Saturday May 27, 2023
Shamsa Hassan worries about her children who are out of school following floods that destroyed the classrooms/Rijaal Abdi/Ergo
The destruction in recent heavy rainfall of a free school for displaced children in an IDP camp in Mogadishu is causing concern among parents and teachers.
Bar school, with four classrooms made of iron-sheets, was flattened on 28 April as rainwater floods rushed through Wanlaweyn camp in Deynile district. The equipment was lost or damaged, leaving 102 children out of class.
Father of seven, Mohamud Farah Nunow, who works as a porter with a handcart, had three children in Bar school. On his earnings of $5, he cannot afford to send them to private schools in the neighbourhood, which cost $10 a month.
“Now the children just play outside during the day and come home at dusk. The children are in a bad situation without education, I have no job, there is no money. We need help and education!” he appealed.
The family moved to Wanlaweyn camp in 2020 after being displaced by river floods from their home in Jowhar, Middle Shabelle. Mohamud said their house and his small stall with property worth $1,000 were all lost.
Another parent, Shamso Hassan Hussein, had three children in Bar school. She washes clothes to make ends meet for the family, earning just $4 in a day.
“Three of my children used to study at the school, and now they aren’t learning. They’re just at home doing nothing. I don’t have the capacity to teach them, it was the boys who were studying as the girls are still young,” she said.
Shamso, a single mother of four, joined the camp in 2020, after being displaced from Barawe in Lower Shabelle by clan conflict. Her husband died in the conflict while their house in Barawe was burned.
“I would like them to continue learning, so we would like to get books and pens,” said Shamso, who want her children not to struggle doing odd jobs for a living like she does.
Bar School was established by the Somali teachers’ union in December 2020. The teachers were volunteers from different universities in Mogadishu, who gained teaching experience whilst the students received free education.
The Somali teachers’ union has informed the parents that they do not funds to reconstruct the school.
The school principal, Mohamud Abdi Mohamed, said their students came from seven camps in Deynile.
“Our initial goal was to help and educate the IDP children, and we will strive to continue providing education. We are hopeful that we will find a place to continue the school. We are very concerned that after working for the past two years the school is now closed. The parents always tell us that they miss the school a lot and are worried about the children’s education,” he said.
He said they had received pledges from business people and universities to help reconstruct Bar school but no money had been donated yet.