Aurélien Tchouaméni helped bring a new sports ground to Manjo Children’s Home in Cameroon. His Prosperi fund has since supported free eye screening there, extending a partnership into another part of the children’s everyday lives.
The Real Madrid midfielder was in Manjo on December 26, 2024, to inaugurate the multisports facilities. Children also received balls, sports clothing and shoes. It was an addition to an existing home, not the opening of an institution Tchouaméni had founded.
The home was founded by Simone Batchadji Njei and welcomed its first children in 2018. Its history stretches back to 2006, when she began developing the project on land donated by her late husband. Years of clearing, construction and preparation came before the first residents arrived.
Tchouaméni joined that work through Prosperi, the endowment fund he co-chairs with Josette Tchouaméni. Established in 2023, the organization supports projects involving education, health and sport. At Manjo, it backed a home with its own staff, routines and ambitions for the children in its care.
“I chose Manjo because I fell in love with the project,” Tchouaméni said at the sports inauguration, in comments reported by Cameroonian newspaper Le Jour. Prosperi’s account also credits its partners and donors, alongside Simone and her team, with delivering the facilities.
Support that continued after the opening
Prosperi says its team identified a shortage of suitable sports space during an initial visit. The response was a multisports ground, with basketball, tennis and volleyball named in the fund’s account of the completed project. The plans included shared activities with children from neighboring villages, extending its intended use beyond the home’s residents.
The home’s wider work includes schooling and practical learning through agriculture, livestock care and fish farming. Sport sits alongside those activities. The facilities don’t need to produce a professional footballer to serve a useful purpose. Somewhere to play, try a different sport and spend time with other children has value without a scouting report attached.
Last April, Prosperi says it organized free eye screening for children and care staff with the IDIWAKA association. Volunteer doctors carried out the examinations. The fund reported finding vision problems needing correction and other conditions requiring medical follow-up.
That initiative came more than a year after the sports inauguration. It brought a different group of specialists into the partnership and included the adults responsible for the children’s care. A footballer’s involvement had helped deliver a place to play; the fund’s subsequent work addressed a separate need at the same home.
Tchouaméni didn’t need to found Manjo Children’s Home to contribute to its future. Simone and her team had already built the home. His contribution has helped them add to what it can offer.
