BiSongo, Burkina Faso 2009-2011
Our work in Burkina Faso with Bi-Songo (a non-profit founded in 2000 and situated in Saponé, Burkina Faso), has blossomed into a long-term relationship. Bi-Songo’s mission is to help enhance the children’s physical health, education, culture and to improve women’s financial status.
Consonant with our mission, we have raised money over the last several years to sponsor children to attend the Bi-Songo school in Saponé. This sponsorship entailed paying for their tuition, school supplies, and when needed, a bicycle to cover the long distances between home and school. The numbers were as follows:
- 2009 - 27 children sponsored
- 2010 - 27 children sponsored
- 2011 - 45 children sponsored
Congo 2007
Hands United for Children purchased thousands of dollars worth of medicine from Doctors Without Borders, and contributed it for distribution to World Vision, a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families and their communities. The medicine aided Congo's "Enfants Sorciers" or "Witch Kids" - children who are singled out as scapegoats by families in need of someone to blame for their suffering. As a result they are abandoned, wandering the streets of Kinshasa and other cities, set apart and without much hope of re-integrating into society.
Uganda 2006
As in Congo, war has had devastating impacts on children. In Uganda vicious rebel groups have forced many boys to fight and girls into sexual slavery. As a result, thousands of threatened children leave their homes at night to sleep at bus parks or in hospitals and other buildings to avoid being kidnapped by the rebels. Hands United For Children worked in conjunction with World Vision to provide boxes of clothes and school supplies for distribution by WorldVision to former child soldiers and victims of slavery.
