Funding applications, new purchases and a weekend away!

We’ve had a very productive week at Djigui this week as the realisation that we don’t have much longer left at Djigui has forced us to start finishing things off. We have finished a funding application and budget for the Open Society Initiative for West Africa asking for funds with which to buy an entire year’s worth of cereal stock. Cereal prices fluctuate throughout the year in Burkina Faso, meaning that it becomes too expensive to buy as much cereal as Djigui could transform and sell on, generating more profit for the association. During Ramadan, the demand for Djigui’s products increases dramatically but currently there are not sufficient funds for Djigui to be able to buy enough cereal to meet this demand. If Djigui were to receive this grant it would be a massive help in terms of cereal production!

As well as this, Sophie has finished writing an article, in both French and English, which will hopefully be printed in a local newspaper to raise awareness of Djigui’s work. It is important for Djigui to be well known in the community as part of Djigui’s work is to raise awareness of people living with disabilities in Burkina Faso.

On Tuesday, William and Kerri went out with Djigui’s driver, Eloire, to visit some more local restaurants. They went back to visit the vegetarian restaurant, la Pampa, where the owner had placed an order for tokan the previous week. She really liked Djigui’s tokan, so much so that she bought another 3 packets to use in her meals!

There have been a few exciting new purchases made with some generous donations this week. Firstly, Frederick Gough School from North Lincolnshire donated enough money for Djigui to buy a new motorcycle which will be used for making deliveries. Secondly, Katie Griffith, the sister of previous Djigui volunteer Ailsa Griffith, raised £40 with which we bought a new, very powerful, cooker for the kiosk – the kiosk chef, Lucie, is especially happy!

Madame Toé with our brand new cooker!

Djigui's new delivery moto.

Our week ended with us making the most of the public holiday by taking a long weekend trip down to Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina’s second biggest city. A 6 hour coach journey from Ouagadougou, it almost felt as though we were in a different country as it was just so much greener than it is in Ouaga. We did some sightseeing around the old town and visited la Grande Mosquée with a local guide, Ibrahim, who was full of fascinating facts. One such fact was that on top of the main minaret of the mosque, there is an ostrich egg balanced to protect the mosque from being hit by lightening!

La Grande Mosquée.

Our stay was over all too quickly though and it was back to the hustle and bustle of Ouaga for our penultimate week at Djigui.