Until YAA Foundation crossed my way, my life changed.
My name is Philippe M. I am Cameroonian whose passion is basketball. I am from a polygamous family. My mom is the second wife of my struggling dad. I am the fifth child with 8 siblings. I live in the North West region named Bamenda. I just turned 16years old. My whole life I’ve been struggling to bring out the best in me. To fight for what I want and to be proud of myself.
My dad is a night watchman. He only could afford for what we could eat. One meal a day for all of us. My mom is a housewife. Sometimes a gentle neighbor will invite me and my siblings to come share their lunch. During holidays my siblings and I help my mom in working the farms and also help in the selling of the farm products in the various local markets to increase the incomes that could help buy our school needs. We can only to attend public schools, which is the cheapest my dad could afford for all of us, but at least we go to school. Every academic year, I will be sent out because of late payment of my school fees that was 18.000 fcfa. We had to work while going to school to get the little need that was necessary for school.
I have been playing basketball since I’m 8 years old. It is a passion for me. My dad use to beat me up, give me physical punishment because I used to go and play basketball with the only pair of shoes that was bought for me for the entire academic year. Within 2 months they were always worn out. I would always participate in interclasses competitions organized by my school and competitions organized by some companies for public and private schools and I was always within the first three best players of the competitions.
I also excelled in school. I couldn’t afford to slack off because there were no means for me to repeat classes. I had very good grades throughout my seven years primary school. While attending school, being a lawyer was my second choice in the line of work. After grade 10, I had no opening due to lack of money and with the situation that is happening now in our country, the Anglophone zones have been suffering paralyzed from social unrest and prejudice. Schools have been halted in this part of the country. My dad decided to send me to Yaoundé, the capital city to stay with my uncle and help him as a shop seller. This meant for me that going to school was over. I was completely unable to continue my studies. My dream has always been to be a great basket baller like Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryan. Their stories and history in life have always been an inspiration to me. I would sneak out sometime during weekends to go and play basketball. Everybody would appreciate my skills. One day, after a game, two people approach me and ask relevant question about my biography. After hearing my story, they promised to send me back to school and look for a basketball team for me. I told them they will then have to talk to my uncle. Appointment was setup and they came and discussed the opportunity with him. He was reluctant but finally agreed when they told him about my talent in basketball court. Basketball is everything to me. My ball is the only thing that makes me have hope in going forward. After enrolling me to a public school in the city, they set up a schedule for me to start practicing basketball with a local junior team. This opportunity came to me like a dream. I had hopes again. My greatest hope and wish has always been to be granted a scholarship in my chosen field to accomplish my studies and be able to fulfill my dreams and help my family out of this poverty we have suffered greatly.
December 2015, I was granted student’s visa to the US. This was a scholarship opportunity from Life Preparatory Academy, Wichita, Kansas. January 2016, I left Cameroon, my family, and joined the school where I am an athlete-student now.
Today, I know the two people who came and met my uncle in Yaounde were YAA Foundation’s representatives. Again, I later on learned that I benefited this scholarship from YAA Foundation who facilitated everything using their US academic based Exchange Program with the youths of Africa. They have assisted me, guided me, and still monitoring my academic and sport progress and performance. I have a challenge to bring up. That is to go as far as possible and also help people in need. Thank you very much YAA Foundation for showing me the way.