God shapes the back for burden. It’s a fact. And we have to thank him for what has been, in sanitary terms, a minimal COVID-19 impact, for whatever reason – there are many hypotheses on the matter (none of them obvious). Unfortunately, what we are not able to avoid, because we are suffering it already, are the collateral damages that, regrettably, will drag the entire sub-Saharan region to its first recession in more than 25 years.
You can’t imagine how much your loving and supportive messages have recharged my energy, after my last post about COVID-19’s arrival to Burkina. Many of you ask me how we are doing. The straightforward answer would be that we are doing fine, because it’s the truth. But if I think about it for a second, I realize that, personally, I spend my days holding my breath, as if that would help what is only just beginning to be over soon
It was inevitable, despite my hope that some kind of divine justice would make this lousy (to put it mildly) virus leave unscathed this continent that suffers so much from other “viruses” – not only those that carry disease. But that didn’t happen.
A few days ago, the news of an alleged terrorist attack at a school in a neighboring quarter of Rimkieta spread panic amongst the parents of the children in our programs. All the parents, that is, except those whose children benefit from the street kids project.
This December 2019 marks the first 15 years of FAR’s presence in Rimkieta. We celebrated in style with our staff and their family (almost 200 people): a beautiful thanksgiving mass – where all of you were present – followed by a feast that finished with a spontaneous dance in which, if you’ll pardon the expression, “we went all out.”