9-3-2022:

Now that there is a water pump and a house on the site, they can serve as a base for all kinds of new activities that the children can contribute to.

Together with the children, a large part of the new land around the water pump and the house has been sown with corn. During the holidays, especially the older children spend their day as much as possible on the new site. In the morning after breakfast together we drive towards the corn field by bike where a large part of the day is spent with all kinds of agricultural activities. Now that the rainy season has started, water no longer needs to be pumped, but the weeds grows all the more. So there is enough work left for the children.

It won't stop at corn by the way. We want to plant all kinds of fruit trees around the site in the coming period. The goal is to plant 30 papaya trees, 20 banana trees, 30 orange trees and some other species. In total, we want to place 100 trees around the site in order to transform the area into a real oasis. Plenty to do for the kids in the near future.

1-14-2022:

In January 2018 the center welcomed baby-twins Maoudatou and Rasmata. Two weeks after they were born, their mother died after a short illness. The father and the extended family were unable to bear responsibilities for the two babies at the time. For this reason, the girls were brought to Action Sociale (Child Care) in order to temporarily stay in our center. For almost three years we have been taking care of them.

Recently, the father notified us that he has remarried. Together with his new wife he has expressed the desire to take care of the children. Action Sociale is going to start up the procedure for reunification. This is good news because Stichting Mangoboom is actively pursuing a strategy to reunite children with their families or have them adopted by foster families.

Including Maoudatou and Rasmata, we have been able to reunite ten children with their family of origin this past year. Ten children will experience what it means to grow into independent individuals in a family-context. This makes us very happy. We support these families where needed and possible in the care for these children.

10-29-2021:

Last september school started again here in Burkina Faso. This always is a hectic period at the childcenter. Children have to get used to the new weekly rhythem and some of them even to a new school. At the moment we have three children that attend kindergarten, ten that attend primary school and four of the children go to secondary school. For this last group the journey has become a little longer. They now go to school following the Dutch example, by bicycle. For the carers the start of the new schoolyear means a bit more rest during the day. Not bad at all.

8-28-2021:

At the beginning of this summer, the board of the foundation finally visited the child center again. Due to the corona pandemic, it was difficult to visit Burkina Faso for a long time. In addition, the increasing jihadism in the Sahel region has made it more dangerous to visit the country. It is important for the team in the child center that they regularly have someone visiting them from the Netherlands. And for us as a foundation it is important to closely monitor the progress of the work among the children.

The staff and children were very enthusiastic about the visit. Also for us as board it was nice to see and to talk to the children and the staff again. It was good to see how happy the children are. That they are being cared for and receive good food every day. And that there is personal attention for the children.

It was also surprising to see that the organizational structure of the child center is starting to take shape. In the center the children are divided into groups. The employees work in two teams that alternate in caring for their assigned children. In this way there are few changes of caregivers for the children. The full responsibility of the children rests with the caretakers assigned to each group.

Meals are shared moments. All children and carers come together in the dining room for this. It's endearing to watch the kids enjoy their plate of rice (and delicious sauce)…

Monitoring the physical health of our children is very omportant. To be able to do this every child in the center had it's own medical file. In this file all relevant medical information is being documented. You might think of information like for example medical history and vaccinations that have been given. Also current information about health condition, like for example growth curves and weight of the children are adopted in the medical file.

For this reason, the weight and height of the children are measured once in a while during medical examinations. But of course the general image of the children is also a good indicator of their condition. Every child has permanent carers in the child center who can keep an eye on wheter the child appears well, happy and healthy.

13-5-2021:

In recent newsletters we regularly addressed the learning difficulties of the children. Some have difficulty following the curriculum and the Corona pandemic has only made it worse. As everywhere else, in Burkina Faso, schools have been closed for a long time.

We have been able to reach a new agreement with a number of teachers of the local school to provide tutoring. The most important aim of the tutoring is to help the children to compensate for their learning difficulties. Each week, the children that need it receive four hours of tutoring. We endeavor to continue this tutoring during holidays so that the children will be able to pass their exams and will be able to start the next academic year with the same curriculum as the others.

Up until very recently, these lessons had to take place during daylight because we did not have lighting in the homework classroom of the center. We have found a solution, however, and lighting is now available. We are very grateful for this.