Ouagadougou: The Office for the Development of Evangelical Churches (ODE), through the Project for the Prevention and Combating of the Worst Forms of Child Labor (PPITE), offered, Thursday 25 July 2024, in Fada N’Gourma, food and a sum of money to seven families hosting children ‘in precarious mobility and in distress’.
The situation of children ‘in precarious mobility and in distress’ who are placed in foster families concerns the Office for the Development of Evangelical Churches (ODE). To support the charitable action of these families, the evangelical organization, in partnership with the non-governmental organization (NGO) ERKIS, donated to them, Thursday July 25, 2024, in Fada N’Gourma, food and a sum of ‘money. There are, in fact, seven host families from the province of Gourma who each received a 50 kilogram bag of rice, a 5 liter can of oil, soap, a blanket, a kettle, a mat and the sum of 15 thousand CFA francs. This gesture towards officially recognized host families is part of the Project to preve
nt and combat the worst forms of child labor (PPITE), said project manager Prosper Soma. He continued that the ODE thus intends to make its contribution to the nutritional care of children in distress.
Children sometimes received in painful conditions and whose story inspires pity. In this regard, the ‘eldest’ of host families, Adjima Thiombiano, recounted the circumstances in which she received a child for the first time: ‘in 2001 I received a woman who came from a neighboring country. She was pregnant and had decided to voluntarily terminate the pregnancy. I stopped her and welcomed her into my home. When she gave birth, she left and left me the child, a little girl. The latter grew up with me, she got married today and comes to visit us regularly.’
‘A priesthood’
According to Diane Naba, her family received this donation when they needed it most. ‘These supplies will be of great use to us because in the family, we have welcomed 5 children and we can welcome more,’ she said. Furthermore, Diane Naba testi
fied that one of the children who joined her family at 3 years old became a soldier.
For her it is a pride and even a grace to know that he is engaged in the defense of the homeland. If the Naba family was able to take care of him until he joined the army today, it is also thanks to structures concerned with the well-being of children such as the ODE and Action social, recognized Diane Naba. Whatever the support that the host families receive, noted the Provincial Director (DP) in charge of humanitarian action in Gourma, Paul Yara, their ‘priestly’ work must be saluted. ‘We congratulate them and thank them for their big hearts and for the efforts made for the well-being of the children.
We encourage them to continue in this direction,’ he said. Like him, project manager Soma expressed the recognition of the ODE to the host families of children ‘with precarious mobility and in distress’ for their kindness. ‘We thank them for this saving work because it is not given to everyone to receive a child who is not p
art of the family and to take care of them like their own child.
They will be rewarded for what they do,’ he declared. Furthermore Prosper Soma indicated that the evangelical organization is not at its first gesture. Every year, he recalled, it helps host families in the provinces of Gourma and Kouritenga, the PPITE intervention area. Moreover, he announced, the project planned to make a similar gesture in Koupéla, capital of the Kouritenga province.
Source: Burkina Information Agency