|
Our team of 10 people, with broad range of skills and education has
brought practical benefits to these village people.
The cows and bulls that we purchased for the four villages over the last few years, are healthy and
have reproduced calves. For one of the villages, we purchased 4 sheep in addition to a "replacement" cow (the first
one became sick and they sold it before it died).
This year we demonstrated jewelry making as an entrepreneurial trade.
We brought the initial materials, showed them how to make the bracelets, established quality control standards and
appointed the best person as the quality control inspector, and bought back from them the finished bracelets.
From the money they made, they can now buy additional raw materials, make more bracelets and sell them at the
local market. The success can provide the money to the village to help compensate for
the loss of crop money from the drought.
Agatha Coggins, our bee keeping entrepreneur, taught two villages the art of bee keeping.
This venture will be followed up by our veterinarian who has had bee keeping training and instruction from the
university. We also found out that one of our partners in Burkina Faso has a father-in-law that practices bee
keeping, This provides yet another entrepreneurial opportunity for these remote Burkina Faso villages.
We also taught the villages how to grow vegetables and spices for to feed their families using
minimal water.
By using buckets with holes in the sides, and by staking the buckets like a pyramid. The buckets
on the bottom row have a layer of rocks to let the excess water pass by the roots so the roots do not get water soaked.
All other buckets have two small holes, one on opposite sides near the bottom to let the excess water drain from the
bucket to the bucket below it. Each bucket has a rich mixture of dirt and manure (which is readily available),
and starter vegetable plants, like tomatoes, peppers, etc. The starter plants are positioned in the bucket to grow
out through the 2"-3" holes in the sides of the buckets. Seeds for spices or other vegetables are put on the top
portion of each bucket.
By pouring water into the bucket at the top of the pyramid, the water will most efficiently water
all the plants as the excess water passes through each bucket below it.
We did see the lighting at one village where we had recently sent donations for solar lighting.
The lighting was first installed at a "medical" clinic. The Clinic was actually lit for the first time the Sunday
night before we arrived, and they delivered a baby girl that same night. We were able to see the mother and 4-day
old baby when we arrived.
The good news is always mixed with reality. Because of their culture, many of the girls have
suffered from genital mutilation. Giving birth, then causes more damage to the mother than normal. The mother
of this baby had suffered such mutilation and the pain on her face, even after 4 days, was very apparent.
For the child, the good news is a new birth, the reality is that the child has only a 60% chance of living to the
age of 8.
Change to Burkina Faso comes slowly, yet there is hope because of the children. That is why
Women to the World has partnered with a man, Sidi, who grew up in one of the four villages we are working in, to
start a technical academy. We wanted to give these village children an educational and technical opportunity.
Now, almost 6 years later, the school is now more than 700 students. They are bright, eager to learn, and well
disciplined.
Stan Aldrich taught advanced accounting to a class of 70 advanced students, mostly juniors and
seniors.
A UGA professor taught Entrepreneurship.
A Florida University Senior taught creative performance. Under his direction, the students created,
wrote, directed, and acted in their first ever play. It was based upon the cultural mores of Burkina Faso, and the
hope of the changing some of this cultural "chains". They performed their theatrical play for us at the end of week.
Two agricultural specialist taught the students about agricultural techniques and water conservation.
They even created a sample garden at the academy.
Another business person taught leadership and personal presentation skills. We also had an art teacher show creativity
and entrepreneurship through art.
A post graduate UGA student in Economics taught international economics to the advanced students.
A pre-med student taught basic personal health care to the students. Blood pressure equipment and
stethoscopes, donated to WTW for Burkina Faso will be put to good use, along with a laptop computer and projector.
Become a SUPPORTER
|
