Restoring hope to learn
Hamdi is one of six children. Her parents divorced and abandoned her and her siblings when she was six years old. This was shortly after they had fled their home town for Mogadishu, Somalia. The children were fleeing from the ongoing fighting in the Lower Shebelle region and were left to fend for themselves; her eldest sister took on the role of their mother and father.
Hamdi had previously been enrolled in a school in Mogadishu that was providing affordable primary education funded by the UN. However, Hamdi dropped out of school in 2013 when she was in grade one after it was shut down due to a lack of funds.
“My life had lost meaning as my dream of becoming a doctor and better placed to assist with the family finances was laid to rest with the closure of the school”,
says Hamdi as she recalls how she felt on that day she dropped out of school. Hamdi began washing clothes for other families to support the household income.
Opportunities for education in Somalia are limited. Only 42% of primary school-age children in the country are going to school. Civil war, drought, displacement, and steep social and economic barriers have affected education delivery and contributed to one of the lowest school enrolment rates in the world. CARE, with funding from Educate A Child, a programme of the Education Above All Foundation, is aiming to contribute to sustainable and relevant primary education for all in Somalia.
The goal is to enrol 30,100 poor and marginalised out of school children across three regions of Somalia back in schools. CARE has so far constructed 155 classrooms and rehabilitated 27 classrooms in 58 schools, supported teachers with training, enrolled 13,099 children in school, and provided teaching and learning materials. In November 2014, through community outreach, Hamdi’s sister heard about the new CARE primary school constructed in their camp.
Excited, Hamdi’s sister immediately made Hamdi quit her job, and enrolled her and three of her siblings back in school despite the fact that they were supporting the family with daily income. Hamdi re-enrolled in grade two in 2014 at the Bardheere Primary School situated at one of the major camps for internally displaced people in the Hodhan district of Mogadishu. She is now in grade three. Undeterred by the sense of hopelessness experienced by the displaced communities in Mogadishu, Hamdi works very hard in school and is admired by her teachers. Hamdi can now read and write Somali and basic English and is excited about school as it gives her a chance to be a student again and learn new things.
