What We Do
From our very beginnings, and thanks to the constant collaboration of the Friends of Rimkieta, FAR's projects have helped benefit many people in need.
Beneficiaries of the Projects (at the end of 2024)
- 655,400 children have attended the maternelle (nursery school).
- 1,685 street children trained at FAR, reintegrated into schools or in vocational skill workshops.
- 1,576 girls, living like “Cinderella’s in foster’s homes”, trained at FAR, reintegrated into schools and vocational skill workshops.
- 722 nursery school students’ mothers have been trained in literacy, hygiene, health and nutrition modules.
- 4,570 children have received scholarships.
- 100 adolescents have received university scholarships.
- 1,445 children have received extra-curricular education through sports.
- 65 displaced families by terrorism benefiting from one of the FAR projects.
- 1,200 beneficiaries of traffic safety education.
- 575 beneficiaries of the FGM awareness campaign.
- 215 beneficiaries of the campaign to obtain a national ID.
- 6,915 bicycles provided at a subsidized price; an estimated 12,000 users mobilized.
- 76 women and their families have benefited from the vegetable garden.
- More than 1,560 women have been able to start a new business with the aid of microcredits.
- More than 4,000,000 milled rations have been provided through the cereal mill.
- More than 2,000,000 cereal rations have been provided through the cereal bank.
- 163,500 office services have been provided through the cyberoffice.
- More than 125,000 people have been seen at the Primary Health Care Center.
- 3 motorcycle-ambulances have been donated to facilitate the transportation of patients.
- 107 ophthalmological patients, principally for cataracts.
- 1,219 mosquito nets have been subsidized.
- More than 23,000 liters of water have been extracted daily from the five wells. More than 94.000m3 have been extracted in 11 years.
- 13,600 trees have been planted with protective covering, and daily watering and maintenance.
Control and Follow Up
FAR evaluates and follows up on all of its ongoing projects and receives periodic reports for each one, which are analyzed by the Foundation's president, the patrons and collaborators for this purpose.
The person responsible for each project sends a weekly e-mail report to Barcelona, using the Internet access available at the Foundation offices in Rimkieta. The Barcelona team replies promptly to those in charge in Rimkieta, with relevant comments.
The Barcelona team meets monthly in connection with the Manager in Burkina, to follow up and ratify or change what happened that month. A rigorous "All" list system facilitates coordinated management.
Development Project
Includes all the initiatives and activities aimed at improving economic growth and improving the living conditions of the inhabitants of Rimkieta.
Projects Underway
Microcredits for Entrepreneurial Women (2007-2011) and (2017-2022)
The Foundation, with the purpose of favoring the professional development of women, and equal opportunity, has conceded more than 1,250 microcredits of 75€ each. They are directed at entrepreneurial women, to give them the necessary help to start a business or to improve their small business (producing and marketing produce, trading vegetables and condiments, selling firewood or charcoal, etc.).
Netri Garden (2013- )
The Netri Foundation has subsidized the project. A 2,000 m2 plot located near the "Jeanología 2" well in Zongo; the garden benefits 26 women who are in charge of seeding, watering, harvesting, producing, marketing and selling the produce. They earn the financial means to alleviate their family burden and achieve self-sufficiency.
Netri Garden – Open Value Foundation
The second garden implemented thanks to the support of the Netri Foundation, in collaboration with the Open Value Foundation, on a plot of approximately 3,000 m². The garden benefits 50 widowed women responsible for planting, irrigation, harvesting, production, and marketing/sales. Through this activity, they obtain financial support to help with the heavy family burden they carry, as well as the ability to be self-sufficient.
Bicycles for Rimkieta (2013- )
Rimkieta doesn’t have public transportation and people travel long distances, which limits the inhabitants’ mobility and their development. We facilitate the purchase of quality, "France au Revoir" bicycles for children and adults’ commuting, with the objective of revitalizing the neighborhood (secondhand bicycles brought from Europe, which are much more resilient). We have provided almost 5,600 bicycles at an accessible price.
Planting and Protecting Trees (2008- )
The tree-planting project's aim is to bring the population the countless advantages of regenerating local vegetation. This is even more important in a suburb like Rimkieta, with its harsh living conditions; a climate that is dry, and arid for eight months a year, and unable to manage the excessive rains during the other four. Both rains and temperatures are extreme in both their highs and lows due to lack of vegetation. We have planted more than 11,600 trees, of which 8,978 are still standing, with their respective protective fencing, reinforced by an awareness-raising program so that the local people respect and care for the trees.
CCB Cereal Bank (2007-2021)
The construction and startup of a Cereal bank to sell corn. The project consists of buying maize at harvest prices to provide some 600 daily rations; a ration is considered the individual daily portion of 500 grams of cereal.
SK Cereal Bank (2023– )
Construction and commissioning of a Cereal Bank. Maize, millet, and sorghum form the staple diet of the population of Burkina Faso. Their price fluctuates from one harvest to the next, increasing as the stocks stored by cereal distributors at harvest time are consumed. By the end of the year, there is always a shortage, and prices rise to the point that the most vulnerable population, such as that of Rimkieta, faces serious difficulties in obtaining food.
The cereal bank is a local development tool that helps combat food insecurity by storing a reserve of cereals at the post-harvest period (when the price is lowest), to be sold to the most vulnerable population throughout the year at an affordable, non-speculative price, significantly below the current market price, thus ensuring their food security.
“La Placita” – The Town Square (2013-2021)
The confluence of the “Luis” well, the cereal bank and mill and, for a time, the cyberoffice in the same CBC Saint Paul location of approximately 3,000 m2 encouraged us to fence-in the area and plant trees and provide benches for the enjoyment of the local population. We also celebrated a few widely attended events of the CBC Saint Paul Chapel, which welcomed us from the beginning with the aforementioned “Luis” well.
After a few years, we were sure that the idea of improving the town’s quality was the right thing to do.
Cyberoffice (2011-2015)
FAR built a cyberoffice in 2011, due to high demand and the necessity of access to new technologies like Internet connection, computers to prepare documents, as well as basic office services like photocopies and document printing. The “Cyber FAR” was the only one in Rimkieta. It was ventilated and equipped with six computers, Internet, photocopying and printing machines, a scanner and a document typing service.
In 2015, with the arrival of 3G to Burkina, and the opening of similar initiatives in the neighborhood, the “Cyber FAR” was no longer needed in Rimkieta, which is why we closed the project.
Financial Help for the Construction of Two Chapels (2011-2012) and (2017-2018)
The Burkinabe population is quite religious. FAR is a secular organization, but it helps mostly Catholics.
After the floods that devastated Rimkieta in September 2009, many buildings were seriously damaged and the little chapel of the Saint Joseph CBC (Christian Base Community) was rendered useless. FAR has contributed by covering the expenses of the roof and enclosures of a new chapel.
Furthermore, FAR has constructed a chapel for the CBC “Saint Etienne,” with the objective of facilitating a site of worship.
National ID Card Campaign (2019)
Many Burkinabe citizen lack any type of identification documents for lack of resources. Through this national ID card campaign, in cooperation with the National Police Department, we subsidize the neediest to obtain their national ID card.
Education
The education of women and children is one of our main commitments, so we can better the living conditions in Rimkieta and Zongo.
Only 4% of children between the ages of 3 and 5 are schooled and many children and adolescents wander the streets daily because they have nowhere to go.
FAR's aim in this area is to promote schooling and/or professional training, especially among children and young people.
Projects Underway
Valencia Nursery School (Maternelle) (2008 - )
Construction and startup of a nursery school for 450 children. It is equipped with 3 classrooms, a lunchroom, a playground, a teachers' meeting room, the Foundation's offices and a guard's house. The nursery school takes in children between the ages of 3 and 5 in three grades: P3, P4 and P5, and provides an educational, nutritional and medical care program for the 300 children.
The program includes preschool teaching in French, complete breakfast (chocolate milk with cereal, rice, eggs, fruit and bread), growth monitoring and vitamin and mineral supplementation, as well as anti-parasitic.
It also includes yearly education for 40 mothers of the children attending the school, with nutrition and hygiene courses, as well as basic French literacy and math instruction.
Educational, Professional and Sports Reintegration Project (2007- )
This project was designed as a means of education to prevent children from hanging around the streets with nothing to do and with the consequent risk of getting into different circuits of drugs, addictions, violence, serious illnesses, prostitution and social isolation, which are very difficult to escape. The project has two areas: the "Street children project" and the "Education through sports training project."
Street Children Project (2007- )
It is aimed at 8 to 12 year-old boys from families in precarious situations due to poverty who do not go to school and wander the streets daily with nothing to do, in a high-risk situation. The program has as its objective the training, education and orientation of the children so that they get off the streets. Every year, 15 new children attend FAR are given basic schooling, sports activities training, educational talks, food, nutrition and health services, so that they might return to school or learn a skill. In the first case, FAR facilitates everything necessary for their return to school and in the second case, FAR facilitates their access to workshops for welders, mechanics, carpenters, tailors, electricians, etc. according to each child’s characteristics. FAR exercises daily follow-ups on all the children in schools and workshops.
Education through Sports Training Project (2007- )
It is aimed at 100 youngsters from 10 to 18 years old and is an after-school activity, three days a week. The sports training has as its objective to work with the children on the values implicit in sports, such as teamwork, companionship, respect, tolerance, following rules, perseverance, overcoming obstacles, self-discipline, responsibility, co-operation, honesty, loyalty and achievement. We want to train and form athletes with values!
Education for Unschooled Girls (2012- )
This project is designed for girls who, due to their family situations – most either orphaned or from families broken by poverty - live in foster homes where they are required to do all the housework, like fetching heavy drums of water or stacks of wood, as well as cooking and washing the whole family’s clothes. We take in 25 new girls each year, and give them basic primary school training in order to get them back into school or if that is not possible into vocational training workshops where they can learn a skill to assure their future.
School and University Scholarships (2009- )
Education is a basic development tool. The scholarships are a help that most of Rimkieta’s families need. There are only 3 public schools and some 20 private ones in Rimkieta. The cost of registering in public primary school is 9€ and in a private one 45€ a year.
After the terrible floods of September 2009, we began the “school scholarships” project in order to give the help necessary for hundreds of of Rimkieta's children to continue their studies in the local schools.
The families commit to returning 10% of the grant and to showing FAR their grades quarterly. If a child should be held back a grade or the families fail to meet those conditions, the scholarship is withheld, although each case is studied individually.
We provide schooling for an average of 500 children every year. What’s more, we provide tutors twice a week to encourage them to improve their grades or to provide extra support for those more challenged.
University Scholarships (2014- )
Aware that in a population of 90,000 inhabitants in Rimkieta, there must be hundreds of children qualified for higher education, but without the necessary means, we decided in 2014 to start providing university scholarships. After a rigorous selection process, we finance an average of 15 students a year, who are consistently monitored. They contribute some weekly social services.
Due to the fragility of the Burkinabe public university, we are as selective as possible, trying to focus exclusively on private universities.
FGM Awareness Campaign (2019)
FGM (Female Genital Mutilation) is a procedure that was forbidden in Burkina Faso in 1986 and carries criminal penalties, yet unfortunately, it is still widely practiced. Alongside the Ministry of Social Work and with a lot of help and support from local authorities, we hold awareness sessions against this practice to work towards its eventual eradication.
Traffic Safety Education (2019)
We hold “popular stage shows” to make all the beneficiaries of our projects aware of safe traffic norms, familiarizing them with the basic rules and traffic signals, which are made ever-more necessary by increasing motor vehicle traffic on the roads of Rimkieta and Zongo.
Water
More than 50% of Rimkieta’s population has no access to water.
The distances in Rimkieta are great, there are no means of transport, and the residents - usually women or young girls - have to walk many miles carrying water containers.
Our water-related projects respond to the necessity of providing drinking water to Rimkieta's and Zongo's residents. Each day we extract 20m3, half for gardening and half for personal consumption.
Projects Underway
“Jeanología 1” Well (2011- )
Building of a drinking-water well with an Indian pump in Zongo, a neighborhood adjacent to Rimkieta.
The “Jeanología 1" well, with an approximate capacity of 2,200 liters per hour, supplies drinking water to a population of approximately 3,000 people. In 2020 it has served an average of 3,600 liters / day.
“Jeanología 2” Well (2011- )
Restoration of the drinking-water well with an Indian pump in Zongo.
The "Jeanología 2" well has a capacity of approximately 3,200 liters per hour. In 2020 it has served an average of 13,000 liters / day, mainly for irrigation.
“Jeanología 3” Well (2011- )
Restoration of a second drinking-water well with an Indian pump in Zongo.
The "Jeanología 3" well has a capacity of approximately 4,000 liters per hour. In 2020 it has served an average of 2,600 liters per day.
“Emshi” Well (2009- )
Building of a drinking-water well in the “Valencia” nursery school equipped with solar panels and a water tank.
The "Emshi" well has a capacity of approximately 500 liters per hour and supplies water to all FAR's projects, to the CIEPYD and to the daily watering of the trees that have been planted. This year it has served some 3,300 liters per day.
“Luis” Well (2005-2022)
Building of a drinking-water well in one of the neediest sections of Rimkieta.
It has a Volanta (manual) pump and an approximate capacity of 1,200 liters per hour.
Health
One of our biggest challenges is to reduce the infant mortality rate and raise the life expectancy of Rimkieta residents. Malnutrition, the lack of medical supplies and the lack of preventative medicine favor the spread of deadly diseases like malaria, yellow fever, typhoid, etc.
FAR develops projects oriented towards preventing or alleviating the neighborhood’s health problems.
Projects Underway
Health Care Center (2007- )
The project consists of the construction, start up and running of a Primary Health Care Center and dispensary at the Saint Augustine parish in Bissighin.
The center now receives as many as 15 to 20 daily visits and is self-sufficient and directly managed by the parish. FAR continues to help in the management and monitoring of the project results.
Health Assistance (2009- )
Approximately 85% of Burkina handicapped people lack specific care adapted to their situation and 80% of handicapped children are not in school.
The “health assistance” project is a response to specific cases of handicapped children from marginalized families, with the objective of lending financial and moral support for a top-notch medical treatment that ensures their wellbeing.
We currently provide personalized assistance to 5 children with different handicaps.
Ophthalmologic Procedures (2016-)
Within the area of healthcare, FAR subsidizes ophthalmologic procedures with a prestigious local physician. Most procedures treat cataracts, but there are also cases of pterygium, evisceration, congenital ptosis and Marfan syndrome.
Barraquer Expedition (2013)
We organized an ophthalmologic expedition in 2013 for check-ups without invasive treatments for children and adults related to FAR’s Rimkieta projects, backed by the Barraquer Foundation.
1.000 people were attended to, 140 cataracts diagnosed, 9 cases identified for studies for a possible procedure in Barcelona, 11 cases of pterygium, 3 of glaucoma and 3 of strabismus found, and 153 eyeglasses prescribed, which were provided at a social price.
Medical Equipment (2010-2017)
With the goal of expanding the medical resources currently available in Rimkieta to better the quality and effectiveness of the medical service, three motorcycle-ambulances were purchased to facilitate the transportation of patients.
For 6 years, the motorcycle ambulances were extremely valuable to the population. This value decreased markedly during the project’s last year because of changing needs like the new free ambulance system. After realizing the project no longer had social value, we put an end to it.
The Mosquito Net Project (2009-2016)
Malaria is the principal cause of infant mortality in Africa, affecting more than 300 million people a year and causing over 2 million deaths annually, half of whom are children under 5 years of age.
The project consisted, on the one hand, in making the people of Rimkieta aware of the necessity and advantages of the use of mosquito nets to prevent the illness.
On the other hand, FAR sold mosquito nets at a price within the reach of people with few resources.
In 2015 Burkina´s government started a project to give WHO mosquito nets. Since that time, similar projects are unnecessary in the Rimkieta area.
Upcoming Projects
Our commitment to and desire for permanence in Rimkieta drive us to go the extra mile, to identify the difficulties and future needs of the neighborhood and to design new projects to meet them.
We do not believe that the objective of the FAR is to increase by growth the risk of persevering. It will be many years before Rimkieta and its surroundings are a place to live ...
In this way, we hope to continue to count on your collaboration to realize the next goals:
1. Persevere in Rimkieta, attending to fixed costs from the operation of the ongoing projects in Rimkieta (Nursery School, Mothers’ Literacy; Street Children; Unschooled Girls; School and University Scholarships; Education through Sports; Microcredits; Tree Planting; Cereal Mill and Bank; Vegetable Garden for Women; Bicycles; Ophthalmological Treatments; Medical Assistance; Drinking-Water Wells).
2. New annual planting of 1,000 trees with protective measures.
Contact
Madrazo, 96 Entresuelo D
08021, Barcelona
Tel +34 932 050 458
rimkieta@amigosderimkieta.org
rimkieta.artnou.com
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