Poverty » Burkina Faso

Cook With Compassion: Zoom Koom

Chris Giovagnoni — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 07:43:56 +0000

Zoom Koom is a cool, refreshing drink from Burkina Faso, West Africa. Zoom means flour. Koom means water.

According to Emmanuelle Boco, who submitted the recipe, zoom koom is a drink for welcoming newcomers and is served on special occasions. On Saturday night, when you welcome the new year, be sure to provide your guests with some zoom koom deliciousness. It’s easy.

View a larger image of the recipe.

Emmanuelle’s recipe isn’t as complete as it should be; some key steps are missing. But years of watching the Food Network helped me make numerous executive chef-like decisions throughout the process.

Before I was able to make the first one, I had to figure out what a tamarind decoction is.

Decoction is not a misspelling or a made-up word. It’s the end result of extracting the flavor from something by boiling it.

A tamarind is the pod of a large, tropical tree in the legume family. It contains sour, acidic seeds and is an important ingredient in Worcestershire sauce. It can be found in Indian and Asian markets.

I didn’t go the tamarind decoction route. I opted for the lemon juice and water mix, even though Emmanuelle didn’t specify how much water and lemon juice to mix together. That became executive chef decision one.

Executive chef decisions two and three were determining how much ginger to use and whether I really needed two-thirds of a pound (300 grams) of sugar.

This is how it played out.

My wife prepped the pineapple while I skinned the ginger. Skinning ginger is the testosterone-laced version of peeling it.

As I began to channel my masculinity into the ginger skinning, I had to decide how much ginger to skin. The verdict: one whole root. My wife was frightened, but it turned out to be a good amount … if you like ginger.

I pureed the pineapple and ginger, then mixed it with the 300 grams (2/3 pound) of millet flour for 10 minutes.

I had to help things along initially by using a spatula to ferret out the flour that didn’t want to play with the wet ingredients.

Since the recipe called for one liter of tamarind decoction, I decided to use one liter of water in my lemon juice mix.

I juiced five lemons and added that to the Kitchen Aid.

Then I overruled myself and added only six ounces of water because step two of the recipe called for a “little water.” A liter is more than a little, although they sound the same.

I never added more water because I was happy with the smoothie-like consistency; however, in hindsight, if I had added more water it probably would have been easier to strain out the flour.

Emmanuelle’s recipe didn’t call for straining the mix, but I found a different zoom koom recipe on the Web that did. Before I strained the mix I rebelled one more time and put the kibosh on adding 300 grams (2/3 pound) of sugar to the drink. I added only two ounces of sugar.

I opted to strain the mixture because two-thirds of a pound of flour made zoom koom sound more like a meal than a drink.

After pouring the mix into the strainer I expedited the extraction (of the liquid) with some pestle action, which left this behind.

Then I forgot to add the vanilla, which was probably a subliminal thing since the recipe doesn’t specify how much to add.

By this time, I’m not sure you could call what I made authentic zoom koom. But my wife and I called it yummy.

When I make my next batch of zoom koom for our New Year’s party, to supplement our homemade egg nog, I’ll add more water to help filter the flour better. This first attempt tasted gritty. Not bad, just gritty. Like when you add lots of wheat germ to a smoothie.

I expect to sweeten the sequel to make it more appealing to our guests and to balance the power of the ginger. What I originally made was quite strong; 10 ounces was all I drank before calling it a day.

Let me know what you think.

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Celebrating Christmas for the First Time

Paul Henri Kabore — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 14:00:27 +0000

Thursday, December 16, 2010 was a special day in Saksida, a little suburb of Ouagadougou, the capital city of Burkina Faso. In this neighborhood, not far from the noisy traffic of the town, time seemed to have stopped.

In the community Bonheur Ville (Town of Happiness), wonderful praise music rose from the Saksida Assemblies of God Church. The parents, children, and staff were jubilant.

The presence of children in church that Thursday was not something unique; they were accustomed to coming to the child development center on Thursdays. Yet their colorful uniforms, along with the attendance of parents and officials, indicated that something special was taking place. The center was celebrating Christmas for the very first time.

Saksida Assemblies of God Church began its partnership with Compassion in 2010. When Eglise Evangélique Baptiste de Toega Koudougou started 118 needy children were registered; among them are 32 sponsored children.

The 2010 Christmas celebration was special for at least two reasons. First, the child development center had begun just four months earlier. As a new center, Christmas was an opportunity to show parents how much we care for their children.

The second reason was that many Compassion-assisted children come from Muslim or animist families and did not know what Christmas was. Even for those who are Christians, the word “Christmas” has almost never been linked to such celebration.

After a few speeches started off the celebration, the floor was given to the children. They presented what they had been working on for the past month.

In front of the parents and guests, children showed their artistic talents with ballet dances and songs. Boys were in jean uniforms and girls wore colorful dresses and skirts. They honored the Savior with their voices and dances.

Then their representative, Ruth, stood in front of the audience and spoke. She thanked the audience for the nice celebration and blessed all of them.

Soon it was time to eat and drink. Plates were filled with macaroni and meat, a meal much appreciated by the children. Hands and forks raced from dishes to mouths.

While eating, the children’s minds focused on another part of the celebration: the time when the children would receive gifts from Santa Claus. They could wait no longer.

Finally, cookies, candies and popcorn were offered and each child received his share with satisfaction. Large smiles beamed from their faces. For many of the children, it was the very first Christmas gift they had ever received.

Parents were amazed. How can people living far away decide to support children they do not know and provide them with such gifts to celebrate Christmas? This was the kind of question rushing through the minds of parents as they witnessed the celebration.

One mother shared,

“I am very happy for the Christmas celebration today. My prayer is that next year, things will be better. May God help sponsors and donors to continue their support.”

Handshakes and hugs ended the celebration, with children looking with excitement to next Christmas when they can joyfully celebrate again.

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Burkina Faso: Fighting Meningitis

Web Team — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 13:10:41 +0000

Meningitis is an infectious disease that causes hearing loss and brain damage. Burkina Faso is one of the hardest hit countries in the meningitis belt and is the first African country committing itself to a nationwide campaign to vaccinate all of its children against the disease.

To help children in this land-locked African nation to fight this illness, Compassion beneficiaries are receiving an enhanced version of the vaccine.

You can also view the Burkina Faso: Fighting Meningitis video on YouTube.

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Choosing to Follow Jesus: One Muslim Woman’s Story

Paul Henri Kabore — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 07:54:52 +0000

Awa is a housewife living in Burkina Faso. She lives with her husband, Irissa, and their five children in a typical Muslim compound of approximately 50 people. They have lived a difficult life.

Awa’s husband does small jobs and earns meager wages. He once left the family in search of gold; he worked five years without finding even an ounce. Awa cooks and sells cakes made of millet flour. What she and her husband earn every month is not enough to take good care of their family.

The only positive thing Awa could see about their hardship was that she was her husband’s only wife. All of the other women living in the compound are married to men with multiple wives. Every cloud has a silver lining, Awa would say, as her husband could not afford to take a second wife.

“I could spend three weeks without any food supply in the house. My salvation was in wandering from place to place asking for help.”

Awa tried in vain to find help from the Muslim community surrounding her. Although they were living in front of the community mosque, she and her family felt abandoned. Her sorrow was compounded when her younger brother and his wife both passed away, leaving a 6-day-old baby boy in Awa’s care.

Awa needed to find milk for the baby but could not afford it. She was so depressed by her helplessness that she considered putting an end to her life.

One day she wandered into the local Assemblies of God Central Church to ask for help.

“The day I entered the office doors to the child development center and told them my story, workers were with me.”

Unfortunately, Awa’s baby nephew could not be registered because we have not yet established a Child Survival Program in Burkina Faso. But the center workers showed Awa where she could find milk for the baby, and the pastor provided Awa with money to buy milk and other food supplies for her family.

After her visit to the center, one of Awa’s aunts advised her to give her life to Jesus if she wanted to get out of the mess she was going through.

“From that day on, I started going to church on Sundays. Three months later I gave my life to Jesus.”

A significant change has occurred in Awa’s life since she met Christ. She can now count on God to solve her problems.

Just a month after she received Jesus, Awa’s little girl Fatimata was registered at the Assemblies of God Central Church Child Development Center. Soon, someone sponsored Fatimata and Awa considered it a miracle.

The turnaround even brought dreams into little Fatimata’s heart. She was able to go from worrying about daily food to dreaming about tomorrow. Fatimata would like to be a primary school teacher.

Fatimata is in 1st grade and has a gentle spirit. Her mother encourages her to work hard at school to fulfill her dreams.

Within two months of her registration, Fatimata’s sponsor sent a family gift. It was like manna for the family. Awa used the money to purchase food supplies and a bicycle, and she was also able to restart her business of selling cakes.

Some weeks ago the family again received some extra money from Fatimata’s sponsor, and Awa used the money to buy provisions. The storm is over for Awa and her family. The time when they were living from hand to mouth is over.

Awa is now confident in life and has started praying that her husband would come to know Jesus and give his life to Him.

While the family’s livelihood improved dramatically after Fatimata joined the child development center, Awa was not out of the woods yet.

Being from a Muslim family, and living in front of the community mosque, her decision to become a Christian was not acceptable among the Muslim community.

Recently Awa was summoned to the mosque by religious leaders, who questioned her about her Christian faith. They pressured her husband to give her an ultimatum: give up Christianity or leave the house.

But Awa refused to reject her new faith. She told the Muslim leaders,

“When I was suffering with my kids under your eyes, no one dared to lend me a hand. Now that the church has saved my life, would I give it up? Never ever.”

Awa was ready to leave if her husband asked her to. The mosque leaders told her to take a week to think and make up her mind. When Awa met with them a week later, she told them again,

“I have decided to follow Jesus and you will not make me change my mind. It is because of Jesus that I am still alive.”

The Muslim leaders were speechless. They had all witnessed the hardship Awa had gone through with her family and they had never lent her a hand or paid her a visit.

They could not stand against her arguments. That was how she obtained freedom to go to church with her kids. Her husband has given up trying to convince her to give up her faith.

As for Awa’s daughter Fatimata, she has also changed. She used to be extremely rude, insulting people around her.

Since Fatima joined the child development center, a radical change has taken place in her life. Fatimata has become polite and disciplined; she no longer insults others. She is now the one advising other children not to be rude or insulting.

Though Fatimata is a bit shy, she has a gentle spirit. Her mother considers Fatimata her “lucky star.” The whole family is benefiting from the spiritual, educational, social and physical help Fatimata receives through the Child Sponsorship Program.

Awa and her family are experiencing the difference it makes when someone dares to give his or her life to Jesus. And it takes a lot of courage for a former Muslim woman living in front of her community mosque to give her life to Jesus openly and to take a stand for her faith.

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Ministry Highlight: Burkina Faso

Web Team — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 07:08:47 +0000

We began our ministry in Burkina Faso in 2004 starting with the Child Sponsorship Program. So far we have 20,000 registered children in Burkina Faso.

Country Director

Palamanga Ouali joined us as Country Director of Burkina Faso in May, 2009. Palamanga is an economist with almost 17 years of experience.

Prior to coming to our ministry, Palamanga worked at the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Burkina Faso, the United Nations Development Program and the United States African Development Foundation.

He has expertise in economic analysis, business development, management and human development, as well as a special interest in advocacy and policy dialogue.

Palamango holds a statistical working engineer degree from the African and Mauritius Institute for Statistics and Applied Economics in Kigali, Rwanda as well as a master’s in economics from the University of Ouagadougou.

He received his postgraduate diploma in economics policy management from the University of Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, in France.

Implementing Church Partners

Implementing Church Partners are local churches in Burkina Faso with whom we work to deliver child development and ministry in the field.

More than 50 percent of the population in Burkina Faso claim to be Islamic, while only 6 percent claim to be evangelical Christians. The Islamic population receives scholarships and investments from Islamic countries whose claim is to Islamize the country.

The lack of denominational diversity is a challenge for our ministry in Burkina Faso. Our standard is not to have more than 25 percent of the registered children from any one particular denomination. Currently, there is one denomination that accounts for more than 60 percent of our registered children in Burkina Faso.

The lack of infrastructure in churches in Burkina Faso can sometimes make child development center implementation difficult.

Another challenge is that prices of goods remain high because Burkina Faso is a landlocked country. This means that money does not go as far.

We offer training to our church partners in Burkina Faso on issues such as financial management, holistic child development, proposal writing, child development center planning, child nutrition and other topics.

Child Development Through Sponsorship

Your sponsorship of a child in Burkina Faso provides a variety of benefits.

Meeting Weekly
Primary schools do not hold school on Thursday because that is when the younger children go to the child development centers. Secondary school children go to the child development centers on Saturdays.
- 3 to 5 year olds: 8 hours on Thursday
- 6 to 8 year olds: 8 hours on Thursday
- 9 to 11 year olds: 8 hours on Thursday
- 12 to 14 year olds: 4 hours on Saturday
- 15 to 22 year olds: There are no 15-22 year olds in our program at this time
  because it is still relatively new.
Nutritional Support
Each child receives breakfast, which consists of milk, bread and porridge, and lunch, which consists of rice, beans, sagabo (a local food made of millet or corn flour) and spaghetti on the day they come to the center.

Additional nutritional support such rice, maize and oil is provided for extremely needy families such as those affected by HIV.

Vaccinations
In the case of an epidemic, the government will give free vaccinations at the public health center. In other cases, our ministry in Burkina Faso purchases the vaccines and hires nurses to administer them to the children.
Extracurricular Activities or Community Service
Extracurricular activities offered include camps and field trips to museums and national parks. The children also have the opportunity to do community service such as planting trees and cleaning at the child development center and in the community.
Vocational Activities
Several areas of vocation-focused activities are offered to older children including mechanics, hair dressing, sewing, soap making, gardening and animal breeding.

We offer activities that the children are interested in as well as activities that will expose them to something new and will be profitable in our area. If a child wants to learn a skill that is not offered, Implementing Church Partners will make an effort to make that training available.

The children learning these skills are too young to need job placement at this time, and there is no plan for job placement assistance in the future.
Parent Involvement
We have parents’ classes on hygiene, malaria prevention, reproductive health and nutrition two or three times a year depending on funds available.

We provide training on income-generating activities, such as food and grain selling and tool provision, and we offer HIV testing which is part of the voluntary counseling and testing program.

We are planning to expand toward the north and south, taking into consideration poverty level, church preparedness and denominational diversity.

Complementary Interventions Program

Our core child sponsorship program, while comprehensive, does not address all obstacles to a child’s healthy development. The Complementary Interventions Program was created to work with our holistic child development model to provide additional services such as our AIDS Initiative, funds for Bibles for All Children, disaster relief and water projects.

Typical Complementary Interventions in Burkina Faso include provision of clean water, shelter, health, playgrounds, farming, toilets, disaster relief, food and income-generating activities.

Highly Vulnerable Children

Children in Burkina Faso are deemed to be highly vulnerable when they experience one or more of the following situations:

Caregiver deprivation and incapacitation
Abuse and exploitation
Disability and special needs

Most of our needs for highly vulnerable children in Burkina Faso center around food, accommodation, clothing, health monitoring, nutritional and educational support and counseling.

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The Tradition of Rakiire in Burkina Faso

Paul Henri Kabore — Mon, 23 May 2011 07:00:08 +0000

Burkina Faso is a small country in West Africa. At 274,200 sq. km, it is about the size of the state of Colorado.

With a population of about 16.3 million people, Burkina has a Sahelian climate with pronounced wet and dry seasons. Burkina Faso is an ethnically integrated, secular state. Officially, there are 63 ethnic groups in the country.

Burkina Faso is also a country of culture, and because of the diversity of ethnic groups, many cultural practices are observed. One of the most important and widespread customs in Burkina Faso is Rakiire (cross-ethnic joking).

According to Alain Joseph, research director at the Societies Sciences Institute of Ouagadougou, two types of Rakiire should be considered. The first type of Rakiire is the family joking relationship.

This kind of Rakiire exists within the same family between grandson and grandmother, granddaughter and grandfather, husband and junior sister-in-law, and nephews/nieces and aunts.

The second type of Rakiire is the cross-ethnic joking relationship. In this case, two or more ethnic groups decide freely to make an agreement that includes a nonaggression pact and mutual support.

But what is Rakiire?

Rakiire consists of two people within the same big family or two different ethnic groups telling jokes that are often very sour and border on insolence. For instance, a grandson will say to his grandmother,

“Are you still alive, Grandmother? When are you dying?”

The grandmother will answer:

“Naughty boy, I will survive you.”

In the case of Rakiire between two ethnic groups, two people who meet can talk to each other as follows:

First person:

“Hello, how is your good-for-nothing father doing?”

Second person:

“Hi! My father is well. How about your wreck of father?”

These hard words are not meant to harm or despise, but to express membership of community.

Rakiire is a thousand-year-old custom. No one can say when exactly it started; however, cross-ethnic joking is considered a dynamic, evolutionary practice.

Rakiire within a big family evolves as marital relations are formed and children are brought into the world. Rakiire insults never lead to a brawl.

When a person starts “insulting” the parents of someone else, he can only insult the father. The mother is not insulted because generally she is from another ethnic group. The purpose of these joke “insults” is to allow people to have fun and remember the pact of nonaggression and assistance that exists between their ethnic groups.

In his book Alliances and Cross-ethnic Joking in Burkina Faso, Alain Joseph speaks about the role Rakiire plays with those who practice it. Both children and adults learn how to have a culture of tolerance and accept others just as they are. Thus, various social groups learn how to live together.

Rakiire makes it possible to remember that the person in front of you is not your enemy, but someone with whom you can maintain a nonaggressive relationship, whatever the situation.

In case of conflict, it is possible to actually use Rakiire to defuse the conflict. In fact, Rakiire can be connected with the freedom of speech. One is free to voice what he thinks without being worried. Author Joseph explains,

“One plays the symbolic war so as not to wage real war.”

Rakiire is practiced most often in rural environments. In the modern society of Burkina Faso, Rakiire is known only in a very superficial way. It is very often seen like folklore, a means to let off steam and get away with it. Few people in big cities fully practice Rakiire.

The ignorance of Rakiire in the cities means that when an unspecified crisis is declared, it is necessary to resort to other methods to address the crisis. Those who believe in Rakiire can rely on the values of tolerance and the nonaggressiveness of Rakiire to avoid revenge or reprisals and maintain social cohesion.

Some Rakiire relationships were born after bloody conflicts as a way of saying “never again.”

Rakiire is also found among Christians. Just as in society as a whole, it is seen as the cement of fraternity and friendship between people. Obviously, Christians in the church do not allow themselves to be as virulent when exchanging opinions. They are more kind and exchange only decent, but funny jokes.

For example, a Gourmantché person (Gourmantché people live in the eastern part of the country) who arrives at a church for the first time and introduces himself will quickly will become friends with a Yadsés person (from the northern part of the country) in the church.

There is even an organization in the country called Association Burkinabe pour la Promotion de la Parenté à Plaisanterie, which means Association for the Promotion of Cross-Ethnic Joking in Burkina. This association has organized three cross-ethnic joking days in Ouagadougou, where many activities related to traditions and ethnic customs are demonstrated.

The organization aims at promoting Rakiire in cities so that it can bring peace between individuals and among ethnic groups.

While Rakiire cannot be used to resolve all crises in society, it has its place in the culture of Burkina Faso.

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Why are Some Children Considered Highly Vulnerable and Others Aren’t?

Paul Henri Kabore — Thu, 19 May 2011 07:07:51 +0000

Mohamed and Ibrahim are twin brothers. They are registered at the AD Cissin 2 Child Development Center where 248 children are currently registered .

A team of four workers and eight volunteers take care of the children under the leadership of Etienne, the center’s director.

“When the child development center first opened, the area was very poor. I was living here and I used to see my neighbors trying hard to make ends meet. This area is a majority of Muslims and Catholics.”

At the beginning, religious differences brought about some difficulties in our work. Etienne recalls one memorable encounter:

“For our first recruitment, we went to talk with one family. When we talked about enrolling their children at AD Cissin 2, the father opposed – an outright refusal, insisting that he wanted nothing to do with Christians.”

That same father who did not want his children to take part in our program is the father of Mohamed and Ibrahim. But today, he continuously thanks and blesses the same men and women he initially rejected.

Blind for several years, Mohamed and Ibrahim’s father relies on his wife, Martine, to be the sole breadwinner. Martine is someone who benefits from the Highly Vulnerable Children Program started at AD Cissin 2.

This program is part of our Complementary Interventions and helps parents who struggle to provide for their children’s basic needs.

According to our Burkina Faso Health Specialist, Kevin Zongo, who is in charge of this program,

“Releasing such vulnerable children from poverty happens when we support their caregivers. However, this help cannot remain at the simple stage of food handouts, which increase dependence. It must go beyond that and seek to empower parents so that they become self-sufficient to help their children more. As the Chinese proverb says, ‘Better to teach a man how to fish than to give him fish.’”

The process of identifying highly vulnerable children starts by observing them among their peers. Then, home visits and discussions with the child’s parents help the center workers learn more details about the child’s living conditions.

This procedure determines whether there is a need to provide help to the caregivers in addition to the support their children already receive from the development center.

The selected parents go through training in handling a small business, and eventually they receive loans to help get them started with income- generating activities.

At AD Cissin 2, six children were identified as highly vulnerable. Five of their caregivers have benefited from loans of 25,000 CFA francs (about 50 U.S. dollars) to fund income-generating activities such as weaving, breeding and catering.

After a year of implementation, Etienne expresses his appreciation:

“When we gave the loans, we were not expecting the caregivers to become wealthy immediately, but to be self-sufficient and take care of their basic needs.

“To our great surprise, caregivers are pulling through.”

Mohamed and Ibrahim’s father still remembers when his twin sons joined our child development center.

There was a real gap between them and the other children; they were sickly, weak, lonesome and dirty.

Like the other children, the twins wanted to bring their meals home on Thursdays to share with their parents and siblings.

When looking at Mohamed and Ibrahim today, it is difficult to imagine how they suffered before joining the program. The twins’ mother, Martine, explains,

“I used to sell vegetables and my husband worked as a mason. But when I gave birth to my twins I could not continue my activity. Unfortunately, at that time my husband’s eyesight started to decline.

“I wandered in the streets holding a can and carrying my twins (one on my back and the other one on my chest), and begged for my family’s daily food for seven long years.”

Those hard times left scars on Mohamed, who currently suffers from epilepsy. The child development center is providing him with treatment.

When the twins turned seven, their mother decided to stop begging. She learned to weave in order to pay for their school fees. It was at that time that Mohamed and Ibrahim were registered at AD Cissin 2.

Martine was greatly relieved to see the weight of her burden reduced. But she still had to work hard to meet her family needs: food, clothes and school fees for the twins’ older brothers. Though committed to hard work, Martine hardly succeeded in changing the family’s living conditions, and sometimes she resorted to look for food support from charity organizations when available. Even with some outside support,

“Sometimes we would miss one meal a day.”

Thanks to the Highly Vulnerable Children program, Martine received training in income generation and received a small loan from Compassion for her business. That was the greatest opportunity for her to boost her work.

As a weaver, Martine bought material and increased her production. She weaves traditional cloth that she sells to customers.

With the profit she makes since she received her first loan, Martine is now able to pay for her older children’s school fees and provide food for the family. Moreover, she was able to pay back her first loan and receive a second one.

Although this family still faces challenges, Martine is thankful for all the support Compassion has provided. Now that she works, she is no longer the beggar whom people used to see on the street and in front of their homes.

Outside of the economic benefit of her job, the moral and social impact this opportunity has made on Martine’s life stands out.

In fact, working allows Martine and her family to win back their reputation. She now looks like other women of the community and feels proud to keep her dignity by earning bread for her family.

Martine works with other women who also do weaving. They collaborate on a friendship and equality basis.

The moral and social impact of the Highly Vulnerable Children program is also seen in Mohamed and Ibrahim’s lives. Etienne explains,

“Now the boys play, eat and study with their fellow students without being rejected, as had occurred in the past. And, like their mother, they have overcome inferiority complexes; they are no more the children of the beggar. Even Mohamed’s health has improved.”

At school, Ibrahim, who is in grade 4 primary school, is a good student according to his teacher. Last year he earned 7.92/10 as his average mark.

“Mohamed (in grade 2) had health troubles and missed his last-term exam due to his sickness. But he is catching up quickly. Since the child development center took him to a medical center for epilepsy treatment, he has felt better.”

The Highly Vulnerable Children fund has brought joy to the family of Mohamed and Ibrahim. And their mother’s business keeps booming.

“The support I receive is good and I am sincerely grateful to God and to those who provide for it.”

Make a donation to help highly vulnerable children.

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Sponsor Letters Can Be a Family Affair

Paul Henri Kabore — Wed, 11 May 2011 07:49:31 +0000

It was 8 o’clock on Thursday morning when children from the child development center entered the courtyard of Christian Alliance of Bobo-Dioulasso. That day was thought to be an ordinary one, except some of the children had extra-large smiles on their faces.

But there really was something special about this day — it was a letter day.

Every child who wrote to his or her sponsor that day felt like it was an important appointment. The children enjoy receiving letters from their sponsors as much as they enjoy writing back.

Unfortunately, many of the children do not receive letters. Among them are unsponsored children, but there are even some sponsored children who do not receive letters. One development staff member shared,

“It is very hard for children not to receive letters. Some children come to me sometimes asking why their sponsors have not written to them.”

When sponsor letters are given to children, it is difficult to see the sadness on the faces of those who do not receive a letter.

On the other side, children who receive letters from their sponsors are beside themselves with joy whenever they are called by development center workers to get their letter.

Letters from sponsors are considered family goods. The child’s entire family reads these letters, and most often it is the mother who keeps them in a safe place. According to our staff,

“Letters are a capital link between the sponsored children and sponsors.”

Many parents come to see our development center staff after reading sponsor letters. These parents usually ask what they should do about the letters and our staff advise them to write a response letter, making sure that all of the sponsor’s questions are answered.

Some parents will make a draft of a response letter with their children and then bring it to the center to copy onto a letter form to send to their child’s sponsor.

In the beginning, development center workers used to give sponsor letters to children with the hope that the children would write back in due time. But our staff noticed that letters written by children and their families were not always accurate and that some or none of the sponsor’s questions were answered. So, another strategy was put in place.

With volunteers, the staff at the Eaux Vives (Living Waters) development center decided to systematically write in a book all the questions asked by sponsors, along with the sponsor’s name and the name of the sponsored child. Now they can make sure all questions asked by sponsors are addressed when children write their reply letters.

Another innovation implemented recently is to make a copy of the letters children write to their sponsors and place them next to the sponsor’s questions in the book. By doing this, our staff can easily check the accuracy of letters.

As far as the actual letter writing, some children are able to write letters themselves and others are not.

Fabrice is one child at the development center who can read and write his own letters. He joined the center in 2007 and is now in grade six, primary school. Fabrice is a brilliant student who will get his Primary School Leaving Certificate this year.

His father is a bricklayer who has two wives and eight children. Fabrice’s mother stays in the village where she works as a midwife.

Fabrice lives with his maternal grandmother.

One of Fabrice’s half brothers, Armand, is registered at the same child development center. The two boys have the same father but different mothers. Armand stays with their father, but the brothers do not miss any opportunity to spend time together.

Fabrice has already received many letters from his sponsor. One of our staff members shares,

“Fabrice reads his sponsor’s letters himself. Every time I ask him, he is able to tell me what his sponsor has written in the last letter.”

Though Fabrice’s mother lives far away, he always manages to show her his sponsor’s letters. His mother enjoys reading these letters to learn about her son’s benefactor, who lives in a country they know only by name.

It is amazing to hear Fabrice’s aunt, who lives in the same house, talk about Fabrice’s sponsor. She has read every letter the boy has received. Sometimes she even makes suggestions about what Fabrice can tell his sponsor about certain aspects of his life.

On this letter-day morning, Fabrice was excited because he was going to write to his sponsor with his own hand. The first step in the letter writing is drawing. Every child who would be writing a letter was given a letter form on which to draw something for his or her sponsor.

After washing their hands to keep the letter forms clean, the children started drawing.

Some are very imaginative while others use biblical posters as models. Every child worked hard to deliver the best drawing possible. Some were very impressed by their friends’ drawings.

Then it was time to write. For Fabrice and some other children, the writing was not a big deal. After a few minutes telling a volunteer what he intended to write, Fabrice began a draft of his letter. After a short while the boy was done.

The next step was to meet with a development center staff member to go through the draft and correct mistakes. Then Fabrice copied the corrected version to the letter form.

For children who have just started school and cannot write their own letters, the process is different. These children have an interview with center staff or volunteers and share what they would like to write to their sponsors.

The staff person or volunteer asks the child the questions from the sponsor’s last letter so the child can provide answers. A draft of the letter is written in a book and read aloud; if the child agrees with what is written, the text is copied to the letter form on which the child has already made drawings.

When this process is completed, these children also can say that they have written to their sponsors.

The happiest sponsored children are those who communicate regularly with their sponsors through letters. In some homes children have posted their sponsor’s letters on the walls of the living room for visitors to see.

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Life in Burkina Faso

Paul Henri Kabore — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 07:59:14 +0000

Burkina Faso — translated as “country of upright people” — is one of the poorest countries in the world (172 of 182 countries, according to the United Nations Development Programme).

Rural areas in Burkina Faso are characterized by a lack of basic infrastructure like health centers, schools, water and electricity. This lack also encompasses localities farthest from the center of the country, the capital city.

Eighty percent of the Burkinabe live in rural areas, mostly in circular huts made of mud, roofed with straw in a pyramid shape. According to the Ministry of Economy and Finances, 31.1 percent of the Burkinabe population lives in food insecurity.

The Fulanis — nomadic cattle keepers — mostly live in straw houses.

Urban Burkina is located primarily in the middle of the country. Basic infrastructure is generally intact, yet low-income dwellers in some cities have only limited access to it.

The rich live in big houses and drive expensive cars. Housing is more modernized in cities. There are homes covered with metal sheets; some are even one-story.

However, the outskirts of cities are close to rural environment realities. Buildings are restricted and marked by a lack of infrastructure.

Dietary Habits of the Burkinabe

To is the most common food eaten in Burkina Faso, especially in rural environments where food is less diversified. It is a paste made from the millet or corn flour. To is eaten with okra sauce, baobab leaves or sorrel sauce, etc.

Rice is also largely consumed in the country but remains a luxury for households mainly in villages. Supplementary food staples are made of tubercles and beans. In fact, what is eaten in urban Burkina can be found in rural Burkina.

Local Issues

Eighty percent of the population farms and raises livestock. Farmers are subject to climate uncertainties such as drought and floods. These phenomena often lead to food crises. The rainy season is from July to September.

Malaria epidemics make victims especially of children in spite of the government’s medical policy. In 2007, according to the National Program Against Malaria, more than 5 million cases of malaria were recorded in all health care centers of the country, with nearly 12,000 deaths.

AIDS also leaves many children orphans. According to the United Nations HIV program, about 130,000 people live with HIV or AIDS in the country and half of them are women. It is believed that about 10,000 children live with the virus.

The urban areas also face problems related to sanitation and pollution. This year floods in the capital city affected 150,000 people. Many children were obliged to attend classes in makeshift schools.

Examples of child development centers in urban Burkina include: BF-103-105, 107-109, 112, 116, 117, 123, 125, 128, 129, 150-154, 156, 157, 200, 201, 250-258, 300-307, 350-352, 354-357, 400-402, 450-461, 500, 502, 660, 681, 683, 700.

Examples of child development centers in rural Burkina include: BF-106, 110, 111, 114, 118-123, 126, 127, 155, 158, 259, 308, 309, 353, 403, 680, 682, 701-703.

Educational Inequality Between Rural and Urban Areas

The school year is from October to July. The elementary school comprises children from 6 to 12 years of age. In 2008-2009, 58 percent of school-age children attended school. This rate hides disparities. It is higher in urban areas.

In rural Burkina, pupils walk to school about 2.5 kilometers on average per day. They lack school infrastructures in the countryside, and 0.2 percent of the schools don’t have a classroom. Students often follow the courses in makeshift schools. Only 1.1 percent of schools are enclosed.

In urban environments, pupils go to school by bicycle, bus or they are taken by their parents. The schools and teachers are more numerous than in the countryside. Pupils in private schools have school uniforms. The rate of attendance is about 90 percent. On the national level, the ratio of pupils to teachers is 55-to-1.

Cultural and Religious Diversity

The country counts about 60 ethnic groups, each one speaking a specific language.

Mooré (the language of the majority ethnic group, Moosé), Dioula (in the west), Fulfulde (north, language of Fulani), Gourmantchéma (east) are the most-spoken languages.

The culture is as diversified as the ethnic groups. According to the Ministry of the Culture, 50 percent of the rural population is animist.

Gourmantché people bite sand to make predictions; the Bobo people consult sacred silurus. Muslims account for 50 percent of the population, and Christians (Protestant and Catholic) represent 10 percent.

Religious tension is almost nonexistent in Burkina. According to many people, rakire (cross-ethnic jokes) allows a peaceful cohabitation of the various ethnic groups and religions. Christianity is practiced more in towns than in the countryside.

Typical Burkinabe Phrases

In Burkina, typical phrases are common in both urban and rural regions.

Boug ninga sen dita taama segd n pussa sebga a zaame. The goat which eats shea must say thank you to the wind which made it fall (Mossi saying). This saying encourages people to be grateful.
O nisaalo pia taana lie a maa, o naa kan fidi hondi saani lie yena ba. Man has two feet, but cannot follow two ways at the same time (Gourmantché saying). This saying invites sincerity and condemns duplicity.
Jinga didoua ba pè moum.”One hand alone cannot collect flour (Gourounsi saying). This saying that is widespread in the country preaches unity.
Oognou lègan tao chèchan, lègan yorgan yo heltorton. A branch should be folded when it is still green (Fulani saying). Education must start when the child is still young.

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What Is There to Love About the Church?

Paul Henri Kabore — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 07:42:02 +0000

The church is the means through which we implement our holistic child development program. Our partner churches dedicate time, energy and love to serve children in need. And as we do so, the little ones are discovering hope for the future. This hope was found by a gentle boy named Abdoulaye in Burkina Faso.

Abdoulaye is from a modest family. His father is a night watchman and his mother is a weaver. Abdoulaye has two older sisters and three younger brothers.

Because of the family’s low income, they cook only once a day. The mother cooks for lunch and the leftovers are eaten at dinner and at breakfast the next morning.

Abdoulaye’s parents must do everything they can to save money, otherwise they might have to go back to their village and ask relatives to take the children. The father has struggled hard just to have running water in the house. At night the family uses a kerosene lamp for lighting.

Eleven-year-old Abdoulaye is a brilliant student in grade six. He enjoys playing soccer and marbles, and dreams of being in the army.

In the past Abdoulaye struggled to earn passing grades. Since he changed his school he has been ranking among top students. What made the difference?

Abdoulaye was registered at a child development center in March 2006 at a critical moment for his family. His father could no longer pay the boy’s school fees.

However, since Abdoulaye’s registration, the center has been paying his school fees, and a volunteer teacher has been giving him private coaching, along with all the registered children at the center.

This has helped Abdoulaye and the other children improve their school performance to the point that Abdoulaye ranked first in his class in the second term this year.

Physically, Abdoulaye and his family have greatly benefited also.

“Since his registration I have not spent a penny on medical care for Abdoulaye when he is sick. And I have not bought any clothes for him. All these things are provided by the center,” Abdoulaye’s father says with a large smile on his face before adding, “ The center often gives Abdoulaye some food supply that is useful for the whole family.”

But the family is also nourished spiritually. The boy’s father testifies that because of the Bible teaching Abdoulaye has been receiving, Abdoulaye has been praying a lot for the whole family.

Despite the fact that the family has a Muslim background, Abdoulaye’s siblings enjoy reading from his illustrated Bible. Even the father, who cannot read, likes to go through it and look at the images. They sometimes gather to listen to the boy telling stories from his Bible.

The most impressive thing is the trust that Abdoulaye’s father, who is a Muslim from a Muslim background, has put in the church where his son attends the center activities.

“I am a Muslim and I have studied the Koran. But, I should confess that the church is trustworthy and I trust them fully. I once fell sick and was helpless. My religious group tried but could not heal me. I was relieved after a certain pastor prayed for me.”

In fact, Abdoulaye’s father would be happy to become a Christian, but because of his extended family members, who are all Muslims, he feels he cannot.

If he were to abandon his family religion he would be in trouble. His family would treat him and his nuclear family as outcasts. Living in a family oriented society, Abdoulaye’s father does not want to take the risk of losing his extended family by becoming a Christian.

“If it was possible to have two religions I would take Christianity as my second; I trust the church so much!”

The good reputation that the church has established has brought many people from diverse backgrounds to register their children at the center. Like Abdoulaye’s father, another Muslim caregiver in another area was not afraid to shout publicly that he wanted his registered child to be a pastor.

Coming from non-Christians, these words are much more than simple appreciation. Because of corruption and embezzlement, most people in Burkina Faso do not really trust development organizations and non-governmental organizations in general.

Fortunately, the partnership between Compassion and the church is seen as a good development opportunity because of the trust that people put in the church. The church is seen as an institution that vouches for integrity and godliness.

Palamanga Ouali, Country Director of Compassion Burkina, strongly believes that when Jesus was on earth He took care of man in a holistic way and that for this reason, the mission of the church is to bring about true development that takes into consideration man as a whole.

“The Church is the Bride of Christ through which the world should know the Lord, and to my knowledge God has not planned an alternative.”

The local church is the partner Compassion works with, and churches around the world are experiencing results in the lives of registered children, their families and their communities. That is precisely the reason why we love the Church!

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