Fleeing insecurity in Burkina Faso

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Arid landscape in Nouna, Burkina Faso.
Sons, daughters, nieces and nephews of Sawadogo Ramata (not-pictured) eat around a communal dish of millet paste and baobab leaf stew, likely their only meal of the day. The extended family has been displaced due to violence and insecurity and now faces hunger and food shortages.
Ouedraogo Kadisso (35), shown here with her sons Madi (5) and Drissa (2), fled insecurity and violence in their village to shelter near the town of Nouna, Burkina Faso.
Tolofidje Mariam (26) sits with her daughter Damango Awa (2) and mother, Togo Awa (45), inside the makeshift tent where they sleep. The family fled their home village due to violence and insecurity. Because they cannot farm, they face hunger and food shortages each day.
Sacks of grain are distributed by Lutheran World Relief to families affected by violence, insecurity and hunger in the western town of Nouna.
Guindo Djeneba (33) waits with other women to receive food from Lutheran World Relief in a distribution line in Nouna, Burkina Faso.
Women wait in line at a Lutheran World Relief food distribution site in Nouna, Burkina Faso.
Adama Guindo (30)’s family fled violence and insecurity following the abduction of his father in the northeast of Burkina Faso and now faces hunger and hardship here in Nouna. His wife, Jeneba, is also expecting a child and thus needs more nutritious food than most people. Adama now farms onions on a small, borrowed plot of land in an attempt to provide for his family.
Traore Jeneba (20) cooks a meal outside her tent in Nouna, Burkina Faso. Her family fled violence and insecurity following the abduction of her father-in-law in the northeast of the country and now faces hunger and hardship here. Jeneba is also expecting a child and thus needs more nutritious food than most people.
Awa Arama (30), and daughter, Mounetou (12 months), share a loving moment together outside the family’s home. The family fled violence and insecurity in the north east of Burkina Faso and now live as IDPs in the western town of Nouna.
Yaoumou Arama (50’s, not pictured) and her family fled violence and insecurity in the north east of Burkina Faso and now live as IDPs in the western town of Nouna. Yaoumou is the sole breadwinner of her family of seven and brings in a meager living by cooking and selling snacks and meals to the neighbors. Her elderly husband is ailing and unable to work. Her youth and adult children are unable to find jobs. Living on a small, rented compound, with nowhere to farm, the family struggles with hunger and earning enough money to buy food. “I’m not enjoying life here,” she says. “There is no place to work. If I could farm here life would be better.”
Here, some of Yaoumou’s children ride a donkey cart home from fetching water outside their home in Nouna, Burkina Faso.
Yaoumou (center) works with her children, Awa (30, L), and Siriki (15, R) to pound millet into flour using a large mortar and pestle outside their home in Nouna, Burkina Faso.
Warmé Mariam (30) carries a heavy load on her head while transporting her daughter, Zulai (16 months) on her back. More than 30 members of her extended family fled violence and insecurity in recent months and now live in a compound of rented rooms and makeshift tents outside the town of Nouna, Burkina Faso. As they have no way to farm, the family faces hunger and food shortages.
Men sit outside a mosque before prayers in Burkina Faso.