Twelve-year-old Hassan Abdikadir Ahmed is glad to be learning in the classroom and getting two meals a day at his school in Haddii La-Yaabo Yaasiinka IDP camp in Mogadishu’s Garasbaley neighbourhood.

He is among 800 students in four schools in Garasbaley and Kahda district who are receiving free tuition and food under a programme supporting IDPs.

“I am glad I am now in school and learning from teachers who teach us in a systemic manner.  A person gets tired after long hours of study and needs something to eat, so we break and line up for porridge, and after eating we return to class and continue with our studies,” said Hassan, who was enrolled in Koshin primary school in December.

His mother could not afford to pay school fees and Hassan used to feel frustrated when he saw his age-mates dressed in uniform going to school in the morning. He hopes to find a career path that will make his mother proud.

“My mother brought me to this school so that I can be successful and support her. Maybe, tomorrow I might become an office administrator and help my mother,” he declared.

Hassan’s divorced mother provides for her six children working as a porter in Mogadishu’s Bakara market. She receives no financial support from her children’s father.

Sudi Ali Yussuf has enrolled four of her six children in Nadiifo primary school, another participating school in Al-hidaaya IDP camp. When she fled Dacaaraha village in Lower Shabelle region, she did not think her children would manage to get an education. She is also pleased that they received health meals at school.

“We were poor rural people who didn’t have any wealth and when we came here, we were worried about the future of our children. Now, whenever I see them reading their notes, I feel an immeasurable happiness,” she said.

Sudi said she brought her children to Mogadishu to save them from hunger after the river Shabelle that irrigated their small farm dried up.

Adan Mohamed Osman, a father of eight, was glad to enroll six of his children at Nadiifo primary school. The children had dropped out at the end of 2020 when their previous school closed due to lack of funding.

“The children were staying home without education. Now we have been built schools that have toilets, water, and food. In the morning, the pupils are given porridge and for lunch they eat beans. We used to worry a lot about our children’s education, but thank God this school came to our aid,” he said.

Adan joined Al-hidaya IDP camp in 2016, after being evicted from a settlement camp in Galmudug neighbourhood in Dharkenley. He was originally displaced by drought from Kurtuwaarey in Lower Shabelle region in 2011 and has lived in several camps in Mogadishu.

The free tuition and feeding programme is being run by Nomadic Assistance for Peace and Development (NAPAD) with funding from the German government. It is planned to continue until December 2023.

NAPAD education project manager, Abdirahin Adan, told Radio Ergo they decided to provide free education to the children from IDP families as their parents could not afford private schools. He said NAPAD is also trucking free water for the IDP families in the camps where the schools are located.

Source: Radio Ergo