Rimkieta, a neighborhood with hope

Did you know there is a place where...?

• There is nothing, people live in houses made of adboe and can only eat millet and rice...
• Due to the lack of nutrition, the children's minds cannot develop adequately, they suffer from malnutrition, typhoid fever, malaria, diarrhoea...
• Schooling and health are privileges only available to a small minority...
• Life expectancy does not exceed 54 years…
• Women do not have the same rights as men and struggle daily to keep their families going, with their children tied to her back and with only elementary tools to till the dry soil in the hope of growing some vegetables or cereals that will allow them to survive...
• There is no water infrastructure, don't have access to electricity due to its high cost and there is no sewerage system...
• Periodic flooding causes serious material damage and takes with it houses, schools and streets which makes Rimkieta impassable.
• People have no future motivation because their principal concern is simply to survive the day-to-day...

THAT PLACE EXISTS...

 …it is called Rimkieta and is one of the poorest suburbs of Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso.

Burkina Faso, which in its native language means "the land of upright men", is one of the most disadvantaged countries in the world..

It's a country in Eastern África bordering Malí in the north-west, Níger in the north-east and Costa de Marfil, Ghana, Togo and Benín in the south.

It is ranked 161 out of the 169 countries in the Human Development Index published by the United Nations in 2010. This is some of the significant data on development in Burkina Faso:

• Per capita income estimated at $600.
• Infant mortality rate for children less than 5 years old is 17%
• Child schooling rate for children between 3 and 5 years old: 2,8%
• Adult literacy rate is possibly 29%
• Life expectancy at birth: 54 years

An old French colony, Burkina Faso became independent in 1960. Since 1987 Blaise Compaore is the country's President.

The official language is French, although only a minority of the population speaks it.

Religion: 50% Muslim, 30% traditional African religions and 20% Catholic.

Rimkieta's location in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso