This blog post has nothing to do with fashion and lifestyle but with blogging! Some time ago I had an interview with Ute Ohoven, the founder of the YOU foundation. Because I like the initiative for the project Baraka so much I would like to support this project.

The “YOU Foundation – Education for Children in Need” is helping to improve the standard of living in slums. With the Baraka project, the intention is to ensure that current and future generations have sustainable access to the basic needs for a humane and dignified life. This innovative project is unique in that it will help the people of Baraka help themselves. These people are not uncivilized or helpless. In fact, these slum dwellers from 12 different African countries live peacefully together and are tolerant to all cultures and religions. They have established their own governing bodies that functions as a “citizen’s council” to ensure harmonious cohabitation.

As compared to other slums, it is not characterized by criminal activity. They are underprivileged, but not unable and simply want change. They want their community to be a better and more livable place. Project Baraka will not only bring things such as electricity, water systems, sanitation and medical care to the district, it will help these motivated people get what they need to actively shape and further develop their community. In a project of such magnitude, we have experienced a few hurdles.

The YOU foundation has dedicated support from the government, but getting funding and raising awareness among slum dwellers have been challenging. While most slum dwellers embrace progress, some of the elderly are skeptical and afraid of change. It is the job to personally speak with the people of Baraka about project goals, take their concerns seriously and convince them of project benefits. Fortunately, the YOU foundation has many experienced and professional partners on our side. This gives us strength and security to help transform Baraka into a self-sufficient district with sustainable development.

The Blogger Katharina Leuck went to Dakar and has taught some inhabitans how to do blogging. Now they blog regurlarly about the process of the Baraka Project etc. The article about “women in Baraka” I like a lot.

If you also would like to support this project, please tell your friends about it and share this article on Facebook.

Here the Bloggers report about her time with Katharina Leuck and their Blogging subjects: In connection with the restructuring of the Baraka city, we were taken as bloggers and we did a training of twenty-one days. We will show you the knowledge gained from our training, and tell you, what kind of stories you can expect from now on this blog. The YOU Foundation sent us Katharina Dorothea Leuck who is one of the best bloggers in Germany and she came to Africa especially just to train us. At first she collected our contact Information. After creating the blog « barakadakar.wordpress.com« , she has listed all the points needed for a better blog. We began by writing articles, creating photo galleries, learned how to add main images to our article or how to plan our articles for a subsequent date. She taught us different photography techniques, how to use categories and keywords in the article, create the menu. A very important point she stressed was to always choose the subject before writing an article. She also taught us techniques to take pictures especially with our tablets, all that is necessary and useful for the proper functioning of our blog. During these twenty days she taught us a lot and always had many practical tips for us to improve our blog.

Now we have lots of ideas for the blog, which has allowed everyone of us to create their own blog articles. But even if we have all the necessary information about our area, we would not be able to show you what happens here without having the knowledge and equipment. After the training, we are more comfortable to write an article, because we know how to go to the field if necessary, we’ve even learned to do interviews and take pictures to support the article. This way we can be much more in touch with the population. Our training makes us work ahead because during the training, our trainer left out nothing; she explained and showed everything to us. We can feel the progress now since we will tell and show you now everything that happens in Baraka.

We will share our program on the articles on Baraka in the coming days. Listed below are a few items: the current problems in Baraka Baraka in different trades, the ambitions of the Barakoise population, hygiene Baraka Baraka food, Baraka’s culture and origin, children’s education and health.

http://you-stiftung.de/vom-slum-zum-vorzeigedorf // donation page: http://www.new-baraka.de/

Posted in General, Lifestyle | Tags : blog Slum in Dakar, blog story Africa, blogger project baraka, blogger story Senegal, Katharina Leuck, solution refugee problem, solve refugee problem