News & Stories

By Peggy Drake, RN, serving in Burkina Faso, West Africa

Sporadic rainfall has caused severe drought and skyrocketing food prices this year across the Sahel—the African climactic, geographic zone between the Sahara desert in the north and the Sudanian Savannas in the south.

Unrest in the region, including the recent Malian coup, has exacerbated the crisis; aid agencies warn of severe food shortages affecting up to 15 million people. Alliance people are actively addressing the need, offering training programs in disaster mitigation and distributing food to thousands of Burkinabe families.

The Need is Great

In follow-up to relief operations begun earlier this year in Burkina Faso, ACCEDES, the relief arm of the Alliance in Burkina, initiated a food distribution (supported by CAMA and the C&MA) to 2,000 families in April. “Many children are at high risk of malnutrition, and many families have begun selling their household goods to buy food,” says ACCEDES director Robert Sanou.

April-May Distribution Details:

• The C&MA and CAMA are funding the month-long operation, providing 2,000 families grain (millet) and rice.
• 2,000 gunny sacks of millet are being issued; each weighs 100 kilos.
• A shipping container (40 feet long, the longest we use) of fortified rice is helping to sustain the most vulnerable—children who are malnourished and sick.

ACCEDES Staff Activated

An African proverb goes something like this: “Many young men now prefer to throw down their hoe and pick up a pen.”

Last month, most of the young men (women, too!) who work at ACCEDES did just the opposite. They put down their pens—more accurately, each put down his or her wireless mouse—and headed for the dusty, rural villages in northern Burkina Faso.

These staff members are now supplying 200 tons of millet grain, rice, and medicines to the poorest Alliance families in the north. Some workers stayed behind to care for the sick who arrive daily at the ACCEDES clinic in Bobo-Dioulasso where I work.

Medicines Supplied

Needed medical assistance is also being provided to the villages receiving food. ACCEDES coordinator Robert Sanou visited each village’s health clinic, requesting an RN to help dispense the medications. Every village has reportedly been happy to cooperate with the relief effort.

Pray for those who are suffering because of this crisis and that God will receive all the praise for this outreach. Pray also that those receiving assistance will see the love of Jesus in Alliance people who are meeting their great needs!

Burkina Relief Slideshow