News
By order of the President ...
By order of the President, Ouagadougou is to become a clean and hygienic city at last. People have been given short notice to dig out and clean the drainage ditches in front of their property. Many applications had already been made to the Mayor, but nothing happened.
Now the President has cracked down.
It was only to be expected that the work would not be completed without injury, because after months of hot weather, rubbish had congealed into hard lumps. It was a case of hard physical labour, seeing that AMPO’s property has very long walls facing the road.
Everyone joined in and banded together.
The start of the AMPO holidays - Katrin reports
With a smile and tear … all the children are off to their original families, grandparents, uncles, older sisters, etc. until the beginning of September.
They are looking forward to it, but at the same time some of them will not have enough to eat. For the poorest families of course we send along a sack of rice. But still some children return to AMPO looking very thin. At least then they can get back to their routine of three meals a day.
The yard is empty and we start working on necessary repairs but we still miss the children terribly!
The start of a new chapter in life
On the 19th of July 19 young people said goodbye to the orphanages and the MIA/ALMA refuge. They are now on the threshold of a completely new chapter in life and they are ready to go.
AMPO will continue to support them for another two years to assist them in the transition.
9 young men from the Orphanage for Boys, 5 young women from the Orphanage for Girls and another 5 from the MIA/ALMA Women’s Refuge took part in the lovely farewell ceremony not without emotion.
Many of them have completed secondary school, have passed their final certificate exams or have undergone vocational training.
The best ones received a Burkina Faso state bursary to enable them to buy school supplies.
We wish them all the very best for the future!
Weaving – a new training opportunity
Thanks to a cooperative initiative of WEBEREI HAMBURG & Flying8 GbR weaving mill and the Wunschträume / Netzwerk für Mädchen- & Frauenprojekte e.V. association, some of the young women from the MIA/ALMA refuge can now learn to weave.
However before they start, the looms have to be erected and installed. John Baller, who works at the weaving mill, flew to Burkina Faso to help set up the looms on site. You can see from the photos how painstaking the job is, but they all seem to be enjoying it.
Such incredible hard work like this is appreciated all the more when the finished products finally appear in the form of rugs, blankets, table runners and more.
Charity gala for the treatment of children with severe burns
Charity gala in Ouagadougou! Katrin Rohde and Abou Ouattara (an international soccer player from Burkina Faso and former AMPO child) participated in a charity gala dinner organized by the Edmond Tapsoba Foundation to support the pediatrics department of the Charles de Gaulle Hospital in treating children with severe burns.
The event was attended by numerous professional soccer players from Burkina Faso and other countries, including André Onana from Cameroon. Jerseys were auctioned and donations were collected for the charity.
Read more … Charity gala for the treatment of children with severe burns
Professional German Bundesliga soccer player visits AMPO!
Edmond Tapsoba, professional soccer player for Bayer 04 Leverkusen, a native Burkinabé, drummed up a few friends and came to visit AMPO. They played against the boys from the orphanage! How exciting was that to play against such a star?
The boys of course were strongly supported by all the others and the noise was deafening.
It ended in a 5:4 win for the Edmond Tapsoba team – no mean feat. Well done boys!
After the match he went to visit the orphanages and talked to the directors of the various facilities.
What a wonderful day for everyone involved. Here in Europe we can’t stop looking at the photos.
Our thanks go to Edmond Tapsoba for this amazing visit.
Read more … Professional German Bundesliga soccer player visits AMPO!
Happy birthday!
Every year Katrin tries to be back in Ouagadougou with “her” children for her birthday. And this year too she managed to be there. The day before her 77th birthday she landed on time.
Looking at these photos it is easy to understand why she always wants to celebrate there. She was welcomed yesterday with flowers, dancing and singing.
Finally sweets are handed round to everyone.
Congratulations, Katrin. Stay healthy and full of energy as always!
Do too many cooks spoil the broth?
No, certainly not!
These four wonderful ladies prepare top-quality dishes every day for the 111 orphan children we now look after.
On the menu for example is rice (with or without sauce), beans, spaghetti, Tô (made from cornmeal) and Babinda (a typical Burkina speciality).
There are lots of advantages in cooking together and enjoying regular meals:
eating healthy food, reducing stress levels, strengthening team spirit, increasing concentration and learning to share.
And the wonderful faces of these four cooks give a whole new meaning to a happy meal.
Bravo to the ladies who give and receive so much love from our children.
Rehab Unit: What sort of patients do we admit?
The objective is to support mothers and children in need of medical care or physiotherapy who cannot afford to pay for a lengthy stay in hospital or for follow-up treatment.
In the AMPO Rehab Unit they can wait for a scheduled operation or receive post-operative care until they are able to return home.
Here are only some of the cases to illustrate the absolute need for such care.
Our unit is known throughout the city for professional treatment with the highest standard of hygiene, so more and more hospitals refer these truly touching cases to AMPO
If you would like to support the Rehab Unit, you can donate here
Another success story …
Children grow up! R. (a former AMPO boy) was not what you might call an easy child. But now he has found his way in life. He has just graduated from Minnesota State University and is now a fully fledged, qualified engineer in construction and mechanical engineering.
Congratulations! We’re crossing our fingers for him in the US – quite a challenge for a Burkinabé.
Here’s to a new chapter in life!
This is the beginning of a new chapter in life for 56 young people. Dénis Yameogo, the Director General of AMPO, was proud to host the ceremony at TondTenga Agricultural College. Among the dignitaries also present were the elders of the villages who had given permission for the young people to start their training.
And once again we are pleased to see that there are also female students taking part in the training course.
They will learn about livestock farming and organic crop production and return to their villages with their newly acquired knowledge after two years.
We’ll keep our fingers crossed!
Education – something AMPO can provide
Today we’d like you to meet Rachelle. She was born on the 27th of June 2007 into a totally regular family in Ouahigouya, in the north of Burkina Faso. She had siblings, her father was a teacher and had a nice childhood.
But then her father got ill. As we know, medical treatment in Burkina Faso is expensive and the family soon could no longer afford to pay the medical bills. The mother tried everything to earn enough to pay for medication and continue to support her family at the same time.
It was the beginning of a downward spiral. The father died. His family refused to take in the mother and her children since the marriage had not been concluded according to local tradition at the time.
An aunt stepped in to help in the meantime, but she too was in a precarious financial situation.
Rachelle’s mother appealed to AMPO and she was admitted to the Girls‘ Orphanage at the age of 13. At the time she was in the eighth grade at secondary school. AMPO paid for her school fees to enable her to continue her education.
Rachelle is incredibly hard-working and eager to learn. In May 2022 she passed her intermediate certificate and is studying hard for her final school exams this year, special subject, literature.
Our best wishes for success go to Rachelle and we congratulate her on her progress.!
Would you like to sponsor a child on its path of achievement?
