Linked with our presentations of Managré Nooma – Burkina Faso, and of Dialog der Kulturen.
She is one of the 1000 women proposed fort the Nobel Peace Price 2005.
She says: « What is good is never in vain. All thoughtful women working under extreme conditions will confirm this thanks to their daily encouraging experiences. Indeed, what is good is never in vain. »
Katrin Rohde – Burkina Faso & Germany
She works for ‘Managré Nooma’, (What is good is never in vain).
Born 1948 in Hamburg, Germany, Katrin Rohde is recognized in the “country of the upright men” (Burkina Faso) for the foundation of an orphanage for boys in 1996, for girls in 1998, for a home for streetboys and for the foundation of an infirmary for people in need in 1997, for establishing a home for young HIV-infected mothers in 2002, and for producing short-films on the subject of unwed teenage mothers and trafficking of children. Katrin Rohde succeeded in giving a home to about 60 boys between the ages of six and eighteen. All live in a family structure and receive clothing, meals and money for school.
As if that were not enough, three years later, in 1999, she founded another orphanage, this time for girls. Again this structure is supervising and permanently housing 44 girls aged six to eihteen, all living in the same conditions as the boys.
Again in 1999, Katrin Rohde created a project for abandoned boys and boys living in the streets. This project, today, houses about 35 children, teaching them trust and giving some of them a taste of life without drugs. They are educated through reading, writing and small businesses. For example, they set up of a small transport business with an animal-drawn cart, or a metal workshop and similar enterprises.
Moreover, in 1998 Katrin founded a workshop for handicapped children (14 boys and 10 girls) and in 1999 counseling services for girls and young women on sexuality, family planning, HIV/ Aids etc.
In 2003, the Germans of Burkina established the house « MIA » for girls rejected by their family or without support and for young mothers living with HIV/AIDS.
If Katrin Rohde succeeded in establishing all these structures, it is because she was helped by the Association Managré Nooma for the Protection of Orphans (AMPO), which she created in 1995. This association aims at taking care of abandoned children and street children. AMPO, which survives on private donations, has assisted 127 children through different projects initiated by Madame Katrin Rohde and her colleagues.
The association has had debates and difficult discussions with the authorities on some of the projects. Its work is done in difficult economic conditions because of insufficient resources for its needs. Orphanages are also occasionally faced with the danger of contagious diseases.
Numerous are the Burkina people who find that the work of Katrin is a great help for the children that are the future of the “country of the upright men”. (Read all this on this page of 1000peae women).
Vor knapp zehn Jahren besaß Katrin Rohde noch zwei gut gehende Buchhandlungen in Schleswig-Holstein. Heute kennt sie in Burkina Faso jeder als Mama Tenga – Mutter Vaterland. Auf einer Afrikareise wäre sie damals beinahe einer Malaria-Erkrankung erlegen. An der Grenze zu Burkina Faso war sie mit Fieber zusammengebrochen. Der Zöllner pflegte sie gesund. 1996 gab Katrin Rohde ihr Geschäft auf, um für immer nach Westafrika zu gehen. In Ougadougou kämpft sie seither für eine bessere Zukunft für Straßenkinder. (Siehe unter bol.de).
In 1996 verkoopt Katrin Rohde haar boekhandel in Duitsland en vertrekt naar Ouagadougou, de hoofdstad van Burkina Faso. Hier begint ze een project om Straatkinderen te helpen, die een erbarmelijk leven leiden vol honger, drugs en criminaliteit. Stukje bij beetje bouwt zij een hele reeks voorzieningen op: weeshuizen, werkplaatsen en opleidingsplaatsen, een adviesbureau en een verpleegafdeling. Acht jaar later kent iedereen Katrin Rohde, die inmiddels moslim is geworden, als ‘Mama Tenga’, moeder vaderland. Mama Tenga is een warm, menselijk verhaal dat een bijzonder en positief beeld schetst van het `vergeten continent’. (See this and more on sirene.nl).