Burkina Faso (MNN) — According to a 2024 report from the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), West Africa’s Burkina Faso again is the world’s most overlooked displacement crisis.
“Usually when we talk about our ministry there, I have to kind of explain where Burkina Faso is. They’ve not heard of it. It’s not been in the news,” says Greg Yoder with Christian World Outreach (CWO).
Islamic militant groups entered Burkina Faso from neighboring Mali nearly a decade ago. They’ve been fighting each other and the government ever since. One city in the north has been under a blockade by Islamic militants for two years.
Civilians are caught in the crossfire. Today, two million people are displaced within Burkina Faso. In 2023, one quarter of all terrorism-related deaths reported in the world were in Burkina Faso, surpassing Afghanistan. (Source: Institute for Economics & Peace, Global Terrorism Index 2024 report.) Just this past August, up to 600 men, women and children were shot within a few hours in an eastern town by jihadists.
Yet for the number of people caught in this crisis, the humanitarian aid, media coverage, and political and diplomatic efforts to intervene are incredibly low, as the report from the NRC points out.
In the midst of these deep-seated problems, CWO’s medical clinic and its vocational training school for young women have felt the pressure.
Village of Opportunity graduation in Burkina Faso 2023. (Photo courtesy of Christian World Outreach)
“We’ve had our girls from the Village of Opportunity come back early — some of them — just because of the safety [concerns], but that puts a strain on our budget because we’ve got girls coming back early and need to feed them,” Yoder says.
“[Some of them] came back about a month early. It’s a blessing to be able to help them that way. God’s been good and supplied what we’ve needed.”
Would you consider becoming part of CWO’s financial support for ministry to the people of Burkina Faso? What the team is doing is making a difference for eternity.
“You know, if people are are fleeing their homes and they’re hungry, just sharing the gospel with them is not going to do much. Being able to to love on them and supply some of those physical needs gives the opportunity to share the gospel,” Yoder says.
And of course, pray! Pray that the right people in the world will see and stir themselves to take action on behalf of Burkina Faso.
“Pray for our leadership staff as they make discerning decisions on who to help and how to help,” Yoder says.
“Pray for the safety of the Village of Opportunity. Pray for the mobile clinic as they go out. They’re going into the villages, and so they’re risking their safety sometimes.”
Learn more about CWO’s ministry here.
Header photo of women in Burkina Faso is a representative stock photo courtesy of AFRIQUE AYELE-Y via Pexels.
