Build Workshop for Physically Disabled Burkinabes

In their continued drive to develop Tigoung Nonma and raise awareness about living with a disability in Burkina Faso, since March of this year TN has been involved with the following activities:

• Fundraising research : The team conducted online research into funding and grants. We also cross posted the project onto GlobalGiving UK to reach out to ex-Tigoung Nonma volunteers for fundraising.
• Created a map of Ouagadougou showing the distance between artisans’ homes and TN’s current work space. We also came up with a design for TN’s future headquarters.
• Raised awareness on disability at 3 local schools: Lycée Manegda, Lycée Carrefour du Savoir and Lycée International.
• English lessons with the coordinator; accounting lessons with the secretary. We invited an external artisan to share his experience with some TN members working in the same field: leather.
• Received the “IFU number” (tax number) which gives TN access to public markets – contact was made with the Ministry in charge of it.
• Interviewed artisans and promoted products online.
• Offered customers the opportunity to customise their own products during the “Design Workshop”. During this activity we promoted the personalisation of products which led to a about 12 commissions. This activity was carried out at the local Hotel ‘Hotel Calao’ who agreed to host the TN display case in their gift shop.
• Posted weekly blogs of our activities at tigoungnonma.internationalservice.org
• Organised and took part in a number of events including a Design Workshop at a local hotel and a TN Open Day wherein we invited the local community into TN to see the artisans’ products which were exhibited and to savour food prepared by TN’s Catering Service.
• Supported the Catering Service, both in their usual work, and at events.
• Initiated partnerships with the supermarket Bon Samaritan and Hotel Grand Calao for distribution and display of TN products.

Below is an interview that we carried out with one of Tigoung Nonma’s artisans:

Tell us something about you?
S.I I work in bronze and have been handicapped since the age of three. I lost my mother at the age of four so I was raised by my aunt. I felt alone in my village despite my family. People in the house contributed to household and community activities whilst I was left out; people viewed me as dependent on those around me, they didn’t believe I had the capacity to live independently. But God thought otherwise. I left my village in 1998 and moved to the capital where I began to work little jobs that changed on a daily basis before I became a bronze apprentice with a contact of my family.
Tell us about your work
S.I I like my work. It is a job I aspired to do from childhood and I hope to continue to work as an artisan. I find it difficult to exhibit my work due to my disability, my tools are out dated and their price continues to rise, the materials used to make the bronze are expensive (wood, carbon, wax and bronze). In brief I’m not competitive enough to sell my products.
How did you become involved with Tigoung Nonma:
S.I I heard of TN through a friend in 2009. I’m now an active member of the TN co-operative and they support me to make a living. TN is a great opportunity for me to sell my products. I also benefit from their micro-credit scheme and the rise in my sales.
What are your objectives and expectations?
S.I I hope to be self-sufficient and independent and I’m currently on track to realise these objectives. I would like help to benefit from the micro-credit scheme, to purchase new tools to improve and innovate my work, to reduce the time spent making products and to learn to be more competitive. In my country many people have overcome disability through work and I aspire to be like them.

Once TN is able to construct its own workshop, it will be able to provide training and support for more members and will have the space and resources to develop. This will truly transform Tigoung Nonma and the lives of its members.