th several social entrepreneurs gathered under one roof in Stockholm to participate in the Barrier Breaking Session, an intensive problem-solving workshop. More specifically, we were able to meet people from 10 different projects from Sweden and 5 projects from Ghana.

We can honestly say that this conference was a milestone for ABaCoDe, and brought us to another level!

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the people who made this week possible, the wonderful people from Playing for Change, the incredible participants of the session, our dedicated advisors and maybe some new partners.

Thank you!

Education Through Sports.

ABaCoDe Ghana | Mini-tournament @ Tudu, Accra

ABaCoDe — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 04:07:21 +0000

On September 21st our older team (14-17 years) played two matches at Tudu in Accra. It was a lovely day with more than 50 basketball players from 3 different teams: ABaCoDe, DC Dynamics and Galaxy Academy. The kids were great and really made us all proud to be part of this organization.

On the court they were great as well and it was a real pleasure to watch them. They’ve improved so much from the time they started playing basketball at the end of January 2011.

What a successful day! And thanks to Johanna and Playing for Change, we were also able to buy some food for the kids to reward them for their success!

Education Through Sports