A cutting and sewing course for three young aspiring seamstresses in Burkina Faso

Last year, Sister Philomène Kiendrebeogo of the Apostle Sisters of the Sacred Heart, our contact person for the distance support project in Burkina Faso, asked us for help in creating a small chicken coop to be managed by a group of women. Instead, in 2024 the Valter Baldaccini Foundation will provide support to three young women who want to learn to become seamstresses and do not have the economic possibility to access the training course.

The “Maria Gargani” social center in Nanoro, is where the cutting and sewing course is held. It is a place where the nuns welcome many girls who have not had the opportunity to go to school, girls who have attended but have not able to continue with their studies and women on the run, who arrive from distant villages. It is a place open to all, without discrimination. The primary task of the Center’s organizers is to propose, plan activities and encourage, guide and support the women welcomed.

Since terrorism spread in Burkina Faso, many people have abandoned their villages and numerous schools have closed due to growing insecurity. The Center is an important point of reference for the entire community and in these difficult years it has also become a place of refuge for many displaced girls, where they are hosted and helped to build a better future.

Among the various activities that take place within the Centre, the girls are offered the opportunity to attend a three-year cutting and sewing training course, at the end of which they are given a new sewing machine, a tool essential to start their own business.

The girls who attend the tailoring course are all between 15 and 20 years old. Those who have nothing are also offered room and board, and health care for those who become ill and need help. We try to give a minimum of basic culture to girls who haven't had the chance to go to school. There are literacy courses that teach them to read and write and they also attend courses.

Thanks to our donors, the Valter Baldaccini Foundation will be able to guarantee 3 years of training for three girls. Two will be hosted within the Centre, while one, who lives nearby, will go to the course only to attend lessons. Everyone will be given a sewing machine, which is essential for their future.

Burkina Faso is a very poor country, and this concrete aid action was only possible because every day many people choose to support the Valter Baldaccini Foundation with small and large gestures of solidarity.

If you also want to continue to make all this possible, donate now, you will give a future to those who need it most. Thank you!