Esu manages BARKA’s daily operations in both the US and Burkina Faso. He is a producer by trade, having produced television programming for CNN, CNBC and FOX, which he later applied to the internet at RealNetworks and Microsoft when streaming media technology was in its infancy. He has extensive experience working at the nexus between technology and media, and also worked as a video editor, an actor and theatrical director.

Esu’s career took a sudden turn in 2005. Together with Ina, his future wife, he traveled to Burkina Faso to work with shamans and indigenous wisdomkeepers. This powerful experience aligned his life and work with a deep sense of purpose to be of service to the planet at this time. This newly discovered sense of passion combined with his diverse skills from the corporate world gave rise to The BARKA Foundation. He has devoted himself to issues of sustainable development in Burkina Faso ever since.

In Burkina, Esu has been given the name Ninja (man from Fada) Yieni Ye (Light of the Sun) Thiombiano (the royal family name of those who first brought him to Fada). Esu’s birth name is Howard Ross Patlis.

Peace has been with BARKA since 2006 and has served as a translator to the Co-Founders for many years.   He is often working all hours of the day and night for BARKA and has been a key part of its success. He manages the team on the ground, handles social networking, PR, filmmaking and photo documentation of BARKA’s work. Peace also teaches English at the local Fada high school Lycee Communal de Fada.

He was the recipient of the US Embassy’s International Volunteer Leadership Program which brought him to the US in 2013. Peace also works with several schools and organizations in France. He is a graduate from the University of Ouagadougou.

Karim has been with the team since 2005, serving as a cultural interpreter and Gulimanchema translator. He has served as a liaison between BARKA and the local traditional authorities of the Gour’mache culture. In 2015, Karim was appointed to the Ministry of the Fada Naaba, the traditional authority of Fada N’Gourma. Karim is a master of Gour’mache dance and leads Troupe Yendabili, a theatre and dance troupe which has traveled internationally. He is also a member of BARKA’s theatre troupe.

Luc YODA currently works at the Regional Chamber of Agriculture in the East of Burkina Faso, as the chief of financial and administrative services since 2004. Luc, who is known by his professional title “Inspecteur”, is an experienced finance manager in the area of agricultural development. He graduated from the University of Ouagadougou and has volunteered with BARKA since 2015.  He is married with five children.

Yoni has been working with BARKA since 2014, first as an “animator”, someone who works directly with beneficiary communities, and subsequently as a Technical Assistant in WASH. He works closely with villagers to form sustainable water and sanitation committees, trains teachers to establish basic hygiene programs in their schools, and is integrally involved in every step of a water project, from its conception to its monitoring and evaluation. Yoni is fluent in several languages including Gulimanchema and Moré.

Boly has worked for BARKA since 2014. Not only did he assist with water accounting and a local needs assessment, he also served as a “game leader” in BARKA’s effort to teach hygiene education through theatre, facilitating the post-performance debates.

Boly has worked as an animator and sanitation manager at EPCD, the local government’s technical office of water and sanitation. He has also been a teacher and opened a rural school. He is a radio DJ on FADA FM, and a founding member of FESDIG, an international cultural festival in FADA. Boly also worked at the Burkinabè NGO Tin Tua as a local language teacher, and with IGIP d’Afrique International and Helen Keller International in areas of water, sanitation and nutrition and health. He is married and has 2 children.

Posibo is BARKA’s caretaker. She has been with BARKA since 2014 and maintains BARKA’s headquarters office in Fada N’Gourma. Thanks to Posibo, everything is always in the right place and looking good, both inside and outside. Before working with BARKA she worked at Sentinel, a French NGO working to support women with fistula.

Born in Burkina Faso, Mouss is now 5 years old and weighs 13 pounds! The Mouss spends half his time in Maine and the other 6 months of the year in Burkina Faso with the co-founders. He hunts squirrels and lizards equally well.

Kim worked as a US Peace Corps Volunteer in Burkina Faso from 2010-2013. She was stationed in Fada N’Gourma, (where BARKA is located) and focused on issues of women’s empowerment, gender equality and anti-violence training. Kim also works with amfAR the Foundation for AIDS Research where she is manager of Individual Giving. She has volunteered for BARKA since 2013.

Matt is the founder of Svaha, an internet consulting and design service for artists, small businesses and non-profits. Through Svaha, Matt has been hosting BARKA’s site pro bono since 2011, enabling us to focus on projects and goals while he handles the technology behind the curtain. Svaha is a Native American word that represents the time between seeing lightning and hearing thunder.

Sara Dorrothy is a graduate student pursing a degree in Physician Associate Studies while simultaneously interning for the Barka Foundation. She has been interning here since the summer of 2019 and mainly focusing on the News page and Social Media outlets.

Jenny Khalema has been working as a marketer and graphic designer for over 10 years. She has spent a majority of her career working on proposals for the architecture/engineering/construction (A/E/C) industry. She was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Lesotho from 2011-2013. Currently, she has her own marketing consultancy and runs an in-home daycare. Initially Jenny was attracted to volunteering for The BARKA Foundation because she could tell that Ina and Esu were serious about creating change and that any efforts to help the foundation would benefit people in Burkina Faso.