Student in 3rd year in Agricultural Economics, Raya Sana is a young multitasking lady. Translator, interpreter, trainer, entrepreneur, farmer… The 22-year-old student touches everything.  She also helps other students who wish to study abroad with their application. This is a passion for her even though she could not leave to study abroad. Born to a Burkinabe father and a Jordanian mother, she has extensive knowledge of different countries where she guides candidates. Meet the one who helps others achieve their dream around the world.

In January 2023, we had an appointment with Dame Raya in the Koulouba district of Ouagadougou where her agency specialising in putting together files for immigration candidates is located. Pen in hand, she greets us with a big smile. As soon as the salamalecs are finished, she apologises: “Please give me a few minutes to deal with the files of the students who came to see me. I beg your apology.” Indeed, a student who tried the adventure last year with another agency was not successful. Between Canada and Cyprus, the student population is divided. And to the young lady to explain the conditions and the budget that this implies.

Head well knotted with a scarf, in a masculine style, Raya, student in Agricultural Economics, dressed in her university outfit, sips her Lipton tea placed on her table while lending us an attentive ear. She takes a breath and says, “I’m tired. I came directly from university. I had an appointment with the two students who have just left.”

When we try to find out where this desire to work in migration comes from, we are not far from thinking about destiny. Raya’s parents met in Jordan where her father was studying. From their union was born, in Jordan, Raya’s older sister. They later decided to return to Burkina Faso. In the land of Thomas Sankara, Raya’s mother worked as an Arabic translator. She opened her own translation agency there 23 years ago. After her mother passed away two years ago, Raya took over. The mention of this disappearance still brings tears to her eyes. Today, she has taken up the torch and continues the translation business, in memory of her mother.

Next to this office, Raya Sana has launched her agency specialising in the preparation of files of immigration candidates. The name of the agency was not chosen at random. Laafi Faraj (“Laafi”: health, peace in Mooré and “Faraj”: door opening in Arabic) reflects both Raya’s origins and the agency’s raison d’être. Here too, she says she continues her mother’s work. The latter helped students who wanted to study abroad to put together their files.

The director of the agency Laafi Faraj is helped in her tasks by two employees: a secretary and an accountant. She divides her time between university and her agency without forgetting language courses that she gives to students and individuals. Moreover, she is busy opening her language centre in the coming months without forgetting her clothing brand that will see the light of day in a few weeks, according to her revelations.

Laafi Faraj is three years old. About thirty students have benefited from its expertise. According to the promoter, the feedback is positive insofar as the beneficiaries recommend the agency to their relatives who wish to travel. In her opinion, the process of assembling files is simple.The student provides the documents which are, among others, the school reports, the high school diploma (BAC), their passport, their curriculum vitae and many other necessary documents. Once this step has been completed, the applicant’s destination is assessed based on their means. Yara then contacts the universities of the host country. If a university accepts the student’s registration, she takes care of finding accommodation by contacting other students or anyone who can help. Ms Raya says she has good contacts in many countries, which makes her job easier.

Travel budget varies by destination. Travelling to Canada costs 2,700,000 FCFA. Turkey, for example, requires 3,500,000 FCFA package including plane ticket, language courses and university fees. “The package is better,” she advises. Her profit is between 250 000 FCFA and 500,000 FCFA even though she waves her profit when the applicant does not have enough resources.

However, Yara sometimes advises against certain destinations. She says: “There is this girl who wants to go to Canada but the cost is very high while her mother is a fruit trader. Transport alone is expensive without other costs such as accommodation, food… I advised her. I told her that she is not leaving to help her mother but rather to distress her, because she will go out of her way to send her the little money that comes from the sale of her fruits,” she explains. So, she offered her Turkey because, according to her, “it is a business country and she can send her mother goods to sell. In addition, there are scholarships that she may have the chance to benefit from. They can also study cheaply with other benefits.”

Her strengths

To the question of whether she does not contribute to the brain drain, the lady speaks a dozen languages (Arabic, English, French, Mooré, Turkish, German, Italian, Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese) and who now intends to learn Russian, says firmly: “We must first highlight the brain. And when the brain is highlighted, it does not leak. If the brain chokes because of lack of employment then it does not live. If I think you’re smart and you’ll have opportunities there, I won’t hesitate to help you.”

Students prefer destinations such as Canada, the United States of America, France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Cyprus … More and more candidates are also going to Senegal, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Côte d’Ivoire…

The polyglot finds it “exciting” to help others: “I was not able to  travel when I wanted, but I have decided to help others and if they are able to go, it’s like I went too. Helping them does not demean me, quite the contrary. I’m glad to see them get where I couldn’t, thanks to my help.”

Multiple origins: a child of migration

Raya’s mother, even though a Jordanian, also has part of her origin in Africa. Indeed, according to Raya, her mother is actually Palestinian-Jordanian. She explains that her maternal grandfather left Palestine with his family to settle in Jordan because of the war in Palestine and they later naturalised. She goes on to reveal that her maternal great-grandparents were Ethiopian and Palestinian.  This explains, according to her, the “chocolate” complexion of her mother and other members of her family. “Dad told me that I inherited the complexion of grandma who was Ethiopian,” she justifies her pretty black complexion before adding with a burst of laughter: “Our family moves a lot, it’s a family of immigrants.” The young lady is the product of immigration, something she appreciates in these terms: “I am proud of my chic miscegenation”. She says she is currently researching Ethiopian civilization because, in her opinion, it is also her story. She points out that in the family in Ouagadougou, Arabic is used more as a language of dialogue.

Having visited Dubai (the United Arab Emirates), Tunisia, Turkey, Algeria after visiting her maternal grandparents in Jordan, the tireless student now plans to go to Japan, South Africa, China, Brazil, Saudi Arabia from where she will return home with agricultural equipment because her dream is to feed Burkina Faso.

Although she has been inconsistent in recent years in Jordan with her grandparents, she says she is in constant contact with them. “We call each other at least three times a week on the phone,” she says.  But every time she went, “the atmosphere was cool between the family meal and group outings,” recalls the one who is preparing this year, during the next holidays, to go to Jordan.

Raya says she is proud to belong to two cultures but admits that it is quite “complicated” when she feels that certain actions are not accepted by both sides. “In Jordanian education, we do not use formal language with our parents but here in Burkina Faso, people see using informal language with parents as being rude, especially in Mossi (editor’s note: an ethnic group from Burkina Faso),” she said.

Ms Raya urges women to work and not to give in to the easy way because “the future is female“, adds Raya Sana, from a family of 5 children including 4 girls. Two of her sisters are abroad studying.