We at Salute e Sviluppo are particularly happy to announce the conclusion of the Healthy Milk Project in Burkina Faso: it was a long and demanding adventure that saw us in the Bagré area for five years, but which in the end gave its fruits and satisfactions. We have often talked about Burkina Faso and the living conditions of the local population: in particular, the central eastern area of the country has seen us engaged in numerous projects, All aimed at increasing the quality of life of those living in this particularly poor region and proven from the point of view of food and health. Deficit appears to be the production of milk that is either imported or – very often – is infected due to sick and uncontrolled animals. Salute e Sviluppo decided to enter into this context with the aim of remedying this lack. In 2017 began the activities that, financed by the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI) through the funds of 8×1000 to the Catholic Church, proceed expeditiously until the following year. In 2018 the situation in the country changes radically: a strong political and social instability makes Burkina Faso dangerous and, consequently, the movement of human and material resources suffers a slowdown. Then global pandemic caused a new stoppage. About a year ago, work started again and led to the completion of the structural and architectural works, which, in recent months, have been equipped with all the necessary machinery, shipped from Italy by container. The project involved several stages: before the construction of a stable and the purchase of livestock, all cows were imported into the area, quarantined and checked by local veterinarians who ensured their health. In a second step, special premises were set up for milking, milk collection, packaging and all dairy production activities. This last stage saw p. Felice de Miranda, President of Salute e Sviluppo, on a mission in Burkina Faso with two experts who taught local communities to work properly with milk and produce various types of products, from yogurt to fresh and aged cheese. Salute e Sviluppo’s project was designed to have more than one beneficiary: on the one hand all those who are employed in the various activities of the supply chain receive an income and have the opportunity to work and support their families, locals can finally have access to a whole series of products not available at the local market, having, however, the certainty of eating healthy food. These products will also serve to supply the local schools and Camillian hospitals, to improve the food conditions of children and the weakest. Salute e Sviluppo activities have as a fundamental requirement to be absolutely sustainable, rooted in the territory and fundamental for the autonomous development of the local population. This project is proof of this: the training of staff was the last piece of the project – but one of the most important – now the premises have the opportunity to proceed independently improving and increasing dairy production. The support of the local Camillians who first identified the need to help the area of Bagré and who assisted us during all the activities was decisive. Even now, despite the end of our project, we are certain that their support will be essential to ensure that the dairy industry continues to function properly. We thank the CEI for giving us the opportunity to carry out a project that will improve the living conditions of the people of Burkina Faso, much tried and tested by the situation of their country and for this even more in need of help. Would you like to see Mr Fausto trained? Click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIFzFgbb3mg&t=36s

At the end of each article we promise to update you on the progress of our activities, we want to respect the word given and we are really happy to be able to give good news. Today, in fact, we will talk about the project, presented a few months ago, of Realization of a kindergarten in the city of Garango in Burkina Faso: funded by the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI), and started last February 1. Burkina Faso is one of the poorest areas in the world and in particular the region in which Garango is located has many shortcomings, both from the point of view of health and education. We are talking about a territory where schools are often far away and difficult to reach, where traditional culture still plays a central role in family life and where families do not always want to send their children to school. Pre-school education is almost completely non-existent: children between the ages of 3 and 5 have no facilities that guarantee adequate training and provide a springboard for their subsequent education. Salute e Sviluppo wants to respond to this need by giving the possibility to about 100 children to live school, sociality and education. If this is the primary objective, the secondary objective is to succeed in changing the widespread mentality, especially among the older generations, still skeptical about the need to have their children studied. Thanks to an awareness programme, we aim to build a much more conscious and attentive community. The project, as we anticipated, consists in the construction of the school that will host the children: three classrooms, a canteen and a rest room, in addition to the services and rooms of the administration. Subsequently, the school materials will be provided, the training of the operators who will take care of the children and the constitution of the three classes divided by age. We should wait until February 2023 to see the project completed and the first classes can begin their journey, but already now the progress that has been made is remarkable: we can see from the photos how the structure of the school building was almost completely completed externally, the fence wall already finished and the other environments under construction. The project is absolutely sustainable and aims to last a long time, remaining rooted in the territory, thanks to the involvement of all the local people: starting from the Camillian community on site, arriving at the operators and school staff, all made up of people belonging to the territory of the diocese of Tenkodogo. We hope that by the end everything can proceed as planned and that next February the school will be operational and ready to welcome children from 3 to 5 years in the best way. We are proud of all these stones that, one on top of the other, are contributing to the construction of the place of the childhood of many Burkinabé children.

Four months have passed since Russian troops crossed the Ukrainian border and war broke out. Every day the news of massacres, tragedies and horrors followed one another at a dizzying pace. Salute e Sviluppo together with the associations CADIS, FONDAZIONE PROSA, MISSION CALCUTTA ONLUS, MADIAN ORIZZONTI and CESMET immediately mobilized to provide help and support to the fleeing Ukrainian population and their Polish neighbors in managing the millions of refugees. Thanks to your donations we were able to promptly send the funds for the first emergency, starting the project TOGETHER FOR UKRAINE: ASSISTANCE TO MOTHERS AND CHILDREN FLEEING THE WAR. The local Camillians, since the early stages of the conflict, have made every effort to provide as much help as possible to refugees from Ukraine. Commissioned by the Polish government to manage the first reception, they installed infopoints in the central station of Warsaw where trains arrive and in the west station of Warsaw dedicated to buses. At the moment there are about 7 million people who have fled the war crossing the border, most of them are mothers with small and elderly children. Many have stopped in large urban centres, but they do not have enough space to accommodate them all. In Lomianki Burakow, about 15 kilometers north of the centre of Warsaw, the Camillians made available their religious residence for the reception of about 30 refugees, providing them with medical, psychological and legal support. While in Ursus, about 13 kilometers to the west, a facility used for the shelter of the homeless was equipped for the reception of refugees, at the time 19. In both centers there are many activities, designed especially for children: snacks for Mother’s Day, concerts and circus performances for the day of the child. In the structure of Lomianki is also planned the establishment of a kindergarten and the recovery of green areas surrounding the structure. The project that Salute e Sviluppo, together with all the other associations, has decided to carry out is of the duration of three years and provides for the support of all refugees already present in the two structures and the restructuring of the upper floor of the residence of Lomianki – currently unusable – which inside would have another 9 rooms with the possibility of accommodating another 20 people. With your donations for the emergency in Ukraine, we will continue to support the many refugees who, with the help of the Polish Camillians, try every day to put together the pieces of a normality that has now disappeared. In this dark moment, you can turn on a light. Click here https://www.salutesviluppo.org/dona-ora/choose the method of donation and write in the reason HELP UKRAINE.   We thank MISSION CALCUTTA ONLUS AND CADIS for the images used.

Towards the future of young people at Snehagram Centre Transition programme for independent life is the title of the third phase of the initiative that sees Salute e Sviluppo engaged in India to help HIV-positive children thanks to the contribution of the Catholic Church, which allocates part of the 8xMILLE of the total IRPEF revenue for charitable interventions in favour of the Third World. HIV continues to be such a serious problem for India that the government, especially in recent years, has been pushing a massive education and prevention campaign. The results of this policy have been remarkable: in most of the territory, the percentage of new infections has dropped considerably. However, the number of HIV-positive children and young people who have been orphaned by this same disease and who risk a life of poverty and segregation still remains high: marginalised because they are considered infected and alone without relatives. Sneha Charitable Trust (SCT) has been working for many years to welcome, care for and educate HIV-positive orphans, aiming at their full integration into society. Salute e Sviluppo, supported by the Conferenza Episcopale Italiana (CEI), assists the centre’s activities through a multi-stage programme, each of which refers to a specific age group. At the moment, the third project is underway, which focuses on young people aged 18 to 24 and aims to get them into work and achieve autonomy/semi-autonomy. All children accommodated at Snehagram are encouraged to choose their subjects and activities according to their own inclinations. This enhances learning and allows specialisation in a specific field that can be their future employment and source of income. Some decided to specialise in agriculture, others in animal husbandry, others in IT or mechanics. Based on these fields of interest, the centre equipped itself with everything necessary to help the young people acquire effective practical training: fields were created, a greenhouse and a farm were built, seeds, fertilisers and various equipment were bought. In addition to vocational training, a key part of the project is the construction of housing that will be allocated to each young person according to their chosen field of work and health status. Those who, over the years, have specialised in areas such as mechanics or IT need to be close to the city, as opposed to those who, working in the fields or on the farm, need to stay in their immediate vicinity. Those who benefit from this project are both the 40 young people who, having grown up at the Snehagram reception centre, have become adults and need to become socially and economically self-sufficient; and the community, which will have a young and specialised workforce that can be employed in several professional sectors. The stigma of HIV is still very much felt in India, and being able to integrate these young people into the social fabric, thanks to the technical skills they have acquired, means moving them away from the segregation and isolation that a disease like AIDS has as its direct consequences in some parts of the world. Salute e Sviluppo launched this two-year project in 2018. During the first year, the set objectives were achieved and the deadlines were met. The advent of the pandemic in March 2020 made the smooth continuation of the programme impossible: all Snehagram’s activities were converted to cope with the COVID, which erupted violently in India, affecting most of the centre’s guests, workers and even local Camillians. It was not until last autumn that all project activities could be resumed. At the end, we at Salute e Sviluppo will be proud to introduce you to the 40 boys from the Snehagram centre, who, thanks to the help of the CEI, can now look forward to a peaceful life fully integrated in their society and community.

The Health and Nutrition Project for the Vulnerable Population of the Sub-Prefecture of Bossemptélé is part of the ‘Emergency Initiative to Support the Vulnerable Population in Central African Republic’ funded by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS). We get to know Bossemptélé better thanks to the numerous projects with which Salute e Sviluppo has been trying to improve the socio-sanitary status of the Central African sub-prefecture for more than 10 years now. The John Paul II Hospital is the symbol of the Camillian commitment in the area: for years it has been responsible for improving the sanitary conditions of the population, remaining a pillar of reference for local communities even when the upheavals inside the country have made complex the activities of many other structures. Also for this project ses starts from the John Paul II Hospital: despite the improvements made with the previous interventions, still significant are the shortcomings found, first of all the lack of an emergency room. The only room used for initial reception is simultaneously used for outpatient visits. Hence the need to renew the structure to allow the proper division of the premises and the separation between services dedicated to ordinary consultation and the treatment of emergency patients. At the moment the works of the new reception area have reached 32% of construction,the old walls of the structure have been demolished and new ones are being erected. Most patients arrive at the hospital in a state of severe malnutrition: clearly the lack of food is a serious problem that must be solved, but it is even more effective in patients who have to undergo therapy and who, in the absence of food, cannot take their medication properly. Very often hospital inmates come from neighboring villages and once in Bossemptélé can not afford to buy any basic necessities because of the higher prices of the city than the rural areas to which they belong. To improve the nutritional conditions of patients, it was decided to build a kitchen adjacent to the hospital with the intention of providing daily at least two meals a day for each patient. In 5 months from the beginning of the project the structure was completed for 80%. Since last December, and until the construction of the kitchen is underway, meals are prepared in a temporary outdoor room. Up to now, more than 3000 patients and relatives of hospital patients have already been served, thus representing a great result for their general health.   Another deficiency at the John Paul II Hospital in Bossemptélé, which the project aims to remedy, is that the hospital’s medical staff are not sufficiently trained in certain specialist areas of medicine, including maternity and ophthalmology. Therefore, training courses by specialists from the capital Bangui were set up to make the staff more competent in providing specific care. Classes started in December and continue to take place with the participation of 38 health workers from the hospital. The projects aimed at improving health and hygiene conditions are not only concentrated in the John Paul II hospital in Bossemptélé, which is indeed the most solid health centre, but are also spread throughout the neighbouring areas with specific solutions that allow the populations of the nearby villages to benefit from many treatments without having to make the journey to the hospital, which is far from easy. In some villages there are so-called postes de santé, buildings that act as small medical centres, but which need to be upgraded and expanded in order to be operational. Thanks to the project, the renovation of the postes de santé in the villages of Gbawi, Bodangui and Bombalou has started and is now 38% complete. While in the village of Yangoro, the complete construction of a poste de santé is proceeding, now at about 45 % completion. In addition, for the correct compliance with hygiene rules – sanitary each of these principals needs a well in the immediate vicinity that ensures the supply of clean water. For this reason, hand-dug wells have been constructed in all the villages mentioned and are currently being tested. In order to further expand the offer of adequate medical care, the mobile clinic service has been strengthened, responding to a need that had long been identified in the area of intervention. Rural and poorly connected areas, also without postes de santé, are reached on a rotating basis twice a week (Wednesdays and Saturdays) by hospital staff who perform consultations for all the villagers reached. The mobile clinic is fully functional, operating in territories deemed safe and bringing real benefit to the population. Its sole purpose is not to visit the population, but to be an integral part of a preventive action of education, information and communication on health and hygiene in rural communities. Very often common diseases can be easily avoided thanks to a greater knowledge and awareness of issues and behaviors related to hygiene and health, without resorting to popular practices and beliefs that continue to play a preponderant role in the life of the locals. In fact, the work of traditionally accredited carers/healers, using non-medical techniques, sometimes leads to serious complications and a marked deterioration in the health status of patients. In order to prevent these practices, which are unfortunately still widespread, and to encourage correct referral to the hospital in case of need, monthly training sessions are held in the hospital meeting room on the last Saturday of each month to raise awareness of the issue among health workers in the postes de santé located in the villages and among the traditional healers themselves, with whom cooperation is increasingly intensifying. The Health and Nutrition Project for the Vulnerable Population of the Sub-Prefecture of Bossemptélé is now halfway through its journey. Started at the end of September last year, the one-year project is proceeding as planned and is already bringing benefits to the local communities involved. A hoped-for result, but not a foregone conclusion given the endemic difficulties of the area: both from the point of view of local security, which sometimes undermines the possibility of considerable and lasting results, and because of the poverty of the nation, which is still one of the poorest in the world. Salute e Sviluppo, together with AICS, aims to bring this project to fruition and contribute to the real improvement of the living conditions of the local population, which continues to be afflicted by diseases that are easily treatable with the right means and the correct prevention. We will keep you updated on further developments and on all the small and large steps that will be taken in the interests of the Bossemptélé sub-prefecture.  

We are still in the Central African Republic with the project, started on January 1, 2021, Health and hygiene for the communities of Bossemptélé, funded by the FONDATION ASSISTANCE INTERNATIONALE (FAI). Specifically, we are in the province of Ouham-Pendé: here the living conditions of local populations are precarious, primary services are lacking and the province is one of the poorest on the planet. The civil war and the social and political unrest that has persisted for years in the country undermine the possibility of creating the necessary infrastructure and a significant improvement in the quality of life. Salute e Sviluppo and the Camillian Delegation in Central Africa have long been committed to carrying out projects aimed at creating the basis for a development that can be meaningful and lasting. Especially John Paul II Hospital is a great achievement: it has been working with local communities for years and is one of the few health centres able to offer the necessary treatment to the entire population of the region, which is afflicted by a range of diseases caused by poverty, lack of water, but also by poor hygiene education. Primary objective of the project Health and hygiene for the communities of Bossemptélé is provide medical supplies, medicines and medical personnel to ensure ever higher standards at the John Paul II Hospital and build the necessary infrastructure for hospital work: wells and photovoltaic system are fundamental to power the implementation of all health activities. The secondary objective is just as important as the primary objective, because the absence of education is the cause of easily avoidable diseases. To address this issue, the project includes a series of weekly meetings with hospital health workers on specific topics such as nutrition, vitamins, tobacco, alcohol, personal hygiene, vaccinations, malaria prevention, environmental hygiene, etc. Not only within the hospital facilities, but through a mobile clinic team, awareness campaigns are also carried out in the rural areas surrounding Bossemptélé.   Patients, neighboring communities and young people are the main beneficiaries: about 6,000 patients of the Hospital will have access to high-level medical care; about 3,500 people belonging tothe local communities will be more aware and prepared in health and hygiene and 20 children/ and each year will receive professional education in health. The Camillian delegation in the Central African Republic will continue to manage the hospital by providing health services for the local population and by activating involvement and operational collaboration with local public dispensaries. TheMinistry of Health, Ministry of Higher Education, Association pour les Œuvres Médicales des Eglises en Centrafrique – ASSOMESCA and the Order of the Carmelite Sisters of Bossemptélé are all local actors involved in the implementation of the project. Duration of the project is 30 months, but aims to create sustainable and lasting structures that represent a reference point for local communities and can effectively improve health conditions in the Ouham-Pendé region. We will keep you updated on all developments! We would like to thank FONDATION ASSISTANCE INTERNATIONALE (FAI)for its contribution.