Zenabo, a mother getting back on her feet, despite everything
In Bouro, in the Yadega region of Burkina Faso, Ouedraogo Zenabo talks to a mental health worker from the ALIMA-KEOOGO–SOS MEDECINS BF Alliance during a one-on-one session. Internally displaced, she is working to piece her life back together after losing everything. Before the crisis, she lived in Titao with her husband and their eight children. A simple life, shaped by work in the fields and family warmth, until one day when violence shattered it all.
“That day, I lost everything: my husband, my son. I lost my bearings.”
Fleeing the attacks, Zenabo walked for two days with her children and parents before reaching Ouahigouya. For a while, her two younger brothers helped her support the family, but tragedy struck again, and they too were killed.
“I have no livelihood here. We live on the food and care we receive. Sometimes, I feel overwhelmed.”
Plagued by insomnia, heart palpitations, sadness, and nightmares, she ended up seeking help at the Bouro Advanced Health Post, set up by ALIMA-Keoogo-SOS Médecins BF in support of the Ministry of Health. There, she met mental health worker Sergina Kaba.
“She lives with the constant memory of everything she has lost. Our role is to help her accept this new reality and find resources that can bring hope back”
Sergina, mental health worker
Session after session, Zenabo talks, listens, breathes. Little by little, the nights calm down, the tensions ease.
“Before, I didn’t think I could find peace again. Now, I feel stronger. I’m beginning to sleep again.”
She has not recovered from all that she has lost, but she is moving forward, step by step, for her children, her parents, and for herself.
Listening is already caring
Every day, the mental health teams of ALIMA-Keoogo-SOS Médecins BF welcome women, men, and children carrying invisible wounds. At each of the three advanced health posts supported by the program, an average of five new individual consultations take place daily. Spaces for discussion help many displaced people to regain confidence and stability.
“In a context of loss and constant uncertainty, being listened to becomes a form of care.”
Hyacinthe Compaoré, Head of mental health.
Rebuilding lives by calming the mind
Since 2020, ALIMA and its partners Keoogo and SOS Médecins Burkina Faso have been integrating mental health into their medical and nutritional programs. In the advanced health posts and therapeutic nutrition centers (CRENAS/CRENI), the teams provide:
- individual and group consultations,
- collective activities of expression and support,
- psychostimulation sessions for children suffering from severe acute malnutrition (psycho-affective, psychosocial, psychomotor, psycho-cognitive).
These activities are co-funded by humanitarian aid from the European Union and supported financially by the US Government.
Cover photo: Amadou Cissé Bello / ALIMA)
