Ambroise, Moïse and Hervé, three of the street kids in the “education and reintegration program,” whose resumes are complete with thefts from and fights in the workshop, repeated truancy, lack of personal hygiene and cleanliness, etc, make up the second graduating class of FAR apprentices. Just a few days ago, they proudly received the diplomas that attest to this status.
There’s a phenomenon in Burkina, and I don’t know whether in other not necessarily African countries as well, that consists in “group fainting” among girls in classrooms. This year we’ve experienced it firsthand.
I’m Silvie, FAR’s first employee, where I’ve been working for more than 13 years. Among other projects, I’m in charge of providing bicycles to many people without means who have no other mode of transportation… Though the project has been running for 4 years now, I can’t help being really touched every time we open the possibility of getting on the waiting list, which never has fewer than a few hundred applications, and I see the long line of women, whose living conditions are very precarious, waiting in the blazing sun, from early morning, for their turn to apply for a bike…
My name is Jacques, but everyone in Rimkieta calls me “Coach.” Rimkieta is one of the poorest neighborhoods in Burkina Faso’s capital Ouagadougou. Burkina is number 183 of the 188 countries in the 2015 Human Development Index. I’ve been working for FAR since 2011. I’m the assistant manager of the “training and reinsertion of street children” and the “sports training” projects, in which we currently have 102 and 80 children, respectively, receiving training.
The United Nations’ Development Project just published its annual report on the Human Development Index (HDI). Burkina Faso ranks 185th of the 188 countries in the table, ahead only of Chad, Niger and the Central African Republic. Fourth from last…In 2014 Burkina Faso was the 182nd country of 187 and in 2015, it was number 183 of 188. In three years, we’ve moved from seventh from last to fourth from last. The tragedy isn’t so much being at the end of the list as it is not advancing – falling ever further behind.
Brother Salvador, Salesian, a Basque who’s been in Burkina for more than half a century educating children, youth and adults, sends us this sincere and heartfelt e-mail, in which he explains the stressful and uncertain situation that’s again threatening Burkina.