SEED x Basketball Without Borders

SEED Students Shine at NBA's Basketball Without Borders Camp

This year, the 14th annual Basketball Without Borders Camp (September 1-4) for the top 87 African student-athletes under 18, boys and girls, was held in Angola.  Joined by NBA players, coaches and personnel, SEED sent our largest group ever with 5 boys, 5 girls, and 2 coaches in attendance.  Campers enjoyed four days of basketball skills clinics, competitive games, elite coaching from top professionals, team-building activities, and cultural excursions around the country.

This year, following in the footsteps of SEED alumni before them, both the Boys and Girls MVP awards for the camp were given to SEED students.  On the boys side, Cheikh Faye, a senior at SEED and recent Baccalaureate recipient, stood above the rest of his competition and was honored with the MVP award.  This was particularly rewarding for Cheikh as he bounced back from failing the BAC last year and had a tremendous year both in the classroom and on the court at SEED this year. 

On the girls side, BWB invited young women from outside of South Africa for the first time ever, and our SEED Girls shined bright.  The camp culminated with SEED Girl's own Bigeye Sarr taking home the MVP of the All-Star game.  All of the girls and their coach shared a memorable experience together, and look forward to attending more BWB camps in the future.

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Homage to Sidibe

Malick Sidibe Inspired Photobooth

This past April, the iconic Malian photographer, Malick Sidibe, passed away at the age of 81.  Sidibe captured the exuberance of the newly independent Mali in the 1960s and 70s, and his timeless images continue to inspire people around the world today.

At our annual Summer Party (July 27th), we paid homage to Sidibe by re-creating one of his famous sets - always modest and often covered in patterned fabric.

Giants of Senegal

SEED Project x Giants of Africa

Two of the leading sport for development organizations in Africa team-up to inspire African youth this summer

Amadou Fall (VP NBA Africa) and Masai Ujiri (President Toronto Raptors) are two of the most influential figures when it comes to shaping how the game of basketball is used to inspire African youth.  After all, this is personal for them.  Amadou (Senegal, SEED Founder) and Masai (Nigeria, Giants of Africa Founder) have both used the game to elevate their career paths and have each, respectively, founded organizations that are committed to using basketball as a tool for social, economic and personal development.

Each summer, Giants of Africa (based in Nigeria) hosts a series of basketball / life skills camps across Africa.  This year, GOA is beginning their tour in Senegal (August 7-9) and will partner with SEED to serve hundreds of youth around the country with basketball clinics and valuable leadership & life skills seminars.  GOA will continue their camps across the continent:  Ghana (Aug 12-14), Nigeria (Aug 16-18), Kenya (Aug 19-22), Rwanda (Aug 23-25), Botswana (Aug 26-29).

SEED Launches Women's Empowerment Department

SEED Women's Empowerment Program (WEP)

At SEED, we recognize that while Senegal is a tolerant and inclusive society, the gender norms often favor males.  We see this across several different aspects of society as girls are more likely to drop out of school (UNESCO), have lower literacy rates (UNICEF), and face a multitude of challenges that can deter their academic path, including forced or early marriage, pregnancy, and even disease.  

Since the start of our girls programming in 2013, and the launch of SEED Academy Girls in 2014, we've made a concentrated effort to enhance our female specific services each year, and to close the gender gap in Senegal.  With this in mind, we launched the SEED Women's Empowerment Program (WEP) to provide our girls with a supportive and open environment to develop their personal voice, and feel safe to express themselves freely.  

For the month of August, we partnered with HOPE for Senegal, an education and youth advocacy non-profit, to host a summer camp for our SEED Academy Girls.  The camp was segmented into four weeks, with weekly topics that facilitated team-building workshops and seminars.  The themes included:  Leadership Training, Violence Against Women (awareness), Women Sexual Health, Self-Acceptance (skill training).  

With overwhelmingly positive feedback from students and parents, we look to further roll-out our Women's Empowerment Program during our 2016-17 school year.

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Matt Barnes Visits SEED

Matt Barnes Inspires Senegalese Youth

This July (25-28), NBA Player, Matt Barnes (Sacramento Kings), visited SEED in Senegal to help inspire our students.  The SEED team took Matt on a cultural and athletic tour of the country, while immersing him directly in our summer programs.

Matt visited the historical Goree Slave Island to pay homage to those that lost their lives in the Atlantic Slave Trade.  Matt also worked with our SEED Academy students in Thies and put them through an NBA style workout.  Finally, Matt joined our Live, Learn & Play summer tour to spread the game of basketball across Senegal and teach youth valuable life skills.

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