Paper For All Charity: The situation

In brief
Our vision is to grow the seed into a tree to shelter the next generation.

What is the situation for children in Burkina Faso?

Many children in Burkina Faso:

Have to take long walks in the morning to get to the school (some up to 1-2 hours).
Are packed in classes of 30 when they are 60 to 90.
Do not have books as they are too expensive.
Have cracked boards where it is difficult to read the lesson.
Reuse the notebooks from their older brothers/sisters, using margins to write their lessons as they cannot buy new notebooks.
May not always be able to come as some of them sometimes have to work in the fields to help feed the family.

As a result, their education is not conducted in an efficient way. And without this crucial education, not only do they lose their identity and pride, but they are also unable to help the next generations.

What is the country situation?

Burkina Faso is one of the poorest countries in the world (27th) and is one of the most illiterate countries in the world (21.8% literacy rate, 2006 UN Development Program Report, http://www.undp.org/hdr2006/).

The majority of the population cannot read or write.
Resources are scarce with 90% of the population working in agriculture and a weak industrial base.
But it is also a stable country which followed advice from Western International Aid organisation and showed that it could improve its economic situation. Its people are proud and fair, and they value education as a key factor to their dignity.
With our help, Burkina Faso can become more developed. By supporting education, we can enable its development.

For a more complete view of the country's situation, please read our Burkina Faso 2 pages overview.

So what can we do?

We can enable development by focusing on the education of the coming generation

Burkina Faso is the most illiterate country in the world, and it cannot currently deal with this problem as the population does not have the necessary resources to get proper learning conditions. By focusing on education, we can help with the development of this generation, so that it shelters the next one. By focusing on education, we can enable development.

We can improve learning conditions through simple actions which have a tremendous impact

The actions we can have are simple but their impact is huge. Buying the so needed notebooks and books, painting the boards providing chalks to teachers, etc. We not only improve their learning conditions and enable them to learn, but also show them that the developed world is with them on their educational quest. Small things make a big difference.

We can make the children happy as they are very keen and proud to learn and bridge the gap

To them, knowledge is a little bit like an Eldorado where they get out of their daily lives to increase their awareness of the world.

So let us contribute to their happiness by helping them to learn!

Registered address: 4, Stone Gate Court, Beaumont Park, HD4 5HR Huddersfield, UK. Paper for All is also registered in Burkina Faso and France.