In this quarterly report, we want to show you the impact our initiative with Wyoming Seminary School had on the middle and high schools of Namoungou in Burkina Faso.
Results:
We are already in discussion with SEM and the Namoungou schools to determine what we can do together this coming school year. We'll keep you posted.
In separate but related water news, we met with our rotarian partner, Crystal Rotary Club in Ouagadougou to discuss the 20-well project we are currently raising funds for. The project is now officially listed on the Rotary Foundation website and the needs assessment and indicators for success and sustainability are complete!
Thank you for your support of our work in the water, sanitation and hygiene sector.
We can't do this without you!
Barka!
Greetings and happy Spring!
On March 22nd, World Water Day, BARKA Foundation began a 5-week educational reciprocity program with Wyoming Seminary (Sem), a private college prep school in PA which culminated last month on Earth Day.
Students and faculty were incredibly moved by the dire situation of the Namougou High School and Middle School which has been displaced to Fada (45 km from Namoungou). Over 400 students were living in extreme poverty, biking or walking over 5 miles to school, with little water and food, and living without any parental supervision (their parents are still in Namoungou while students have moved to Fada to continue their education).
BARKA created two short films to expose the situation (see links below).
Wyoming Seminary decided to take action to first secure the water fees for all students which are about $2/month for each student. For 400 students, their goal was to raise $2400 for the 3 months of school that remained. Many Namoungou students had no funds at all to pay for their water at the local pump.
Many students were also going hungry. They had no means to cook for themselves and the school had no canteen which means students had to return home several miles away (some were walking) and light a fire, fetch water and cook a meal- if they could. Sem's second goal was to fund a school canteen to feed every sudent and enable to stay at school during the break between 12 and 3 rather than traveling so far to home only to return for the afternoon session from 3 to 5pm.
Their 3rd goal was to raise funds for bikes for the many students who had no bikes to travel to school and had to walk several miles four times a day.
Sem's virtual Walk for Water ended up raising over $6000 which enabled them to reach all their goals. This week BARKA is leading a ceremony at Namoungou's School to deliver 31 bikes. A canteen lunch program started last month and all students' water fees have been paid from March through end of May when school ends.
This has been one of the most successful educational programs BARKA has ever done. In addition to the funds raised, the impact, and the raised awareness within the community, over 100 students from each school created a penpal relationship with each other, our films were screened and discussed, and academic enagement was made with the Environment Club, French classes, and the entire Lower School. The program was such a success that it has inspired us to replicate it in other schools, something we will be exploring this summer with an intern who works at Sem.
As so often happens, a simple water project leads to a robust series of actions on numerous levels with expanded impact. Thank you for being a part of it.
Just like every drop leads to the ability to fill an entire bucket, so too does every dollar count and contribute to our overall goal. Thank you for your consideration. Barka!
Links:
Dear Clean Water Supporter,
Greetings and happy new year! Special thanks to all who contributed to BARKA's year end, Giving Tuesday, and recurring donor campaigns. We would not have the impact we have for thousands of people in Burkina Faso without you!
2021 is going to be an exciting year for BARKA Foundation. Right now, we are raising funds with local rotary clubs around the US to reach a goal of almost $300,000. This will enable us to drill 20 wells in the eastern region, which is being extremely affected by the world's fastest growing jihadist insurgency. Threats and acts of terrorism have forced more than 1M people to flee their homes resulting in one of the world's largest humanitarian crises of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
The people who are being displaced are overcrowding the city of Fada and putting even more pressure on a water infrastructure that was already inadequate even in the best of times. Therefore, BARKA will focus on increasing water access primarily in the city of Fada N'Gourma, where the terrorist threat is also much lower than in rural regions.
Fundraising will take some time. We hope to have all funds secured and begin implementation before the end of this year. We will keep you up to date. Meanwhile, we welcome your financial support of this important project which will directly benefit over 20,000 people.
Just like every drop leads to the ability to fill an entire bucket, so too does every dollar count and contribute to our overall goal. Thank you for your consideration. Barka!
Dear Supporters of BARKA Foundation,
Since we were last in touch, BARKA's staff on the ground has been working diligently to help our 9 rural village partners to combat the novel coronavirus. We've done this in a series of innovative methods including:
You can read BARKA's press release about these actions and local news coverage in the links below.
Although BARKA was compelled to address the immediate concerns of COVID-19, we want you to know that we are currently developing and fundraising for the largest well-drilling project in our organization's history. This project is partnered with rotary clubs and The Rotary Foundation and will drill 20 wells in the areas of greatest need within the eastern region. With your help, BARKA will increase access to clean drinking water to more than 20,000 people.
GlobalGiving is offering a wonderful way to help support this new project today through Friday in its LittlexLittle campaign. Right now, and until midnight on Friday, 9/18, GlobalGiving will make a 50% match for ALL donations up to $50. You give $50, and GlovalGiving will put in $25.
Every drop of water is precious, and every donation helps us to reach our ambitious goals.
Thank you for being part of the BARKA family that is having such an outsized impact in Burkina Faso. Together, we are changing the world.
Links:
Dear Friend,
With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Burkina Faso is experiencing a perfect storm.
Burkina was having a full blown humanitarian crisis even before the start of COVID-19, which it is exceptionally ill-equipped to handle. Almost 1 million people are already internally displaced due to insecurity and being forced to leave their homes, more than 2000 schools and more than 300 health clinics were forced to close by terrorists, much of the nation was already in a state of emergency and under curfew. Well, the rest of the world quickly caught up as we now all face eerily similar conditions.
The lockdown and economic collapse caused by COVID19 hit nonprofits very hard. We'd like to thank all those who have been thinking of BARKA and the Burkinabe we serve and made donations in recent weeks. It touches our hearts. In honor of this unprecedented crisis, the NGO community quickly reacted to take the unprecedented step of creating a Giving Tuesday in May to remind everyone that the organizations doing life saving work around the world also need support.
It's difficult to ask you to support our work at a time like this. We understand too well that everyone has been adversely financially affected, that you may be experiencing grief at the loss of a loved one... this is not a time when BARKA Foundation would normally ask for financial support. We almost did not participate Giving Tuesday on May 5th. However we realized that reaching out now presents an important opportunity to inform you of what's happening on the ground in Burkina right now. It also offers a way for you to be more involved, to be a partner in this work, to share in its successes and to help ensure its continuity.
Right now, BARKA is doing all it can to ensure the health and safety of thousands of people. We have shifted our focus to combat the coronavirus by delivering hand washing sensitization and liquid soap to 3000 people, while supporting a local women's organization which produced the soap. If we raise more funds, we can reach more people. 100% of funds raised today will go toward this action.
Even though Giving Tuesday has passed, please consider making a donation today to help some of the most vulnerable people on the planet. BARKA serves as a conduit between you and the people of Burkina. In that spirit of reciprocity, we want to thank you for your financial support which makes our ability to support Burkinabè possible. We can't thank you enough. All we can do is say the biggest thank you we know how to say... barka.
Links:
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