PDI Women in Bobo-Dioulasso
Of the ” small » trades to survive
The city of Bobo-Dioulasso, like several other localities in Burkina Faso, hosts a multitude of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who fled their villages following terrorist attacks. Arrived in the city of Sya for a few months now, these people, especially women, live in difficult conditions for the most part. To make ends meet, they are forced to carry out various activities. Exchanges with some of them, all from Toéni, Sourou province (Tougan), in the last week of July 2022.
Following the security situation which is deteriorating more and more in his commune, Toéni (province of Sourou), Kadi Terry and several other inhabitants had to leave to save their lives. Seven months ago, she joined Bobo-Dioulasso, leaving behind her everything she owned. In the city of Sya, this Internally Displaced Person (IDP), like so many others, has to face the harsh reality of the big city with its share of constraints. While others have been able to find refuge with their family in host families, such as Kadi Terry, mother of a little girl, some, on the other hand, have rented houses to shelter themselves. This is the case of Mariam Drabo. In her forties, she rented a two-room house at 9,000 CFA francs per month with her husband and their 7 children in the Sarfalao district of the city of Sya. ” It’s my husband who manages a few times in small jobs such as masonry to bring us food. Sometimes my children don’t earn enough to eat “, she says with bitterness. It is the same situation as Tarra Djerma, mother of young twins and 3 other children, whose husband sells second-hand clothes to support the family. Tarra Djerma explains that the situation is not easy for IDP women. ” In Toéni, in the village, we did not pay rent and we might avoid certain expenses such as the purchase of firewood or coal, because we might get some ourselves. But in town you have to buy everything », compare-t-elle.
Low income activities
With the cost of living constantly rising and without a fixed activity, Dame Djerma indicates that she and her husband no longer know where to turn. ” We really suffer, especially when we see our children crying from hunger because on average we can only provide them with one meal a day. Before our village was invaded and burned by the attackers, we practiced agriculture with our husbands, which allowed us to feed ourselves and our children properly. “, she confides, nostalgic. Orokia Djongara, mother of 5 children, also rents a house at 7,500 F per month. It is almost in tears that she confides that she is threatened with being “emptied” by the owner for unpaid rent.
To face this harsh reality, these IDP women devote themselves to ” small » activities to ensure the daily subsistence of their offspring. For Kadi Terry, goes around the dealerships all day long to do the laundry. She says she earns between 1,000 and 2,500 CFA francs per day depending on the amount of dirty clothes to wash. Those who have enough strength are recruited by farmers to work in their fields, at the rate of 1,000 CFA francs a day. Drabo Bibata, mother of two children, finds that this daily wage is not up to the task. Moreover, she regrets, it is this money that they also use to buy food to work, which does not allow them to save. Older women, unable to do heavy work, run small businesses. Sia Drabo is one of them. Having lost her daughter-in-law and her two grandchildren in a fire following the passage of terrorists in Toéni, the sexagenarian is forced to go around the city with a plate on her head, despite the weight of her age, to sell cola. ” We really want peace to return to our country so that we can go back to our villages because life in the city is very difficult “says Sya Drabo, completely resigned.
Datouma Raïssatou AGAIN
(Intern)
