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We're going to ask you to present yourself and your child.
My name is Sophie Larla Nignan, and the child is called Gislain Adrien Sidnabou Mare.
We'd like to know, when you discovered that your child had a disability, what was your reaction? What did you think?
It wasn't easy at first, but God says that it's God who gives. You don't buy a child at the market. We don't go and buy one like we buy shoes.
So on the one hand, I was disappointed, but on the other hand I was strong. Why? I said to myself 'it's my child.'
I'm not going to take him and give him to someone else. It's not easy, but God challenges you sometimes to see your strength.
So, on the one hand it wasn't easy, at the start, but afterwards I felt a disabled child is just like any other child.
So when you're disappointed, you're disappointed for no reason. The child is yours.
Did you feel bad for the child?
Yes, on the one hand I felt bad because the child was born normal, and then afterwards he became like this. I discovered that it was like that, so then I didn't know what was happening.
That hurt me, but afterwards I asked God for forgiveness because it's true that it can hurt you. It's like if you hurt someone and then ask them for forgiveness, but on the one hand it still hurts you.
It's as if the mother is disabled. If you see your child is disabled, that'll hurt you and on the one hand you'll ask yourself why is God giving me this?
Why not someone else? Why not my neighbour? And why me? But you don't know what God has planned for you.
So on the one hand I was hurt, but then I asked God for forgiveness.
But what was the child's reaction to his disability?
My child was happy. He doesn't speak, but when you speak to him he hears. Before, when a stranger arrived, he would take the bench and come and give it to you.
But afterwards, when I began to feel that the child was ill, he couldn't do anything anymore. So it was like that.
But the child himself felt bad because he wanted to give the bench to someone... But in the end I would say to him 'you're a child.'
Because if you see someone who works and now he's paralysed and can't do anything anymore, what would your reaction be? Do you see?
How did the people around you - for example your family, neighbours, friends - how did they react to the child's disability?
My family was strong. They supported me. The problem, at the start, when I became pregnant - I don't know if this is what made the child disabled - but the father ran off.
He left for Libya. When things got bad there, he came back. But what upset me is that he came back, he found that the child was sick, and he told me that he was disappointed with the child.
But my family didn't leave me. My mother said that she wasn't going to leave her daughter. It's her daughter, and it's her daughter above all. It's your daughter.
Even if the child isn't good, it's still your child, and you're not going to give it away.
If you say that your child isn't good and you give it away to someone, will you know how that person is going to look after your child? So on the one hand it's that.
But the neighbours..?
You know, people aren't the same. Some of the neighbours were kind, but others were agitators - they come to provoke you and annoy you so that you react.
But I was strong. I listened to what my heart told me to do. Otherwise, you know when you have a sick child, even other children avoid getting near him and they ask themselves if he's a snake.
And others even told me that my child was a snake and all that. But I knew who I believed in, because it's God who gives the child.
We don't ask for a child, we don't go and sell him at the market, like if you go to the market to buy sausages and you don't find them so you buy matches.
God gives the child. God knows why he's giving you the child. You don't know what the child will become for you in the future, so I believe in that.
How did you hear about Handicap Solidaire Burkina? How did you discover it? How did you know to come here the first time you came?
I met someone who had been here and worked with Sidonie. I forgot the name of the man, but he was disabled.
It was him who told me about Handicap Solidaire. I knew Sidonie too, from church: I knew her but I didn't know she worked.
We knew each other, but each time she saw me and asked me about my child, I told her my child was well. Why? Because the child is well.
But the first time we came here it was Sidonie who I met, and she began complaining about why I said this [that the child is well]. At the time the child was unwell, but I didn't feel that it was something like this [a disability].
If I had seen Sidonie earlier, it [the child's disability] may not have turned out this way. Even if it were meant to be this way, it may not have been this bad.
Since coming to Handicap Solidaire Burkina, what has Handicap Solidaire Burkina done for you and your child?
They supported me. When we came here, Sidonie received us and took the time to listen to us.
I was very proud of the welcome because it's like if a stranger comes to your house, if you welcome him well, even if someone comes and says you're bad, the person - the stranger - is going to say that you're not and that it's false, and that you're not like that.
But if we receive you badly, if people say that a person's good, you yourself will say that it's false and that she's bad.
So really I'm very moved because when I came they received me as a human being, like any other human being, and they gave me information and advice.
The help that Handicap Solidaire has given you - has it been beneficial for you and your child?
Yes, because they don't pass up a chance to help children, even if they don't have the means. But what they already do for us is good.
Them too, God gives them the strength to help us, because without this strength they can't help us.
Look at the children they help. It's like a teacher who teaches these children - if you're not strong, you can't teach these children.
So I, myself, encourage them and I pray for them that God supports them and gives them the strength to continue to look after these children. I'm proud.
It's been a long time since I came here, but yesterday they called me and I felt proud, because they told me they would call me if anything were happening.
God says to be patient, if you're not patient and always in a hurry then it's ruined for you.
For the last question, we'd like to know how your life is currently: healthwise, at home, with your family?
Thank you very much for this question. Really, I don't know where to start. What I can say is that when you have a disabled child, it's not easy to look after them - that's the first thing.
The second thing is that, if you're not strong, it's as I just said. I live with my family, with my mother, but you know it's not easy.
There's more than 6 of us. I have younger sisters whom my other sisters look after, and soon my mother will be retired.
Because of this child it's difficult. I can't do any kind of activity, that's the truth. And it's necessary to follow him and supervise him.
If there isn't anyone looking after him and you leave him, in a while you'll find that he's broken everything. It's difficult. It's necessary to always supervise him, 24 hours a day, so it's difficult.
I don't have any activities. It's my mum that does everything for me and helps me, as do Handicap Solidaire. But it's difficult. Even if you help someone, if you don't have the means it's difficult, even if you want to do it.
Even within your family, if you don't have the means it's difficult to look after a child. So in this respect it's really difficult.
I pray to God to help me because it's difficult for me. Even with associations - I took the child to APEE [a school for children with learning difficulties] and they told me that they can't receive the child as he isn't independent and relies on us.
Even for him to eat it's difficult, and it's necessary for us to feed him. Often he even soils himself. If he does that and you're not next to him, he even picks it up and eats it.
Everything he sees, he picks up and eats. So it's difficult. But as he's my child I have to do what I can.
But living with my family is difficult, and sometimes to find enough food to eat is too difficult.
Even to go to church, I carry him on my back. It's difficult at this age - he's 8 years old. At this age to carry him on your back, everywhere you go and everywhere you walk, he's heavy and it's very difficult.
So that, really... Often when I get asked this question...
Yes, we understand, it's really not easy, there's so much to say.
It's too difficult to answer...
That was our last question. Thank you very much for your participation, it really helped us a lot. We thank you very much and wish you all the best for the future.