Ruth recently started working in the garden in Gourcy. With her husband and six children, she had fled her home village in the north of the country, a blank spot on the map and an area plagued by vicious jihadist attacks.
Over the past 12 months, 617 terrorist attacks in northern Burkina Faso have claimed the lives of 2,029 people, mostly civilians. Over a million residents of the provinces bordering Maili and Niger have been forced to flee their homes. This makes Burkina Faso the country with the fastest growing refugee population after Syria and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Desperate people migrate south towards the capital, leaving behind the farmland that sustained their families. They take their children but are unable to bring any material possessions with them. As a result, nearly 15 percent of Burkina Faso’s population has been left with nothing to eat.
Add to that the economic collapse caused by the pandemic and crop damages resulting from climate change and the number of people who have lost food security has tripled. Today, 3.2 million people in Burkina Faso are at risk of starvation.
“Criminals terrorized our village every few days. At night, any noise would make us run out of the house and hide in the bushes. To this day, when I hear any noise at night, my heart starts beating like crazy,” the woman recalls.
Ruth’s husband also works in our garden. For both of them, coming to Gourcy and being included in the Good Factory project was the equivalent of winning the lottery. Here they can work, which is the most important thing to them. The sense of security they have here makes up for the fact that they had to leave everything behind and start their lives over.
Ruth’s biggest wishes are safety for her family and an education for her children so that they grow up to be smart and kind individuals.
Join the Good Flowers initiative and help Ruth’s dreams come true. Just visit the GoodWorks24 store and add a bouquet of Good Flowers for 25 PLN. That’s all it takes to make someone’s dreams come true!