#donaora | Salute e Sviluppo

SNEHAGRAM: THE INDEPENDENT LIFE OF YOUNG HIV-POSITIVE PEOPLE

The project “Towards the future of young people at Snehagram Centre Transition Programme for Independent Living’.thanks to the contribution of the Catholic Church, which earmarks part of the eight per thousand of the total IRPEF revenue for charitable interventions in favour of the Third World. We had already told you about this project that has kept us busy in India since 1 September 2018, aided by the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI) and in collaboration with the Sneha Charitable Trust (SCT) association, to complete the education and training of no less than 70 HIV-positive girls and boys.

In India, HIV status still represents a stigma for society: all those with HIV/AIDS are shunned and placed on the margins of a society that still struggles to accept them. Most HIV-positive young people have often been orphaned by the very disease that afflicts them. In such cases, it is crucial to accommodate them in facilities that give them the possibility of not being alone and of building a decent future for themselves. The programme promoted by the association Sneha Charitable Trust is divided into several pathways, each of which is tailored to a specific age group: from a very young age, children are taken in, living in the community, having access to all necessary medical care and growing up in an educational and stimulating environment.

Snehagram is the last phase of the project and involves accompanying 18-24 year olds towards independent/semi-independent living. In order to achieve the goal, the initiative provides a housing solution for each of the young people and vocational paths suitable for enhancing their skills and entering the world of work.

For this reason, four ‘cluster houses’ were built. In each house lives a group of five or six young people, whose members have been trained to do different jobs according to their abilities, specifically: some are engaged in animal husbandry, others in agriculture, mechanics, plumbing, IT, photography, videography and tailoring. All training courses were chosen by the students according to their own inclinations, helped by a tutor.

After an initial phase in which the young people were able to train and decide for themselves the discipline in which they wanted to specialise, the project started a second phase in which all of them were able to carry out their chosen task in a professional manner and start earning an income.

Four barns were built and 25 cows and two bulls were purchased, as well as two milking machines to facilitate the work. The milk produced was sold to neighbouring dairies and all income went to the project boys.

It was poultry breeding also increased with excellent results: 10 batches of chickens were produced and sold on each of the four farms, the resulting profit went to the young people participating in the project who, already starting to receive an income, can gradually become more and more independent.

In the agricultural area, a total of four greenhouses and a pond were built to collect rainwater, which is used for irrigating the land. To improve this aspect, a reservoir and other facilities for storing open water were also provided, and a well was dug. Hydroponic cultivation was also started, with the purchase of materials for drip irrigation, specific tools, saplings for planting and fertile fertiliser.

Other boys dedicated themselves to making paper bags from old newspapers, which were then sold to neighbouring medicine shops. Each boy came to produce an average of 500 envelopes or 100 paper bags.

Finally, all those trained in mechanical, electronic and hydraulic systems were placed in various production and assembly companies in the area. Their housing also tries to respond as best as possible to the need to be close to the workplace, being located not near greenhouses and farms, but close to industrial areas.

The project has been very successful and now, at the end, the impact it has had on the lives of every single boy in Snehagram is tangible. They have been successfully launched into independent living: each of them has already started earning an income, being able to live in a house that is adequate for their health needs, and also close to their working environment.

The project should have been finished earlier, but the Covid- 19 pandemic slowed down the work. India was hit hard and even the Snehagram centre was not spared, most of its occupants fell ill and planned activities did not continue as planned. At the end of the pandemic emergency there were no further hiccups and the project continued as planned.

We are happy to have been able to help the young people of Snehagram who, in the absence of the centre founded by the Sneha Charitable Trust, would have been forced into a life on the margins of society, with no chance of employment.

HEALTH AND NUTRITION IN BOSSEMPTÉLÉ

“Health and Nutrition for the Vulnerable Population of the Sub-Prefecture of Bossemptélé’ has been a project that we have told you about many times, recounting all the milestones that we have gradually achieved. The project, part of the ‘Emergency Initiative to Support the Vulnerable Population in the Central African Republic’, was funded by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) and started in September 2021.

The interventions were concentrated in Bossemptélé, the town where the John Paul II Hospital – the health hub of the entire region – is located, and in the surrounding 75 km. We are in the Central African Republic, an endemically poor country, where many of the basic services are the preserve of a few, while the majority of the population suffers from precarious and insecure conditions, both health and food. For some years now, moreover, rebel groups have been making the country even more unstable, carrying out violent acts and frightening the already hard-pressed population.

Anche noi di Salute e Sviluppo – nel corso di questo progetto – abbiamo dovuto affrontare questa situazione, che ha rallentato i lavori, rendendoli più difficili e pericolosi. Despite this, we were able to achieve most of the goals we had set ourselves, including the construction of an emergency room for the John Paul II Hospital. Before our intervention, the hospital did not have the possibility to accommodate the most serious patients in a suitable room, now the emergency room has been completed, both in terms of structural construction and equipment. During this year in which construction work proceeded, the hospital was nevertheless able to see more than 9,000 patients, of whom about one third were admitted to receive the right treatment.

Another deficiency we had identified at an early stage concerned the hospital’s ability to guarantee the necessary meals for in-patients: most of those arriving at the facility have a severe state of malnutrition and need to re-establish a proper diet. In the course of this project, we built a kitchen adjacent to the hospital premises, which can offer three meals a day to all patients. Despite the fact that the structural work has only just been completed, a temporary kitchen has been set up since the start of the project, which has managed to provide three full meals a day for more than 1600 patients.

In order to increase the capacity of the John Paul II Hospital to adequately meet the local population’s demand for care, we decided to start a training programme for health personnel. Thanks to this initiative, 38 workers specialised in obstetrics, ophthalmology, laboratory techniques and maintenance of medical equipment were trained.

In order to provide widespread access to care also in the rural areas surrounding Bossemptélé, we rehabilitated, and in some cases built from scratch, the postes de santé located in some villages within the sub-prefecture. Before our arrival, these facilities were unsafe, with severe structural problems and without any furniture or machinery useful for first aid. During the year, we renovated, furnished and equipped the poste de santé of Gbawi (40 km from Bossemptélé), Bodangui, (10 km), and Bombalou (45 km) with sanitary materials, and we built a new poste de santé in the village of Yangoro, 15 km from Bossemptélé. In addition, we have trained more than 30 workers who will ensure an efficient health service by manning these postes de santé. In addition to each of these facilities, a well was also rehabilitated or constructed to provide drinking water, not only to the poste de santé, but also to the entire population of the corresponding village. Thanks to some budget balances, we were able to rehabilitate an additional well in the village of Boyaram. In total, more than 21,000 inhabitants have access to drinking water.

In addition to these villages, there are many others that, not having a poste de santé and being far from Bossemptélé, remain uncovered in terms of health. To solve this problem, we activated and strengthened the mobile clinic service, which – during the course of the project – was able to visit more than 27 villages, providing first aid to the local population. The mobile clinic also started awareness-raising meetings focusing on different health topics, and managed to involve more than a thousand people. In recent months, the climate of instability in the country has worsened: armed rebel groups have targeted large areas, including part of the area where the mobile clinic operates, some of which have been forced to flee. Due to this situation, it was not possible to visit many villages and proceed with all the previously planned activities.

Despite these difficulties, which caused several slowdowns, the project recorded positive results: 14% more of the local population had access to health services, 25% more had access to drinking waterwhile malnutrition dropped from 40 to 38 per cent. The facilities we have built and the activities we have initiated will continue to be a valuable aid for the locals, who will finally have access to adequate health services of a higher standard.

This article was produced within the framework of the project Health and Nutrition for the Vulnerable Population of the Subprefecture of Bossemptélé AID 05/RCA/12049/2021 funded by the Italian Development Cooperation Agency. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the Italian Development Cooperation Agency. The Italian Development Cooperation Agency is not responsible for information that is considered erroneous, incomplete, inadequate, defamatory or in any way reprehensible.

IN BURKINA FASO WITH A GOAL: CULTIVATING VALUE

The New Year has just started and we at Salute e Sviluppo are already on the road! The mission that saw us in Burkina Faso to plan the activities of the new project ‘Cultivating Value: good practices and innovative methods for inclusive and sustainable agro-livestock production’, financed by the Italian Agency for Cooperation and Development (AICS), ended a few days ago.
This new initiative was inaugurated at the beginning of the year and for 36 months we will be committed to strengthening the structures and production activities that we had started in 2017 thanks to the support of the Italian Cooperation – MAECI, within the project ‘Innovative rice production and valorisation of local products for food sovereignty and sustainable rural development in the Bagré area, Burkina Faso’.

We are again in Bagré, a rural area in the central eastern part of Burkina Faso, which – due to its extreme poverty – has been the focus of several of our interventions for many years. In this region, the population, already exhausted by precarious living conditions, must also deal with the fear and violence brought to the country by Islamic terrorism, which aims to make the country’s already fragile balance even more unstable.

Terrorism, which has escalated in recent years, also makes it complex to carry out cooperation projects in large areas of the country, which are considered unsafe. We at Salute e Sviluppo also came up against this sad reality, having to coordinate the project from the capital Ouagadougou, instead of directly from the intervention site. Without allowing ourselves to be discouraged by this, we nevertheless decided to take on this new challenge, which has the sustainable development of the Burkinabe primary sector as its primary objective.
La parola chiave è diversificazione: durante questi 36 mesi, ci proponiamo di rendere la produzione agricola e zootecnica della zona il più varia possibile, garantendo così alla popolazione locale non solo cibo a sufficienza, ma anche una dieta varia e la salvezza dalla malnutrizione.

At the same time, the project will bring other benefits: thanks to the strengthening of existing farms and agrarian supply chains, more jobs will be secured for locals who, by becoming part of this production system, will be able to increase the economic capacity of the community’s families. A real improvement in conditions will hopefully help curb the desire to emigrate, considering the absorption of many locals into the new jobs that will be created.

Strengthening the primary sector is of paramount importance to achieve the project goals as agriculture and animal husbandry are still conducted using traditional methods. An important aspect of the initiative is the promotion of women’s empowerment through the transfer of knowledge to local women who will thus have the opportunity to improve family food production based on horticulture and forest products.

The project appears ambitious in terms of its objectives and at the same time difficult due to the unstable and dangerous condition of the area. Fortunately, there are many partners actively participating in the project, bringing added value: the NGO Santé et Promotion Humaine (SAPHE), which has been collaborating for many years with Health and Development for the agricultural and livestock development of the country, managing the production chains created with the previous project with local personnel; the Department of Agricultural, Food, Environmental and Forestry Sciences and Technologies (DAGRI) of the University of Florence, which specialises in food production and environmental protection and recovery in tropical and sub-tropical countries, thanks to many research and cooperation activities; the NGO AES-CCC, which has been rooted in the Burkinabé territory for many years with programmes to combat malnutrition and food security, with a specific focus on empowering women at both the local and institutional level.

In addition, several local stakeholders are joining the cause by helping us in this new challenge: Bagrépole, the Women’s Associations of the Region and the Government Departments at municipal level in the area, all of which are rooted in the territory with the ability to act in a timely manner in solving any problems.

Despite the endemic difficulties of the area, the Health and Development project is designed to be long-lasting, sustainable and rooted in the territory: the fundamental objective is to bring about a positive change in Burkinabé productive capacity, which will prove to be so at the end of the 36 months, enabling the local population to improve their living conditions in the long term.

We are only at the beginning of this new adventure, an ambitious challenge that we hope to win, thanks to the funding from AICS and the valuable cooperation of partners. We will always keep you updated on the small and big milestones we achieve!

A SCHOOL AND MANY NURSES

Our Project Director, Mariella, and Fr. Felice de Miranda, President of Salute e Sviluppo, went in the Central African Republic for the usual monitoring of ongoing projects in the country.

The area in which we are currently operating is part of the sub-prefecture of Bossemptélé, an area that is particularly poor and lacking in infrastructure. The only health centre in the area is the John Paul II Hospital, which, as we have repeatedly mentioned, was fundamental for the population, especially during the harshest periods of the civil war fought in the country.
On 1 January 2021, the Project to set up a nursing school: vocational training paths for improving health conditions in the Central African Republic, funded by the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI), began.

The aim of this project is to complete, by 2023, a nursing school with the aim of training specialised personnel who can implement the services provided in the hospital. Besides the construction of the school, a fence and a well are also planned. At a later stage, furniture, computers and other materials will be purchased to meet the needs of the students who will undertake this certified and nationally recognised course of study, which will also make use of the synergy with the John Paul II Hospital for field placements.

If at the beginning of the year we showed you photos of the construction of the well and the beginning of the fence, we can now announce that construction work on the building is proceeding at a good pace, while work on the well and the fence has been completed. Thanks to this last mission, it was possible not only to ascertain the progress made, but also to help the local contact persons with the most optimal design of the facility, which is expected to be ready in a few months.

It makes us particularly happy that from the start of the project to date, the feedback from the population towards our initiative has been more than favourable: while in the first year 11 students enrolled, this year 25 students will be selected out of 30 applicants who applied by taking the school’s admission test. All the teachers are university professors from Bangui, who teach the classes to a high standard, at the end of which a diploma is awarded – after a positive assessment by the examination board – which is valid in the entire country.

In addition, the health workers of the postés de santé of the villages in the area will also participate in the lessons next school year, as the Central African government has stipulated that all public health personnel must increase their level of competence. The government authorities have identified our nursing school as the right place for their theoretical and practical training and will take charge of their preparation.

In addition to increasing staff and hospital standards, the project also aims to increase social inclusion and help many young people integrate constructively into society.

Since the beginning of the year, progress has been remarkable, and it is only a short time before the structure is completed. These achievements make us all the more proud, considering the situation in the Central African Republic, which still suffers from a situation of very strong instability that undermines the possibility of improvement and growth. We hope to give you many more happy updates on our activities!

STONE BY STONE THE FUTURE OF GARANGO IS BEING BUILT

At the end of each article we promise to update you on the progress of our activities, we want to respect the word given and we are really happy to be able to give good news. Today, in fact, we will talk about the project, presented a few months ago, of Realization of a kindergarten in the city of Garango in Burkina Faso: funded by the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI), and started last February 1.

Burkina Faso is one of the poorest areas in the world and in particular the region in which Garango is located has many shortcomings, both from the point of view of health and education. We are talking about a territory where schools are often far away and difficult to reach, where traditional culture still plays a central role in family life and where families do not always want to send their children to school.

Pre-school education is almost completely non-existent: children between the ages of 3 and 5 have no facilities that guarantee adequate training and provide a springboard for their subsequent education.

Salute e Sviluppo wants to respond to this need by giving the possibility to about 100 children to live school, sociality and education. If this is the primary objective, the secondary objective is to succeed in changing the widespread mentality, especially among the older generations, still skeptical about the need to have their children studied. Thanks to an awareness programme, we aim to build a much more conscious and attentive community.

The project, as we anticipated, consists in the construction of the school that will host the children: three classrooms, a canteen and a rest room, in addition to the services and rooms of the administration. Subsequently, the school materials will be provided, the training of the operators who will take care of the children and the constitution of the three classes divided by age.

We should wait until February 2023 to see the project completed and the first classes can begin their journey, but already now the progress that has been made is remarkable: we can see from the photos how the structure of the school building was almost completely completed externally, the fence wall already finished and the other environments under construction.

The project is absolutely sustainable and aims to last a long time, remaining rooted in the territory, thanks to the involvement of all the local people: starting from the Camillian community on site, arriving at the operators and school staff, all made up of people belonging to the territory of the diocese of Tenkodogo.

We hope that by the end everything can proceed as planned and that next February the school will be operational and ready to welcome children from 3 to 5 years in the best way. We are proud of all these stones that, one on top of the other, are contributing to the construction of the place of the childhood of many Burkinabé children.

UKRAINE: TOGETHER TO OVERCOME THE EMERGENCY

Four months have passed since Russian troops crossed the Ukrainian border and war broke out. Every day the news of massacres, tragedies and horrors followed one another at a dizzying pace.

Salute e Sviluppo together with the associations CADIS, FONDAZIONE PROSA, MISSION CALCUTTA ONLUS, MADIAN ORIZZONTI and CESMET immediately mobilized to provide help and support to the fleeing Ukrainian population and their Polish neighbors in managing the millions of refugees.

Thanks to your donations we were able to promptly send the funds for the first emergency, starting the project TOGETHER FOR UKRAINE: ASSISTANCE TO MOTHERS AND CHILDREN FLEEING THE WAR.

The local Camillians, since the early stages of the conflict, have made every effort to provide as much help as possible to refugees from Ukraine. Commissioned by the Polish government to manage the first reception, they installed infopoints in the central station of Warsaw where trains arrive and in the west station of Warsaw dedicated to buses. At the moment there are about 7 million people who have fled the war crossing the border, most of them are mothers with small and elderly children. Many have stopped in large urban centres, but they do not have enough space to accommodate them all.

In Lomianki Burakow, about 15 kilometers north of the centre of Warsaw, the Camillians made available their religious residence for the reception of about 30 refugees, providing them with medical, psychological and legal support. While in Ursus, about 13 kilometers to the west, a facility used for the shelter of the homeless was equipped for the reception of refugees, at the time 19.

In both centers there are many activities, designed especially for children: snacks for Mother’s Day, concerts and circus performances for the day of the child. In the structure of Lomianki is also planned the establishment of a kindergarten and the recovery of green areas surrounding the structure.

The project that Salute e Sviluppo, together with all the other associations, has decided to carry out is of the duration of three years and provides for the support of all refugees already present in the two structures and the restructuring of the upper floor of the residence of Lomianki – currently unusable – which inside would have another 9 rooms with the possibility of accommodating another 20 people.

With your donations for the emergency in Ukraine, we will continue to support the many refugees who, with the help of the Polish Camillians, try every day to put together the pieces of a normality that has now disappeared.

In this dark moment, you can turn on a light.

Click here https://www.salutesviluppo.org/dona-ora/choose the method of donation and write in the reason HELP UKRAINE.

We thank MISSION CALCUTTA ONLUS AND CADIS for the images used.

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