Our project ‘Construction of a kindergarten in Garango’ funded by the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI), which we have told you about several times over the past year, has recently come to an end. Garango is located in Burkina Faso – in the central eastern zone – within the diocese of Tenkodogo, one of the poorest areas of the country, with numerous health and educational deficiencies. We decided to intervene in an attempt to fill some of these gaps and in the hope of helping the local population to achieve a higher standard of living. In particular, we were told of the absence of a kindergarten and – consequently – the impossibility for children in the area to be able to undertake a normal schooling and education preparatory to primary schools. To make up for this shortcoming, we decided last year to submit a project to build the school facility. From the outset, it seemed an ambitious goal, considering the situation of political and social uncertainty in the entire country in recent years, but fortunately the project did not encounter any difficulties: the construction work on the structure was carried out swiftly and Within a year, we have not only seen this school come into being, but we have seen it filled with desks, chairs, games and everything necessary for the proper development of the young pupils. The children were divided into three large classrooms according to age, creating a Petite Section, a Moyenne Section and a Grande Section. The first section consists of 27 pupils, 10 boys and 17 girls, while the second consists of 26, 14 boys and 14 girls, the last section has not been formed, but as early as next year it will be enlivened with all the children of the current Moyenne Section. Numerous activities are planned each day: colouring, drawing, learning the basics of maths, starting to read, spending time on physical activity and, of course, playing. The facility has a large enclosed courtyard where the children, in complete safety, can spend carefree hours and, in addition, hosts a canteen that guarantees one meal a day for every pupil at the school. If the primary objective was to build, furnish and activate the school, the secondary objective was to raise the awareness of the local population on the importance of education: in fact, it seems essential to get children started on a proper learning path from an early age to ensure their proper development. Thanks to the local staff working within the facility, even though our activities have ended, the school will continue to be a reference point for the entire community. We are very happy to have completed the project, contributing to the realisation of this school that will give many children the opportunity to laugh, play, colour, and experience a peaceful childhood, understanding the value of sociality and sharing, in the light-heartedness that that age deserves, but that often – in similar contexts – cannot have.  

Easter is near, next 9 April will be Resurrection Day. Along with Easter, spring is also blossoming, symbolising nature reborn after the cold of winter. What better time for solidarity to flourish? On 28 March, at the exhibition venue of the CRAL degli Operatori Socio Sanitari in Rho, there will be an opportunity to buy many nice items – from Easter packages for children to embroidery and sewing works – made by the many volunteers who have been supporting Salute e Sviluppo for years. Along with all these items will also be our plantable pencils! At the top of each pencil are a few marigold seeds, ready to give birth to beautiful, colourful flowers. We have chosen this flower, with its many healing and soothing properties, to symbolise all the health-related activities that we inaugurate year after year all over the world. Thanks to your support we will be able to engage in more and more initiatives! Don’t miss this opportunity to help us, all proceeds from the Easter market next 28 March in Rho will go to support the Camillian missions in Africa. If you also want the Health and Development pencil, write to us on Facebook, Instagram or at our email address. Salute e Sviluppo is grateful for every small or large contribution from all those who commit themselves by standing by us and giving a little of their time ❤

The MACO (Maison d’Arret et de Correction de Ouagadougou) is the largest prison in the capital of Burkina Faso. The conditions of the facility are quite precarious: overcrowding is the most obvious problem, in fact, not too long ago, it was even feared that the facility would collapse due to the excessive number of inmates. With this in mind, it is not surprising that the living and health conditions there are well below standard. The Camillians of the prison chaplaincy realised the need to intervene as soon as possible to make the treatment more humane, allowing these inmates to experience prison as a re-education, with full respect for inviolable human rights. The situation in Burkina Faso is difficult from several points of view: starting from the endemic poverty, to the terrorism that has been gripping the country in a vice for several years. Ensuring that inmates have a dignified life in prison is crucial to prevent further resentments that may later erupt into anger and violence. In an attempt to pursue this goal, the Camillians of the prison chaplaincy proposed to Salute e Sviluppo to participate in the ‘Projet d’humanisation de la Maison d’Arret et de Correction de Ouagadougou (MACO)’. The project consists of providing more than 1600 inmates with the meals they need to maintain a proper diet, supplying monthly hygiene kits to about 100 women in the prison, distributing the soap needed for the hygiene of 1600 people, giving clothes to about 50 inmates – the most destitute – and buying all the medicines needed to supply the institution’s infirmary and to treat particular illnesses. We at Salute e Sviluppo are happy to be able to contribute to this project: although those in prison have a sentence to serve, it is only fair that they receive dignified treatment, with full respect for human rights. Improving the living conditions of those in need is our primary goal in any field. It will be a busy year, and the conditions in the country will certainly cause some difficulties for the smooth running of this project, but we are confident that within the set time frame, the objectives will be accomplished. We will keep you updated on all developments!

Salute e Sviluppo has a clear mission: to improve the living conditions of every individual, especially the most vulnerable (children and women), by promoting fair and sustainable development processes in access to health and education services, social and economic empowerment. To carry it forward, there are many projects that we inaugurate each year with prestigious partners and donors, but there are also many initiatives that Health and Development pursues on its own, funding support activities for those in need who ask for help. A few months ago, the Asociación corazones & Manos Solidarias San Francisco, which has long been working on Peruvian soil to improve the health conditions of the young patients of the San Bartolomé and Cayetano Heredia hospitals in Lima, proposed to us to contribute to the ‘Health for All: Diazossido Project’. Edrick and Samuel are two very young children (1 year old and 4 years old respectively) suffering from congenital hyperinsulinism (HC), a very rare endocrine disease that develops in the first months of life and can lead to severe health impairment in young patients, causing severe neurological problems, in some cases irreversible. This disease in Peru is particularly compromising due to delays in diagnosis and administration of the right medication – the Diazoxide – which is not marketed in the country and which is prohibitively expensive, both for the hospitals themselves and for the poorest families, who do not have the possibility of importing it from abroad. The administration of the drug, in most cases, has to be long-lasting in order to ensure the children’s recovery, which makes it even more difficult to maintain a sufficient supply. To make up for this serious shortage, the Asociación corazones & Manos Solidarias San Francisco has for years been searching for public and private donors who can contribute to the purchase and shipment of the life-saving drug. Salute e Sviluppo decided to respond affirmatively to this request and purchase the Diazoxide needed for the current and future care of little Edrick, Samuel and many other children who will need it in the next two years. We at Salute e Sviluppo are very happy to be able to intervene in the first person, helping those in need, and in this case we hope that – also thanks to our contribution – the little patients in the hospitals of Lima suffering from this disease and their families can finally find hope again.  

The Juvenat Saint Camille is a school in Ouagadougou, run by the Camillians, which welcomes many children from the surrounding areas, offering them a proper education and a serene environment in which to cultivate their studies and interests.

The education centre needs to proceed with further modernisation to enable the facility to provide more and more services to the students. In particular, the need for a well and a pumping system to provide enough drinking water for the needs of the students and the school was emphasised; and it seemed essential to proceed with the installation of a computer room.

Faced with these needs, Salute e Sviluppo was delighted to be able to contribute to the improvement of the centre, initiating this project which aims to both provide water and equip the hall.

Ouagadougou is the capital of Burkina Faso and, although it is the country’s best-supplied city, it suffers from the general situation of the nation which, in addition to extreme poverty, in recent years has also had to deal with terrorists who attack the country in waves with attacks and violent acts. It seems essential to help the population with agri-food, health or – as in this case – educational development projects.

As of 1 November 2022, we decided to start work on the improvement of the school centre: work on the construction of the well and pumping system was swift and went smoothly. Already now the system is functioning and gives the school access to an adequate supply of drinking water.

As far as the computer room is concerned, the project includes the purchase of 24 computers and the fitting out of the entire room, which will give the children the opportunity to study computer science – an absolutely necessary subject – do more in-depth research on school topics, connect to the net and expand their knowledge in this way. The room would also be used for presentations, small conferences and other learning situations for the children.

P. Felice de Miranda, President of Salute e Sviluppo, had the opportunity a short while ago, during his last mission to Burkina Faso, to visit the school and see how the work was progressing: he found many happy children waiting for him, who were grateful to Health and Development for the ongoing project.

Activities will end in June 2023, by which time the computer room should be completed and properly equipped. We will keep you updated on all the milestones we achieve!

The project “Towards the future of young people at Snehagram Centre Transition Programme for Independent Living’.thanks to the contribution of the Catholic Church, which earmarks part of the eight per thousand of the total IRPEF revenue for charitable interventions in favour of the Third World. We had already told you about this project that has kept us busy in India since 1 September 2018, aided by the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI) and in collaboration with the Sneha Charitable Trust (SCT) association, to complete the education and training of no less than 70 HIV-positive girls and boys. In India, HIV status still represents a stigma for society: all those with HIV/AIDS are shunned and placed on the margins of a society that still struggles to accept them. Most HIV-positive young people have often been orphaned by the very disease that afflicts them. In such cases, it is crucial to accommodate them in facilities that give them the possibility of not being alone and of building a decent future for themselves. The programme promoted by the association Sneha Charitable Trust is divided into several pathways, each of which is tailored to a specific age group: from a very young age, children are taken in, living in the community, having access to all necessary medical care and growing up in an educational and stimulating environment. Snehagram is the last phase of the project and involves accompanying 18-24 year olds towards independent/semi-independent living. In order to achieve the goal, the initiative provides a housing solution for each of the young people and vocational paths suitable for enhancing their skills and entering the world of work. For this reason, four ‘cluster houses’ were built. In each house lives a group of five or six young people, whose members have been trained to do different jobs according to their abilities, specifically: some are engaged in animal husbandry, others in agriculture, mechanics, plumbing, IT, photography, videography and tailoring. All training courses were chosen by the students according to their own inclinations, helped by a tutor. After an initial phase in which the young people were able to train and decide for themselves the discipline in which they wanted to specialise, the project started a second phase in which all of them were able to carry out their chosen task in a professional manner and start earning an income. Four barns were built and 25 cows and two bulls were purchased, as well as two milking machines to facilitate the work. The milk produced was sold to neighbouring dairies and all income went to the project boys. It was poultry breeding also increased with excellent results: 10 batches of chickens were produced and sold on each of the four farms, the resulting profit went to the young people participating in the project who, already starting to receive an income, can gradually become more and more independent. In the agricultural area, a total of four greenhouses and a pond were built to collect rainwater, which is used for irrigating the land. To improve this aspect, a reservoir and other facilities for storing open water were also provided, and a well was dug. Hydroponic cultivation was also started, with the purchase of materials for drip irrigation, specific tools, saplings for planting and fertile fertiliser. Other boys dedicated themselves to making paper bags from old newspapers, which were then sold to neighbouring medicine shops. Each boy came to produce an average of 500 envelopes or 100 paper bags. Finally, all those trained in mechanical, electronic and hydraulic systems were placed in various production and assembly companies in the area. Their housing also tries to respond as best as possible to the need to be close to the workplace, being located not near greenhouses and farms, but close to industrial areas. The project has been very successful and now, at the end, the impact it has had on the lives of every single boy in Snehagram is tangible. They have been successfully launched into independent living: each of them has already started earning an income, being able to live in a house that is adequate for their health needs, and also close to their working environment. The project should have been finished earlier, but the Covid- 19 pandemic slowed down the work. India was hit hard and even the Snehagram centre was not spared, most of its occupants fell ill and planned activities did not continue as planned. At the end of the pandemic emergency there were no further hiccups and the project continued as planned. We are happy to have been able to help the young people of Snehagram who, in the absence of the centre founded by the Sneha Charitable Trust, would have been forced into a life on the margins of society, with no chance of employment.