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Bunches in Burkina Faso (2007)

Burkina Faso is a land-locked country in West Africa, about 1,000 miles away from the nearest coast and on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert. Historically, being land-locked was regarded as a disadvantaged position. It cuts the country off from sea resources such as fishing, but more importantly cuts off access to seaborne trade which, even today, makes up a large percentage of international trade. For Burkina Faso it is no different and as a result it is always on the list of the world's 10 poorest countries.

Our partner, the DCI Trust, have been working in Burkina Faso since 1984 and Philippe and Josephine Ouedraogo (pictured) are the DCI representatives out there. They lead a fast growing church base and open several new churches each year. These churches provide primary and secondary government approved education for 3,000 poor children every day in 70 centres in the drought affected northern region. Basic health care, leadership training, fresh water and small employment opportunities are also created where possible. Without such centres, most of these children would not receive a basic education. Many of them are from Muslim or tribal backgrounds and by visiting these centres, the education and care that they are provided will help to create a future of national unity and respect in Burkina Faso.

The numbers of children that the DCI leaders have had the opportunity to help is far more than they ever envisaged when they first began opening these centres. To help this work develop and continue, Bunches have provided two cars and one 4 wheel drive vehicle along with £1,000.

Prior to Bunches providing the Suzuki 4 wheel drive, Philippe and Josephine's only 4 x 4 transport was a 33 year old Land Rover, other than that they used various old cars that had been discarded in Europe and shipped to Africa for sale on the dockside, 1000 miles away from where they live. The Suzuki enables them to visit their centres and projects in all-weather safety across the desert terrain and bush of the Sahel

Josephine presenting to a class at one of the local church bases	Philippe and Josephine Ouedraogo
Philippe with the new Suzuki 4 wheel drive

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