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SCHOOL SUPPORT FOR YOUNG PEOPLE IN OUAGADOUGOU

Burkina Faso is a very poor country where living conditions are even more precarious following the escalation of violence and attacks since 2014. In this context, the Camillians who daily try to intervene to improve the living conditions of the Burkinabé are many, including Fr Jean Paul Ouedraogo.

P. Jean Paul decided in 2006 to start a project for orphaned and vulnerable children in Ouagadougou and their mothers, which included one summer camp per year until 2013. From the following year, when the unrest in the country worsened, he decided to organise one meeting a month of sharing, play and dialogue. These occasions highlighted the urgent need these children had for help and support in their educational, human and professional development.

Thus, the Notre Dame de la Plenitude Association was born, with the specific aim of giving orphaned and vulnerable children the opportunity to resume and continue their education, from kindergarten to university or vocational school, providing them with the foundations to embark on a path of autonomy and self-determination.

We at Health and Development have decided to intervene in support of the Association’s activities: the project ‘School support for 20 orphaned children’ started in March this year and will last six months, in which Health and Development will undertake to financially support the education of 20 children – aged between 6 and 20 – who will be able to continue attending school and finish the school cycle they started.

We are very happy to be able to help these young people in need to continue their education and improvement. We will keep you updated on all developments and milestones that we – together with the Notre Dame de la Plenitude Association – manage to achieve.

JUVENANT SAINT CAMILLE IS ONLINE

It has not been many months since we told you about the project ‘Construction of a well, installation of a drinking water pumping system and installation of a computer room with 24 computers’ at the Juvenant Saint Camille institute in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, now that the project has come to an end, we are pleased to update you on the milestones we have achieved.

The Juvenant Saint Camille is a school centre that gives many children in the capital of Burkina Faso – Ouagadougou – and in many neighbouring areas, the opportunity to have access to a comprehensive education, in a serene environment, despite the many shortcomings and difficulties of the country itself.

By the end of last year, the need for the facility to proceed with further modernisation had become apparent. In particular, the need for a well and a pumping system capable of providing enough drinking water for the needs of the children and the school was emphasised, and it also seemed essential to proceed with the installation of a computer room.

We at Health and Development were very happy to be able to contribute and from 1 November 2022 we decided to start work. Now the well has been completed and is functioning regularly, providing the school with drinking water, and the computer room has been equipped with no less than 24 computers and a projector.

The computer room was strongly desired by the school to give the children access to an almost infinite amount of knowledge, do in-depth research on school topics and develop manual dexterity and skills with technology, a fundamental component of our lives today.

Now that everything is complete, we are happy to have achieved our goals and renew our willingness to support and back all those projects designed to improve the living conditions of those in need in developing countries. We wish all Juvenant students good use of their new tools, improving and learning more and more.

SOLAR PANELS AT THE INSTITUTE SUPÉRIEUR PRIVÉ DE SANTÉ SAINT CAMILLE IN OUAGADOUGOU

A few months ago, during a mission in Burkina Faso, we had the pleasure of attending a ceremony at the Institut Supérieur Privé de Santé Saint Camille de Lellis in Ouagadougou, in the presence of the Burkinabé Minister of Health and other high state and city officials. On the occasion of this celebration, the great value of the Institute was repeatedly emphasised: a centre for nursing studies, which has established itself on the country’s health scene for the high specialisation it offers its students, who come not only from Burkina Faso, but also from 12 other African nations.

Burkina Faso still remains an extremely poor nation, where the majority of the population lives in a precarious state and without access to basic sanitation, health and education services. In recent years, the situation has worsened further due to terrorism that has targeted the country.

Cultivating and specialising in health and nursing appears to be a priority, and the school in Ouagadougou offers one of the best study paths. To support the centre and strengthen our support for the Burkinabe population, we inaugurated on 1 March the ‘Installation of solar panels at the Institut Supérieur Privé de Santé Saint Camille de Lellis’which will be completed at the end of August and includes the purchase and installation of a number of solar panels and a system for injecting energy directly into the consumer grid during these six months. The aim is to ensure that the institute can become energy self-sufficient through renewable sources.

We are happy to be able to contribute to the further improvement of this centre of excellence, in the hope that it will continue to be an important training centre, not only for its country, but also for neighbouring countries, as it is today.

AT THE MACO IN OUAGADOUGOU IN DEFENCE OF THE RIGHTS OF ALL

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!

FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF JUVENANT SAINT CAMILLE

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!

CLASSES START IN THE GARANGO KINDERGARTEN!

Does Garango remind you of anything? Yes, it is the locality of Central East Burkina Faso that we have spoken about several times during the year: here in the Diocese of Tenkodogo at the beginning of February the work of building a nursery school, funded by the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI).

We have already told you why we chose this area: extreme poverty and the lack of facilities suitable for children from 3 to 5 years. Pre-school-age children did not have the opportunity to undertake a preparatory training course at primary school, either due to the lack of schools near the houses, Both for the reticence of families who do not always consider the education of their children fundamental.

Salute e Sviluppo’ project was inserted in this context by building a building to fill the lack of infrastructure. Already at the end of last month the school had been completed and during the first weeks of October the furnishings for the three large classrooms were bought: chairs, benches, blackboards. After the inauguration took place on Sunday, the lessons began on Monday with many children who entered their new classrooms to start the school.

We are really happy to announce this important milestone and we are very happy to have given the opportunity to more than 100 children to start the school year in line with the usual timing.

All Salute e Sviluppo projects, as we have often mentioned, tend to be rooted in the territory and well integrated into the social context: all the staff chosen to accompany children in this learning path is of the place, The children will have the support of local educators, a canteen where they can have a regular meal a day and everything they need to spend their first years in a carefree and educational way.

The project has a secondary objective – as important as primary – to educate and sensitize adults in the community on the importance of education, how it is fundamental for the proper development and growth of the child and how it assumes even more relevance in a context such as that of Burkina instability and uncertainty.

We told you about the project the first time in March, as soon as the activities started, we updated you in July on the works that were proceeding quickly and now we are very happy with this news and to see how many children are already sitting at their desks, ready to live a new adventure.

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Salute e Sviluppo ONG

Piazza della Maddalena, 53
00186 Roma, ITALIA
+39 06.899281
info@salutesviluppo.org
C.F. : 97570320016

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Burkina Faso
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