The first glass of water: rebuilding a life, one item at a time
The first glass of water: rebuilding a life, one item at a time
In the Yaadga region, Odile Ouédraogo, an Internally Displaced Person (IDP), shows a satisfied smile after receiving her core relief item kit.
Odile's smile says more than words could. Standing in front of the Non-Food-Items (NFIs) kits being distributed, she holds in her hands the kit she has just received for her family. The 36-year-old married mother of three, clutches the bag of essential items close to her. Behind her quiet expression lies a story marked by grief, flight and loss.
Originally from a village in the Yaadga region, Odile lived peacefully with her husband and their three children. The family made a living from farming, a simple but dignified life.
In February 2026, everything changed. After an attack struck their village, the family had to flee in haste. Several villagers lost their lives, including Odile's parents-in-law, too old to run for safety.
“They were too old to run for their lives the way we did……” she recalls, her voice heavy with emotion.
Beyond grief, the family lost everything: their harvest, their means of transport, their farming tools. Odile and her children fled on foot for several kilometers, before finding tricycles that took them all the way to Yako, a town in Yaadga region.
Arriving in Yako with nothing
In Yako, everything had to start from scratch. Odile turned to her mother, the only relative she had left to lean on. But her mother was already in a fragile situation: widowed a few years earlier, she had moved back in with her own family, into a house already crowded with several people.
Odile's arrival with her three children placed an even heavier burden on this fragile household. Everything was missing: food, space, clothes, basic kitchen items, and with it, the dignity of a mother who could no longer provide for her children's most basic needs.
“There were so many of us under one roof. My mother barely had any kitchen utensils. Sometimes, we had to borrow, or even rent, pots and basins from other host or displaced families, just to cook or wash our clothes”.
Separated from her husband during the displacement, Odile alone carries the responsibility of caring for her children and supporting her ageing mother. Every morning, daily life has to be reinvented, through borrowing, asking, and making do.
Shortly after their arrival, Odile and her family were identified and registered by the Regional Directorate for Family and Solidarity, working in coordination with humanitarian actors, a first and essential step towards assistance. Given the scale of displacement in the region, more substantial support such as the distribution of NFI kits takes time to put in place. It is precisely this wait that would make the distribution even more meaningful when the day finally came.
The NFI kit: a first breath of relief
A few weeks later, Odile was contacted to receive a distribution of NFI, organized by UNHCR Burkina Faso in support of the Government's efforts, through its partner the Burkina Faso Red Cross, under a project funded by King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KS Relief).
“They asked us to come with our identity documents on the day of the distribution”
That morning, she came without quite daring to hope. In front of her stood a complete kit: cooking pots, plates, cups, mosquito nets, blankets, wrappers, a solar lamp and several other essential items.
“What we received is far more than we expected.”
In her hands, these are not just objects, but tools to take back control of her life: cooking without depending on others, keeping her children warm at night, regaining a sense of dignity.
“I didn't even own a blanket… Today, I have some for my children, and even for my mother.”
Her smile says it all: the fatigue still there, the grief still alive, but above all, resilience.
“Thanks to these items, I can finally cook and take care of my home without having to ask or rent things from others. It may sound small, but for us, it changes so much in our daily lives. You never forget the first glass of water someone offers you when you have lost everything.”
For Odile, this kit is exactly that first glass of water: a simple gesture, yet a vital one. It is the first assistance her family has received since they were forced to flee in February 2026.
“I sincerely thank UNHCR and its partners for this support. These items will help us rebuild, step by step, our dignity and our lives.”
One story among many
Odile’s story is not unique. It reflects the daily reality of many displaced families who, in Yako and beyond, welcome these kits as a first breath of relief after profound loss.
Adjara is one of them. Like Odile, she was forced to leave her village after violence reached her community, taking with her only what she could carry and the baby she now keeps close on her back. Since arriving in Yako, she too has been living in difficult conditions, sheltered by a host family with very limited means, and waiting, like so many others, for the support that would help her family stand on its feet again.
On the day of the distribution, Adjara carefully secures her NFI kit into her bicycle, her baby firmly tied behind her. The sun is harsh, the day is long, but her face carries a quiet joy. With the cooking pots, the blankets, the mosquito nets and the solar lamp now in her possession, she can begin to organise her household again: prepare meals for her children, protect them at night, and free herself, at last, from the daily need to borrow. For her, as for Odile, this kit is far more than a set of objects. It is the first tangible recognition of what she has lost, and the first concrete step on the long road back to a dignified life.
Through the project “Humanitarian assistance for forcibly displaced people in the Yaadga and Goulmou regions”, funded by KS Relief, UNHCR Burkina Faso continues to work alongside the Government of Burkina Faso, providing essential assistance to families who have fled violence and lost their livelihoods. Behind every kit distributed, there is a household, and a first step, sometimes barely visible, towards rebuilding a life of dignity.
