Clean Water for Rural Villagers in Burkina Faso

Dear Friends of BARKA,

Thanks to GlobalGiving, BARKA has been given an amazing opportunity to fund its project to empower girls through Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM), a key development issue that often leads to girls ending their schooling.

On March 1st, GlobalGiving launched its Girl Fund campaign which will fund 4 projects for a full year. It's a competition among all 148 entries to get the MOST unique donors. The top 4 are selected. After the first day, BARKA received 15 donations and we are currently in 5th place!

With your continued support, we know we can be among the top 4 winners to receive funding to raise awareness of this taboo subject and provide much needed resources such as a washroom/changing station for girls at school, access to local, traditional sanitary pads and even over-the-counter medication to alleviate symptoms which often keep girls out of school or prevent concentration on their class work. BARKA will also utilize its theatre troupe to create a new play that will powerfully address this issue to reinforce key social messages.

We are working with a host of great partners on this project, including two phenomenal local female high school teachers who have both been trained by UNICEF on this issue, as well as the Mayor's Office, local Dept. of Education and Fada's two largest high schools. We will work with girls, boys, teachers and parents to raise people's consciousness about this issue and will be able to reach thousands of students and girls at risk.

We can't do it without your continued support. For just $10, or the price of two designer coffees at Starbucks, you can add your name to the list of unique donors to support this project and help BARKA secure funding for it for the next year.

The competition runs through March 15th, and on March 8th (International Women's Day) there will be a Bonus Day.

You can make a donation and learn more about the project on our Global Giving project page here.

Links:

• BARKA's newsletter explains why this project is so important.

Dear Friend and Supporter of BARKA Foundation,

BARKA's co-founders recently returned to Burkina Faso and the BARKA team is moving into its new office in Fada N'Gourma (we grew out of the old one)!  There is a great deal of excitement here because a new well was just drilled for the village of Lampiadi where people had been walking 7km to the nearest water source.  There are also several new projects BARKA is developing in the area of WASH (water, sanitation & hygiene) as well as Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change Mitigation through a new theatre sensitization project.

However we can't realize the dreams ahead without your continued support!

Thankfully GlobalGiving makes it easy and right now through December 31, a generous donor will match all new recurring donations by 200%!  That means if you donate $25, Global Giving will add an additional $50 on your first monthly gift. This offer is too good to pass up.

Couple this with BARKA's campaign to increase its "Sustaining Donors" (those giving monthly) by inviting them to join a LIVE conference call with BARKA's co-founders once every 3 months to provide a personal update. This will provide an opportunity to meet team members, understand the true impact of your support, and get a bird's-eye view of BARKA's work on the ground.

So please don't wait. Sign up today to become a Sustaining Donor and get your first month's donation matched by 200%.

We wish you blessings for a happy and healthy new year for you and your family. We look forward to being in touch again in the new year.

Barka,

Ina, Esu and the entire BARKA Team

Links:

• BARKA's newly re-launched website