Sandrine

When appropriate facilities and services are put in place to receive and care for children who have experienced shocks in emergency contexts, this enables them to develop their resilience and recover their mental equilibrium, all of which is useful for their full development.

Through her life story, Sandrine*, an internally displaced girl and beneficiary of the JF-CPiE project, explains how the psychosocial support activities and the programme to build children’s resilience have enabled her to protect herself against violence.

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My name is Sandrine, I’m 16 and I used to live in our village near Barsalogho in Burkina Faso with my parents and nine other siblings. In 2022, our village was attacked by armed men. The whole family fled to Kaya, walking for days and nights. Once here, we first lived in an IDP camp before moving to a courtyard in an outlying district belonging to one of my uncles.

Every morning, I would join groups of women and girls from the neighborhood to go and work for a woman who makes attiéké**, which she sells to the local population.

We start work at 8 a.m. and finish at 4 p.m., earning just 300 CFA francs (0.45 euros) per person per day. As well as preparing attiéké with the other women and girls, I was also required to do domestic work for the family between 4pm and 6pm without being paid for it.

My work in this family consisted of helping to transport and cut the cassava used to make attiéké, as well as cooking it. Every day, I had to wash my clothes and clean the house just as the other women and girls were returning home after making attiéké. So, I had no rest and in the evening I’d go home all tired. I didn’t have any friends other than those I worked with at the lady’s house, so I didn’t have time to have fun or help my mother with the evening meal, and my father complained every time. I was very worried and scared when I got home in the evening. One day, the other girls I was working with at the lady’s suggested that I leave the lady and together we could look for other work in restaurants and maquis (drinking establishments) where we could earn more than 300 CFA francs a day.

I had no rest and in the evening I’d go home all tired. I didn’t have any friends other than those I worked with at the lady’s house, so I didn’t have time to have fun or help my mother with the evening meal, and my father complained every time. I was very worried and scared when I got home in the evening.

In January 2023, a local girl with whom I sometimes chatted told me about the existence of a site where displaced children and young people take part in interesting activities and receive support. She then asked me to come with her to this site to take part in a meeting of a children’s club of which she is a member as part of the activities of an association that supports children and young people and their parents.  When we arrived, I saw boys and girls from our village and I was already looking forward to it, because I didn’t think I’d find them here. That’s how I started to use the space, before joining a club where I benefit from life skills sessions.

I’m a member of my local children’s club. Since then, I’ve been taking part in the project’s activities***. My participation in the life skills sessions has given me knowledge and even skills on the right attitudes to have in order to guard against violence, all forms of abuse and exploitation. The knowledge we received about detecting and reporting cases of protection enabled my friends and I to detect 3 cases of sexual violence that we reported to the project leader. Also, after receiving the dignity kits and practical advice on menstrual hygiene, the girls talk to each other about healthy menstrual management and help other girls to overcome the related difficulties.

I’m very proud because, thanks to the knowledge and skills I received and the support provided by the project, I stopped working as a servant in a public house, where I was exposed to exploitation and prostitution, and started learning a trade. So, I was put on an apprenticeship in a sewing workshop and I can already sew a few models and I’m very happy. I have time to help my mother in the kitchen and I take the opportunity to talk to her about menstrual management and other subjects that used to be taboo when we were in the village.

The knowledge we received about detecting and reporting cases of protection enabled my friends and I to detect 3 cases of sexual violence that we reported to the project leader. Also, after receiving the dignity kits and practical advice on menstrual hygiene, the girls talk to each other about healthy menstrual management and help other girls to overcome the related difficulties.

I’m very happy, my mum and dad are very proud of me. They encourage me and give me advice. They come and talk to my trainer in the workshop and see how I’m learning.

I’m going to continue learning sewing, because I want to become a great designer, set up my own workshop and help other girls so that they don’t go off to work as maids in drinking establishments. As the focal point for protecting peers against violence, I undertake to observe, detect and report victims of violence to the leaders and members of the Community Child Protection Units in our neighborhood.

• * Not her real name.
• ** Attiéké is a local delicacy made from cassava sticks that are crushed using rappers, which can easily injure the hands of those who are not used to them. The process of making attiéké is hard work for children.
• ***Childrens’ club activities include a comprehensive life-skills programme, the distribution of dignity kits, talks on menstrual management, participation in psychosocial support activities in safe spaces, placement in a sewing workshop to learn a trade, and other.