Adissa, left and her new-born boy Abdou, pictured centre

Young mother Adissa is sat by a pile of benches and tables with a few items of clothing and some cooking utensils that were lent to her. Holding her new-born baby and first child, Abdou, Adissa, who has been complaining of stomach pain, puts on a brave face and gives a hint of a smile.

Adissa went into labour on 21st July. That night, torrential rains poured down. When she got back to where she lived in Ritkuilga, 7km away from the health centre , she was taken straight to the school, because their house had been swept away by floods, just like the houses of more than half the village and all the shops in the market place.

Lost everything

Almost all the people living in the village earned their living at the market.
Some 2000 people who are at the school in Ritkuilga have lost their land, only being able to save a few items of clothing and kitchenware.

Poor Adisa, who wasn’t even able to see her house after giving birth, has lost everything. She had to sleep on an empty stomach on that chaotic day after giving birth, because there was just nothing eat.

Post-natal care

Luckily, some women from the village who were preparing a baptism for Abdou made some gruel for her from a small amount of millet that wasn’t washed away in the floods.

For post-natal care, Abdou will have to be taken back to Bouroum, 7km away, because there’s no health centre in Ritkuilga; another hurdle for Adbou’s parents to clear, even after they’ve lost everything. But for him to survive, they don’t have a choice.

Plan in Burkina Faso still needs an additional 840,000US$ to carry out its flood relief activities.

Please make a donation today, via Plan's international donation site or Plan Germany's emergency appeal (in German)