By Judy Gray
We have received some disconcerting news recently from our partner in Burkina Faso – APDC.
Last Saturday, in two separate locations, APDC staff encountered terrorists while travelling on local roads.
Diaboado, one of the APDC staff field workers was on his way to a training session with a consultant when they were stopped by a group of terrorists, likely armed. The two were not harmed, fortunately, but the terrorists took Diaboado’s motorcycle.
In another incident, while travelling to Bogande (to the north, another town where APDC has projects) the driver encountered another group of terrorists and was forced to give up the 4×4 he was driving – the only vehicle that APDc owns. Luckily he was not harmed either.
We have continued to hear of the growing number of terrorist attacks in Eastern Burkina Faso and according to Charles Tankoano, the Executive Director of APDC, these attacks have reduced the number and scope of community development organizations operating in the region. It seems that APDC is one of the few groups continuing with programming.
Despite these attacks, APDC is currently in the process of gathering data for the final report on the women’s sheep fattening enterprise project. Extra safety precautions are being put in place and extra days have been allotted for the data collection so that the interviewers can carefully plan when it is safe to visit the women.
We continue to receive communication on an almost daily basis and hope that the data gathering and other project activities will proceed without harm to those involved.
Charles’ final comment in his WhatsApp message, “There is no improvement in security in Burkina Faso. But, to date, they (the terrorists) have not done anything to our personnel. Only, our already insufficient means of travel are suddenly reduced. But we are grateful to God for having preserved our 2 colleagues”