Giving hope to millions of youth around the globe
Giving hope to millions of youth around the globe
Burkina Faso is one of the poorest countries in the world, ranking 185 out of 188 countries on the United Nations Human Development Index 2016. According to the World Bank, more than 46 percent of the country’s population lives in poverty on less than $1.25 per day. Burkina Faso has suffered from several serious droughts that have driven up food prices affecting the country’s food supply and causing malnutrition among the poorest residents and children. Up until the 1980s, the country also dealt with devastating military coups.
Salesian missionaries have been working in Burkina Faso since March 1993 when they began work in Bobo-Dioulasso, the second largest city in the country. They settled in a neighborhood known as Ouezzin which is an expanding area of the city with nearby areas crossed by several rivers. Salesian missionaries provide education and social development services designed to create a sense of family among the most vulnerable children and those most at risk of social exclusion.
Bobo-Dioulasso is the reference point for many surrounding villages where children, youth and adults head to in search of better living conditions. The area also has many children who have been abandoned by their family or sent into the city alone in the hope of a better future. As a result, there is a high population of children living in the streets. Most come from rural areas where they have left school or have not even had a chance to start.
With no education or means to take care of themselves, many youth who end up living on the streets turn to drugs or stealing, or are involved in prostitution or begging. The situation of girls is particularly severe because many end up as domestic slaves, subjected to exploitation and abuse, and deprived of all their rights.
Salesian missionaries living and working in the area have created programs that address the child welfare needs of youth living on the streets. A Salesian home accommodates 30 children, who are offered education, a place to sleep, food and medical care. And, if possible, they are assisted in reuniting with their families.
Salesian organizations in Spain have joined together to help create a Salesian-run Women’s Promotion Center in Kouba, an area within Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. The center is operated by the Salesian Daughters of Mary Help of Christians as part of a vast socio-educational project. Work started in December 2017 and was completed within 10 months.
This is the second construction phase of the large socio-educational, cultural and sporting complex for children and older youth, especially girls, that the Salesian sisters have planned for the next five to 10 years. The complete project will include a nursery school, primary and secondary schools, a shelter for girls with limited resources, and an oratory open to the neighborhood that includes sports facilities and educational workshops of various kinds. The new Women’s Center will offer apprenticeships and foster literacy
The Don Bosco Center in Bobo Dioulasso has clean drinking water powered by solar electricity thanks to funding from Salesian Missions “Clean Water Initiative.” The “Sun Helps Us Succeed” project is providing drinking water using a solar pump. There had been a borehole dug and water tower ready, but the pump was required to complete the project. Photovoltaic installations are very appropriate in the area because it is sunny the whole year.
Opened in October 1993, the Don Bosco Center includes a technical school with 306 students, the home which has 25 young people between the ages of 15 and 24, and the youth center frequented by close to 600 youth each week. The Don Bosco Center is open in the evening as a place for youth to gather and study. The center uses 30 solar energy lamps because there are so many local power outages and electric bills are very high. Using solar energy is a huge cost savings for the center.
Salesian missionaries working within Ouagadougou and surrounding communities received funding from Salesian Missions donors to purchase a new off-road vehicle. Salesian missionaries in this remote land-locked country in West Africa serve a population from many communities. Some outlying villages are a great distance away and most roads are unpaved making it hard to provide supplies and pastoral activities. An off-road vehicle enables Salesian missionaries to safely transport youth to schools and facilities throughout the province.
From Burkina Faso
From Burkina Faso
Report released by UN Women and United Nations Department on Economic and Social Affairs. NEW ROCHELLE, NY (Oct. 12, 2023) More than 340 million women and girls will live in extreme poverty by 2030 and close to one in four will ex
Programs developed specifically for young women and girls. NEW ROCHELLE, NY (March 8, 2023) Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco, joins humanitarian organizations and countries around the globe
The Salesian Missions ‘Clean Water Initiative’ ensures youth around the globe have access to clean, safe water. NEW ROCHELLE, NY (March 22, 2021) Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco, joins
The “Sun Helps Us Succeed” solar water project ensures students and their families have access to clean drinking water. NEW ROCHELLE, NY (Aug. 26, 2020) The Don Bosco Center in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso, has
Salesian Missions includes agriculture in its vocational training programs – to ensure that youth of Rwanda learn better agricultural practices as well as keep the school self-sustaining in the face of the country’s food shortages.
Salesian Missions includes agriculture in its vocational training programs – to ensure that youth of Rwanda learn better agricultural practices as well as keep the school self-sustaining in the face of the country’s food shortages.
Salesian Missions includes agriculture in its vocational training programs – to ensure that youth of Rwanda learn better agricultural practices as well as keep the school self-sustaining in the face of the country’s food shortages.