The Solibad project is one of the highlights of our September 29 board meeting. It's about Jeremie, Tirah, Nata, Dominique, Olivier and Raphaël joining forces to help young Indonesians in Java and Sumatra blossom through badminton?
"Through regular, structured badminton training and competitions (inter-school, regional and national), we offer highly disadvantaged young people the chance to discover, develop and build a better future for themselves thanks to our 9 teams spread across Central and West Java and West Sumatra, all with the support and help of the association. The young people train between 1 and 6 times a week, depending on their interests, availability, skills and the availability of coaches and facilitators."
The young people are selected via our network of local animators. They are all very poor and the selection is validated by Dominique, our Solibad referent.
Solibad is also the story of Nata, a Decathlon teammate who joined Jeremie's team in 2018 after participating in the Solibad Bintang program :
"Nata is a child who grows up surrounded by garbage cans.
In the Bekasi dump, families survive on a daily basis by collecting, sorting and reselling discarded materials. Here, the aim is not to recycle in order to protect the planet, but to earn enough money to feed themselves, and everyone's in on it, from infancy onwards.
When he met Dominique for the first time, he discovered the pleasure of playing badminton, meeting other young people and getting away from it all.
Nata leaves the project several times to help his family and work. He also leaves school at junior high and never returns.
While visiting Olivier (Solibad's vice-president), Dominique stumbles across Nata. She jumps into his arms and tells him with great tenderness: "Come back, come back tomorrow and trust me, we'll find you a job".
The next day, Nata didn't return.
The next day, he met Dominique again and trusted him.
A few months later, after personalized tutoring, he applied for a job at Decathlon Indonesia.
Today he works on the shelves, still shy but full of energy.
Now it's his turn to make a difference, to inspire younger people to join the program, to get their heads above water and take charge of their future. Helping others to find hope and move forward through sport and hard work in a great team." ?
On behalf of the entire Foundation team, congratulations on your investment, and we look forward to following your next adventures!