Rebuilding education in war-torn Somalia

BY EDMUND SANDERS

 

Los Angeles Times

 

JOWHAR, Somalia - A nation overwhelmed by civil war, flooding and, most recently, the threat of starvation might be forgiven for overlooking the back-to-school season.

 

But Abdulkhadir Wasuge has devoted his life to making sure his corner of Somalia never forgets. Over the past 14 years, he has emerged as a leading education advocate in this Horn of Africa country, an unsung hero filling the void left by the government's collapse in 1991.

 

As he does each year, the father of eight recently made the rounds in Jowhar, 60 miles north of the capital city of Mogadishu, collecting enrollment figures, assessing teacher curricula and reminding parents and community leaders about the importance of school.

 

His Shabelle Educational Umbrella, a de facto school board, is largely responsible for rebuilding the region's education system, which has grown from a single schoolroom with 40 students in 1993 to ' schools and 10,000 students today.

 

"Education is the light," said Wasuge, 43. "I want to make sure young people don't miss out." He attributed his motivation to overcoming personal challenges as a child, when a bout with polio at age 5 left him without use of his legs.

 

"Lack of education is just another kind of handicap," he said. Much of the time he gets around town on a specially built four-wheel motorbike or in a wheelchair. But often he walks on his hands, protected by a pair of well-worn sandals, and using a powerful upper body to go up steps and climb into cars without assistance.

 

Aid groups say his efforts have pushed the primary school enrollment rate to 24 percent in the Middle Shabelle region, which includes Jowhar. Though still relatively low, that's the highest in southern Somalia, where only about one in five children attends school.

 

"He's someone who never gets tired of working for what he's committed to," said Marian Abkow, education manager in the Jowhar office of the UN Children's Fund, or UNICEF.

 

Somalia's school system disintegrated in 1991, when the dictatorship of Maj. Gen. Mohamed Siad Barre was toppled and the country descended into clan-based civil war. Schools were ransacked and teachers fled. Somalia went from one of Africa's most literate nations, with a rate of 60 percent in the 1970s, to one of the least, with about 25 percent today.

 

Wasuge said he got involved after losing his job as an accountant for the local sugar factory, which closed down in 1990 amid Somalia's turmoil. The factory's collapse was followed by a drought-related famine that killed hundreds of thousands. Wasuge and his wife lost their firstborn to disease before the boy turned 2.

 

Wasuge began teaching math when a local primary school reopened in 1993. In the ensuing years, he helped to form the umbrella group, which established minimum academic standards, recruited teachers and raised money from foreign aid groups and local charities.

 

Mindful of the challenges he sometimes faced in school, Wasuge launched a special class for disabled students, which he taught under a tree until funding was obtained to build a classroom. He added adult-education for the many adults who missed the chance to attend school.

 

The school system survives today on student fees of about $1 per month. Humanitarian groups help and the United States provides some aid. Somalian business owners and religious groups also provide funding. Now, Wasuge is pushing his government to make school attendance compulsory. "If it will get kids back into school," he said, "we'll try whatever we can."

 

Source: Los Angeles Times, December 2, 2007