Diambendi Madiega (born 1953 or 1954) is a
Burkinabé traditional healer and the chief of the town of
Bollé. He used his own land to support an influx of refugees from the Mali war. His refugees support activities resulting in him being a regional co-winner of the
Nansen Refugee Award in 2021.
Career
Madiega is a traditional healer and the chief of the town of
Bollé, near
Ouagadougou
Ouagadougou ( , , ) is the capital and largest city of Burkina Faso and the administrative, communications, cultural, and economic centre of the nation. It is also the country's largest city, with a population of 2,415,266 in 2019. The city's n ...
.
He is known in his
Mossi community as the ''Nabaa Wogbo'' (
Mooré
The Mossi language (Mooré) is a Gur language of the Oti–Volta branch and one of two official regional languages of Burkina Faso. It is the language of the Mossi people, spoken by approximately 8 million people in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Cote d ...
language, in
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
: ''Elephant Chief.'')
When refugees fleeing
Mali War arrived in
Bollé, Madiega used his own land to provide temporary shelter to them, providing 2,500 people with housing and food.
Madiega also worked as a mediator between the refugees and the local host community, and helped the displaced people navigate the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integrati ...
support system.
Along with
Roukiatou Maiga
Traoré Roukiatou S. Maiga, recently more commonly known as Roukiatou Maiga, (born 1965 or 1966) is a Burkinabé organization founder and humanitarian. Along with Diambendi Madiega, she was the regional co-winner of the Nansen Refugee Awa ...
, he was the regional co-winner of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees'
Nansen Refugee Award in 2021.
Personal life
Madiega was 67 years old in 2021.
He is married to five wives and has 32 children.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Madiega, Diambendi
1950s births
20th-century Burkinabé people
Living people
Traditional medicine practitioners
21st-century Burkinabé people