Several years ago Aid to Burkina were asked to initiate the Dorcas Street Boys project. We bought some land, built a workshop and pump primed the start of Dorcas Boys. Now we want to start another new project: A motorcycle repair workshop.
"Street Boys" is a name given to boys who grow up in large, extended families in the city. They may have been added to existing families when their parents died. They simply become an additional burden on a family who may already be struggling to make ends meet and as a result education will not be available to them. As they enter adolescence they either develop an expectation of lifelong unemployment or become petty criminals or beggars to survive. They are also vulnerable to exploitation by criminal gangs.
Dorcas Boys already trains them in woodwork, metalwork, electrical and tailoring skills but the motorcycle workshop will also make motor mechanics available to them.
So many people use motorbikes to get around in Burkina Faso that there is a ready market for repairs as the engines struggle in the dusty, hot conditions.
Aid to Burkina have employed a trainer and obtained the buildings on the high street of Lafiabougou, a suburb of the city of Bobo-Dioulasso in order to start the training. It is hoped that the income generated by the work they will be able to do will be sufficient to pay for their training in the long term and may even be enough to subsidize some of the other projects Aid to Burkina are involved with.
Our latest container included tools that can be used in this new project and we are looking forward to seeing how this can be developed over the coming months.