Our volunteers on a mission in Burkina Faso

Some of our volunteers are currently on a mission in Burkina Faso. Here is the testimony of volunteer Paolo Bocchi, currently in Africa. “We are about halfway through our trip, and everything, or almost everything, is going well. Welcoming us at the airport of Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, was Dada Padmeshananda, who for 18 years has been following and coordinating Amurt’s projects, also in Ghana, Togo and, recently, Congo.
Because of the heat, the first night we decided to sleep outdoors under a tent with a mosquito net; at night, in fact, one has to protect oneself from the female mosquitoes that transmit malaria. We are on prophylaxis, but it is better to be careful. The next day, having set a weekly schedule, we loaded all the material collected in Italy and set off for Bissiri with our pickup. Temperatures here come close to 43 degrees [Celsius], and fortunately the climate is rather dry, but it is still hard to undertake any activity; I think, though, that if the locals live with it for months, we can manage it for a few days.
Arriving in the village of Bissiri moves me. It is the third time I have been back, but every time I feel unique emotions, perhaps because I have seen it grow: the first time there was almost nothing, only misery and despair. Within a few years we created the primary and secondary schools, a fundamental step to ensure a better future for the younger generations, then an agricultural project producing medicinal plants, to guarantee sustainability, then a clinic in an area without health facilities. In a few days we will inaugurate a small pharmacy.
In Bissiri, resignation has long since given way to enthusiasm and to pride in being part of a project that is constantly evolving. There are 335 children, boys and girls, currently in our schools, all of them wonderful, kind and thoughtful as is the Burkinabè nature, but also cheerful and empathetic with us.
The gift we brought them from Italy is a T-shirt, but not just any T-shirt: the one from the 24 Hours of Sport and Solidarity, an event that we have been organizing for years with the Amici del Po and that has allowed us over time to fund the growth of Bissiri itself. We go into all the classes, talk with the teachers, and do yoga together with the kids, a fundamental subject that, besides bringing wellbeing, also increases concentration and awareness. And then the most pleasant part: we play with the children. It had been years since I had kicked a ball. Maurizio is an ideal travel companion, calm, silently overcoming any adversity that comes his way, and of course he puts his professionalism as a seasoned photographer at the service of our mission. A dinner of tô, a kind of polenta with a sauce of vegetables and mango, barley water to drink, and off to bed, on a mattress laid on the floor, tired and satisfied, to sleep and recharge our batteries for the next day.”