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In December 2006, the project of a sewing school was carried out in St. Camillius Parish in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), that has more than 45,000 faithful.
In this village, hundreds of families live under conditions of extreme poverty and survive on the basis of pedlar’s handicraft activities, manual labors, and domestic jobs. The hygienic services are almost inexistent and the access to drinking water is restricted to artisian wells that are not enough to meet the population’s needs.
The roads are still made of dirt and, during the dry season, they spread dust in the air, often causing sore eyes to many people.
Traditionally in Burkina Fasso, mainly in the countryside and the outskirts, parents usually do not provide their daughters with formal education, since after getting married they are no longer considered productive for their original family.
Thus, young girls constitute the weakest link of Burkinabè society: most of them do not receive instruction and are easily exposed to a life of humiliation and exploitation such as prostitution, forced marriage, premature cohabitation, and all kinds of abuse.
The building of the sewing school, directed to young girls, unmarried mothers, and widows from 20 to 35 years old that live in deep poverty, has had the aim of making them acquire the necessary abilities for performing an activity that will allow them to economically support themselves and their families.
Furthermore, a group of sewing teachers has been formed that, in turn, will be able to become educators of other young girls and help them to start a new tailor workshop. This will allow them to support themselves and to have a more decent life.
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