Success Stories

Remy Lemovou

My father was born in Dschang, a city in the Western part of Cameroon, and grew up between Mamfe and Bamenda passing through Maroua and Yaoundé the capital of Cameroon. Nearly every year since birth, my parents and I would visit family in Dschang. Having been raised in many households, I have always felt at home when traveling. I have grown up loving the culture in Dschang and never wanting to leave at the end of a visit.

But then, a serious headlock appeared and breached my family; separating my father from my mother and I started living the taste of time. Going through all these, I made the self-decision to overcome any circumstances that came my way by being resilient. I joined a group of basketball players where I met Coach Paul who gave me much insight into this sport, and thanks to him the Bamenda youth chapter of the club won the Cameroon Under 18 national basketball final, it was thrilling. Then I felt I had accomplished a step in the journey of my life.

While at this sports organization, I began researching the internet for opportunities. As there is will there is an opportunity. I found out about the Young African Athletes Foundation (YAAF), and I contacted the manager hear in Cameroon. We had an appointment in Yaoundé and from there, my story has changed. Now I am a scholar at South High-High School in Kansas. My dream is to become a professional Basketball player and to relieve my family from its suffering.

Thanks to the YAA Foundation, I am being nurtured and likewise receiving the required exposure and mentorship to be a leader of tomorrow.

Mathias Baye

From a very early age,I had a profound interest in sports, participating in teams such as the school soccer team and the local Sunday league team. We won several championships with the school soccer team, including the National Schools Sports Games in 2014.

Achieving this success was not quite easy, since I had to blend education and sport which was not well understood by my parents. Most of the time, I had to flee from home to go train and when I was discovered, I would be well whipped for disrespecting my parent’s orders. Alongside all these stresses and difficulties, I took it at heart not to stray from my target as once said by Henry Ford “Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal”.At a given moment things became difficult and being the first among five children I had to drop out of high school to give room for my siblings to receive support from my parent.

Not long after that, I heard an announcement on private radio by the Young African Athlete Foundation about the recruitment of underprivileged young aspiring sportsmen and women willing to pursue sports and educational studies for better career prospects. My getting in touch with them was quite a success for I was selected amongst many for a top-notch high school sport and educational program in the US. Hitherto, I now believe more and more in myself and my ability to drive change in me and in my family, and above all in my community thanks to the opportunity YAA Foundation offered me. I am working hand in hand with the foundation to build an alumni network in other to widen the horizon of other young aspiring Africans like me.