News
Professional German Bundesliga soccer player visits AMPO!
Edmond Tapsoba, professional soccer player for Bayer 04 Leverkusen, a native Burkinabé, drummed up a few friends and came to visit AMPO. They played against the boys from the orphanage! How exciting was that to play against such a star?
The boys of course were strongly supported by all the others and the noise was deafening.
It ended in a 5:4 win for the Edmond Tapsoba team – no mean feat. Well done boys!
After the match he went to visit the orphanages and talked to the directors of the various facilities.
What a wonderful day for everyone involved. Here in Europe we can’t stop looking at the photos.
Our thanks go to Edmond Tapsoba for this amazing visit.
Read more … Professional German Bundesliga soccer player visits AMPO!
Happy birthday!
Every year Katrin tries to be back in Ouagadougou with “her” children for her birthday. And this year too she managed to be there. The day before her 77th birthday she landed on time.
Looking at these photos it is easy to understand why she always wants to celebrate there. She was welcomed yesterday with flowers, dancing and singing.
Finally sweets are handed round to everyone.
Congratulations, Katrin. Stay healthy and full of energy as always!
Do too many cooks spoil the broth?
No, certainly not!
These four wonderful ladies prepare top-quality dishes every day for the 111 orphan children we now look after.
On the menu for example is rice (with or without sauce), beans, spaghetti, Tô (made from cornmeal) and Babinda (a typical Burkina speciality).
There are lots of advantages in cooking together and enjoying regular meals:
eating healthy food, reducing stress levels, strengthening team spirit, increasing concentration and learning to share.
And the wonderful faces of these four cooks give a whole new meaning to a happy meal.
Bravo to the ladies who give and receive so much love from our children.
Rehab Unit: What sort of patients do we admit?
The objective is to support mothers and children in need of medical care or physiotherapy who cannot afford to pay for a lengthy stay in hospital or for follow-up treatment.
In the AMPO Rehab Unit they can wait for a scheduled operation or receive post-operative care until they are able to return home.
Here are only some of the cases to illustrate the absolute need for such care.
Our unit is known throughout the city for professional treatment with the highest standard of hygiene, so more and more hospitals refer these truly touching cases to AMPO
If you would like to support the Rehab Unit, you can donate here
Another success story …
Children grow up! R. (a former AMPO boy) was not what you might call an easy child. But now he has found his way in life. He has just graduated from Minnesota State University and is now a fully fledged, qualified engineer in construction and mechanical engineering.
Congratulations! We’re crossing our fingers for him in the US – quite a challenge for a Burkinabé.
Here’s to a new chapter in life!
This is the beginning of a new chapter in life for 56 young people. Dénis Yameogo, the Director General of AMPO, was proud to host the ceremony at TondTenga Agricultural College. Among the dignitaries also present were the elders of the villages who had given permission for the young people to start their training.
And once again we are pleased to see that there are also female students taking part in the training course.
They will learn about livestock farming and organic crop production and return to their villages with their newly acquired knowledge after two years.
We’ll keep our fingers crossed!
Education – something AMPO can provide
Today we’d like you to meet Rachelle. She was born on the 27th of June 2007 into a totally regular family in Ouahigouya, in the north of Burkina Faso. She had siblings, her father was a teacher and had a nice childhood.
But then her father got ill. As we know, medical treatment in Burkina Faso is expensive and the family soon could no longer afford to pay the medical bills. The mother tried everything to earn enough to pay for medication and continue to support her family at the same time.
It was the beginning of a downward spiral. The father died. His family refused to take in the mother and her children since the marriage had not been concluded according to local tradition at the time.
An aunt stepped in to help in the meantime, but she too was in a precarious financial situation.
Rachelle’s mother appealed to AMPO and she was admitted to the Girls‘ Orphanage at the age of 13. At the time she was in the eighth grade at secondary school. AMPO paid for her school fees to enable her to continue her education.
Rachelle is incredibly hard-working and eager to learn. In May 2022 she passed her intermediate certificate and is studying hard for her final school exams this year, special subject, literature.
Our best wishes for success go to Rachelle and we congratulate her on her progress.!
Would you like to sponsor a child on its path of achievement?
Training in the hospitality sector - Can dreams come true?
Katrin has come up with a great idea:
These three young women would love to start training in the hotel business here in Germany and Katrin spontaneously invited them for coffee to a luxury hotel newly opened in Ouagadougou.
What is a modern reception area, what is it like to step into an elevator, what does the huge lobby look like, etc.? You can see the gleam and the hope in their eyes.
We are doing all we can to make their dreams come true.
Read more … Training in the hospitality sector - Can dreams come true?
We bid farewell
Last weekend we received the sad news that Madame Christine Adamou, who for many years had been Director of the Girls‘ Orphanage, passed away unexpectedly.
She was a remarkable woman who truly understood the needs of the girls in her charge.
Our thoughts are with her family.
May God bless her.
Tradition in Burkina – building a crib
Christmas is on the doorstep and in Burkina Faso the tradition is to build a crib in front of your house. No, they are not simply made of wood – they are built with love using bricks and cement.
Once dry, they are painted in bright colours. We have just received these photos and video clips from AMPO. It is always a big event for all the kids. Everyone lends a hand ... or just stands to watch.
For and against – unpacking donations from the container
We would like to show you some examples of the things AMPO has received as donations. There were hundreds of boxes packed with love with hand-knitted blankets, matinee jackets for children, toys and even handcream to soothe the hands of the hard-working cooks.
Not to mention, medical supplies, glasses, orthoses, wheelchairs, etc.
Read more … For and against – unpacking donations from the container
The container has arrived!
Dear donors,
For those among you who have donated in kind, your donations have arrived. Everyone involved is on tenterhooks, wondering if it will all go according to plan, Loading in Hamburg was delayed by several days, no one knows how long the container has to wait in the port of arrival, Lomé, and if it will survive the last leg of the journey by rail to Ouagadougou. And then we don’t know how long it will take to clear customs.
It is here at last! Everything is unloaded and sorted by hand. But please bear with us, dear donors, you will of course receive photos from us as soon as possible.
Katrin cannot hide her delight at having toilet rolls from Germany. Such things are mere trifles for us, but here they are the height of luxury.
However, the day was also tinged with a moment of sadness. You may have read in the newspapers that the German military unit is being withdrawn. These men have been supporting AMPO over the years and they were always received as welcome guests.
That same day they brought along 4 generators which AMPO was able to purchase at a bargain price. Our facilities, especially the Clinic, are now able to cope with the frequent power cuts.
Our thanks go to all of you!
