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Cameroon's Field of Dreams - Launched June 12, 2012 - Full multimedia experience: audio, stills, text and or video: Go to http://www.zReportage.com to see more - The youth of Cameroon can be seen playing soccer everywhere, whether on the crude fields by the roads or on the vacant lots in the shanty towns, they are obsessed with the game. Cameroon has qualified for the World Cup more than any other African country. 'When I become a soccer star, I would have the ability to help my family, friends, and others in need.' says 'Papy.' Otherwise known as Mintoumou James, Papy age 12 lives in a small house with his family on the mountainside near in Yaounde. Like most boys in Cameroon, he has been playing soccer from an early age, and walks more than half an hour, each way to attend soccer practice. Papy's father earns just $114 USD per month - the only income source of the whole family. Like most parents in Cameroon, he encourages Papy to practice his game, with the hope that his son can be a soccer star like Cameroon's National Team captain Samuel Eto'o.
© Xinhua via ZUMA Wire
Aug. 26, 2011 - Yaounde, Cameroon - PAPY poses with a ball in his arm. Papy is the nickname of MINTOUMOU JAMES, a 12-year-old boy who lives in a small single-story house with his family on the mountainside near Yaounde's zoo. Like most boys in Cameroon, Papy started to play soccer from childhood. He walks more than half an hour to practice in the training center regardless of wind or rain. 'When I become a soccer star, I would have the ability to help my family, friends, and others in need.
© Xinhua via ZUMA Wire
Aug. 19, 2011- Yaounde, Cameroon - Boys play soccer on a vacant lot. No matter on the crude fields by the roads or on the vacant lots in the shanty towns, children and teenagers playing soccer can be seen all over the city.
© Xinhua via ZUMA Wire
Aug. 27, 2011 - Yaounde, Cameroon - Several boys play soccer on a vacant lot of a shanty town.
© Xinhua via ZUMA Wire
Aug. 25, 2011 - Yaounde, Cameroon - PAPY arrives at a soccer field and gets ready to play.
© Xinhua via ZUMA Wire
Aug. 25, 2011 -Yaounde, Cameroon - PAPY plays soccer.
© Xinhua via ZUMA Wire
Aug. 27, 2011 - Yaounde, Cameroon - A discarded polo shirt on a soccer field.
© Xinhua via ZUMA Wire
Aug. 26, 2011 - Yaounde, Cameroon - A girl watches boys playing soccer on a soccer field.
© Xinhua via ZUMA Wire
Aug. 26, 2011 - Yaounde, Cameroon - Several teenagers talk in a snack bar of a shanty town.
© Xinhua via ZUMA Wire
Aug. 21, 2011 - Yaounde, Cameroon - A boy plays soccer on a clay soccer field.
© Xinhua via ZUMA Wire
Aug. 25, 2011 - Yaounde, Cameroon - PAPY plays soccer with friends near home.
© Xinhua via ZUMA Wire
Aug. 25, 2011- Yaounde, Cameroon - PAPY walks to a training center.
© Xinhua via ZUMA Wire
Aug. 27, 2011 - Yaounde, Cameroon - A pair of soccer goalkeeper gloves hang beside the window of a dormitory in Schalom Soccer Training Center.
© Xinhua via ZUMA Wire
Aug. 25, 2011 - Yaounde, Cameroon - PAPY plays checker with soccer stars printed on the board at home.
© Xinhua via ZUMA Wire
Aug. 25, 2011 - Yaounde, Cameroon - Papy takes off his clothes to have a bath after soccer training at home.
© Xinhua via ZUMA Wire
Aug. 25, 2011 Yaounde, Cameroon - PAPY eats lunch at home.
© Xinhua via ZUMA Wire
Aug. 25, 2011 - Yaounde, Cameroon - PAPY fetches water from a well near home.
© Xinhua via ZUMA Wire
Aug. 26, 2011- Yaounde, Cameroon - Papy's sister does up his hair with traditional method.
© Xinhua via ZUMA Wire
Aug. 25, 2011 - Yaounde, Cameroon - PAPY stays with his father at home. Papy's father works in a computer company as a secretary, and his salary of 50,000 FCFA (114 U.S. dollars) per month is the only income source of the whole family. To save money, Papy's father usually gets up early in the morning and spends nearly one hour and a half walking to work. Like most parents in Cameroon, he encourages Papy to practice soccer by buying polo shirts and soccer shoes for him, with the hope that his son can be a soccer star like Samuel Eto'o.
© Xinhua via ZUMA Wire
Aug. 25, 2011 - Yaounde, Cameroon - PAPY plays soccer alone on a vacant lot near home.
© Xinhua via ZUMA Wire
Aug. 17, 2011 - Yaounde, Cameroon - A vendor watches two women's soccer team having a match beside a clay soccer field.
© Xinhua via ZUMA Wire
Aug. 22, 2011 - Yaounde, Cameroon - A goalkeeper stands before the goal on a clay soccer field.
© Xinhua via ZUMA Wire
Aug. 25, 2011 - Yaounde, Cameroon - Two boys wearing slippers play soccer on a path of a shanty town.
© Xinhua via ZUMA Wire
Aug. 25, 2011 - Yaounde, Cameroon - A soccer ball is kicked high in the sky.
© Xinhua via ZUMA Wire
Shen Bohan

Shen Bohan is based in Beijing and is a staff photographer for Xinhua. Bohan went to school Tsinghua University in 2003. In 2004, Bohan was a photo editor for China's Xinhua News Agency. He worked in Moscow Bureau of Xinhua as a staff photojournalist from 2006 to 2009. He is now a senior photo editor and a photographer based in Beijing, focusing on China's rapid development and people trapped in the whirlpool of economic growth.:425


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