Burkina Faso
Our lives are filled with choices. What will I eat for lunch? What should I wear to work or school? Do I have time to share a cup of coffee with a friend? Can I really afford to buy those shoes with the economy the way it is?
Few Options for Burkina Women
For many young women in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, the choices are much more challenging: should I buy food to eat or medicine to treat my malaria? Should I beg on the street corner today or sell my body for $1?
This may seem melodramatic, but it is a reality that many young girls face each day in Burkina. Just 21 percent of Burkina Faso’s women are literate—many girls and young women are abandoned by their families and left to fend for themselves. With little education, their options are few.
Seeing this great need to rescue a generation of girls, the Alliance Women in Burkina Faso had a vision to do just that. In the fall of 2006, Gnagali Traoré, the President of the Alliance Women, Burkina Faso and Amy Nehlsen, wife of the Director of the C&MA Mission in Burkina, toured for three weeks in the United States, sharing their dream and vision to establish a home where young women with little hope for the future could receive both Christian and vocational training.
Out of that vision and with generous donations from the C&MA Church in America, the dream is about to become a reality. In November of 2008, the Dorcas House will welcome 15 girls, ages 15 – 25. These girls will live at Dorcas, receive a Biblical training, literacy training and a vocational training. Some of the things that they will be learning to do: sewing, soap making, knitting and crocheting, animal husbandry, gardening. hair styling, etc.
Amy Nehlsen tells the story of two of the girls who will be among the first group of girls at Dorcas House:
“Elizabeti” is one of those girls. At age 18, Elizabeti is already completely on her own. She was raised by her single mom who later married. After the death of her step-father, her mom also became very ill. In 2005 her mom died leaving her with her little brother. Elizabeti lived in a village and did not attend school like many in Burkina Faso.
I first met Elizabeti in Cote d’Ivoire when her mother, then attending our Alliance church there, became my language helper. As a single mom, she was happy for the job and came regularly with Elizabeti, who became my daughter’s playmate when they were both 2.
Since 2005 Elizabeti has worked as a servant girl for an African family. She has not attended school and has been trapped in a very bad situation, not knowing how to get out of it.
This past summer Elizabeti came back into my life and I was so excited about the possibility of Dorcas House. I began to imagine her in a place where she could receive spiritual formation, memorize the Word of God, sing and pray with other girls. I could picture her learning to sew, make soap, and do gardening as well as other activities like volleyball and cooking, which are part of the curriculum.
Dorcas House
How can you pray for the Dorcas House Ministry?
- Pray for unity among the 15 girls who are coming from varied backgrounds and will undoubtedly be carrying “baggage” with them as they arrive.
- Pray for good health for the girls and for the staff. Pray for Matthew and Mariam Zerbo, our caretaker-teacher couple. Pray for Sara Traore, a widow who loves God and is talented in sewing and soap making and other skills, who is our life-skills teacher.
- Pray for Gnagali Traoré, the director of Dorcas House and also the Alliance Women President of Burkina Faso. Pray for the needed funds for this opening year.
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This page was last updated: August 23, 2009
