Ivory Coast School Build resources

Champions: Philippe Sella and Jason Leonard

The ATLAS Foundation is working with Les Enfants de L’Ovale to provide the same kind of opportunities to kids in Africa that Jason Leonard and Philippe Sella found through rugby.

Atlas supporters have raised the final €50k needed to build a school, sports pitch and changing rooms in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.  €100k has been raised already by Philippe Sella’s charity Les Enfants de L’Ovale and the land has been donated by the Abidjan government.

200 children currently get rugby coaching and educational support in Abidjan, Ivory Coast through the EDO programme. Yet they play on a muddy strip of land, and they have no electric lighting or dedicated school. They come from a slum in Abidjan called “Biafra” because they were refugees from the Biafran conflict and famine.

These children love their rugby and are dedicated academically, but their ability to succeed is being held back.

We want to give these children a proper place to learn and to play.

• Two classrooms for their education

• A kitchen to feed them

• Changing rooms for both boys and girls

• Hot running water so they can stay clean

• Electricity so they can do homework after school

• A pitch available for everyone, putting the school at the heart of the community