Caritas in Burkina Faso has launched an emergency appeal for 520,000 euro following floods which hit the capital Ouagadougou recently and other areas such as the city of Kaya.

Eight people have died as a result of the floods and around 150,000 people have been affected in total. Over 24,000 houses have also been severely damaged.

« The solidarity of our brothers and sisters across the Caritas network will make all the difference, » says Fr Pierre Cibambo, Africa liaison officer for Caritas Internationalis. « Children need regular meals and to be able to go back to school. Families need to have some support so they can rebuild their houses and return to their jobs. »


Caritas aims to help 20,500 people by providing food, water, toiletries and health care. In addition, some people will be helped to re-apply for documents they have lost. Meanwhile, families with children will be helped with school costs and items needed for the return to school.

The focus will be on people who have been left particularly vulnerable by the floods, such as single mothers, malnourished children, people with disabilities and households without a steady income.

Reliable supplies of food and clean water are essential following a disaster to ensure that people’s health is not weakened, either through contracting a water-borne disease such as cholera or because of malnourishment.

Caritas will provide hot meals to the most vulnerable families, while others will receive food that they can prepare themselves or coupons which they can use when needed. It will also provide advice on good hygiene practices in a disaster situation.

The emergency project will last for three months. In the past Caritas members have helped Burkina Faso face soaring food prices, and deal with previous floods and a cereal crisis in 2005.

Please contact Michelle Hough on +39 06 69879721/+39 334 2344136 or hough@caritas.va for more information.