Meeting up with one another to care for one another.

It all started with Abou. Arriving in Belgium from Guinea at the age of 15 to join his family, Abou has always been sensitive to the cause of migrants. How could he better understand the chaotic path these women and men, who have left everything behind, have taken, if not by undertaking it himself?

Abou and his friend Max set out to do just that, but in the reverse direction, from the asylum centre in Brussels to the Ivory Coast. Aware that their own journey would never be as difficult and painful as the one lived by migrants who experience fear and violence, they nevertheless hoped, in great humility, to make contact with a reality too often ignored.

They baptised their project "The migrant's journey in reverse" and started walking. 6 months and 6000 km later, they reached their destination.

The challenges they faced, the fatigue, the emotions, but also the beautiful encounters they made, invigorated Abou and gave him the idea of creating a not-for-profit association to help migrants integrate.

When Abou met Jessica, another volunteer working with him at the soup kitchen of the Red Cross in La Louvière, he found a natural partner to set up the not-for-profit he had imagined. Shortly after, Badegna was born!

Convinced that we only "fear what we don't know", the aim of Badegna, meaning "family" in Guinean, is to connect local people with foreigners, and create connections that go beyond bias and prejudice.