David Coffin Memorial

At Mogtédo College in the Bomboré region of Burkina Faso, a water and sanitation project in memory of David Coffin has improved health and education for 1,575 students and teachers. Thank you to Orezone and associates for this legacy gift made in David Coffin’s name. It has helped set students on a path of increased opportunity.

Everything Starts With Water

Prior to this project, the only source of water for Mogtedo’s 1,575 students was a busy village well outside the school grounds where priority was given to the people of the community. The students often had to wait, missing their lessons. And during the dry seasons, the well dried up.

Mogtédo College was overflowing with bright, ambitious minds, but it was severely lacking in life’s most basic need: water.

For this reason, the site was chosen as the beneficiary of the David Coffin memorial project, and work began in February 2013 on the infrastructure to provide clean water and sanitation.

By May 2013, a clean water well was completed on the school grounds. The well was drilled to a depth of 50 meters, ensuring a reliable supply of water during the dry seasons. This is a very busy well. It provides safe water not only for the students, but also for the villagers who live close by.

Dignity, Health, Education

Three blocks of latrine stances were also built at Mogtédo College, including two wash/change rooms for girls. These facilities provide students a proper place to go to the washroom with dignity, instead of outside behind the school. Health and hygiene issues greatly improved as a result, leading to increased school attendance, particularly by girls.

For A Lifetime Of Good Health

To ensure the long-term sustainability of the project, students and teachers received extensive training in water and sanitation, as well as maintenance of the well and latrines.

Once completed, a special Inauguration Ceremony was held to celebrate David’s life. Students, faculty, local authorities, Orezone representatives and local Rotarians gathered to celebrate and express their gratitude. And in the local paper’s coverage of the ceremony, Mogtédo Mayor Joseph Guigma was quoted as saying, “Do not we say that water is life? Well, you gave us life.”

A Man Who Wanted Everyone To Do Well

David Coffin was an explorationist, world traveler and well-regarded investment writer on mining projects. He believed the mining sector could help change the world. Something as basic and critical as clean water was exactly the sort of project David would get behind and support. Through the generosity of his friends and colleagues, David’s exemplary character lives on in the ambitious students attending Mogtédo College in Burkina Faso.

David Coffin
November 6th, 1955 to February 15th, 2012