SOMALIA: Massive School Dropouts As Famine Continues

[marmar]

NAIROBI, Aug 18 (IPS) – Jamaal Abdi, an eight-year-old boy at the Badbaado camp on the outskirts of Mogadishu, would like to have an education. He has his own dreams for the future.

But since Abdi and his family arrived at Badbaado camp – the biggest camp for people displaced by the drought and famine in southern Somalia and home to nearly 30,000 people, mostly women and children – he has done nothing but sit around all day. But for Abdi, it’s nothing new. He’s never been to school.

"I learned from my friends how to write my name only. Now I just stay at the shelter and do nothing. I want to study because when I grow up I want to be a doctor and be a good man who helps people, sick people," Abdi told IPS, as he played with his friends outside his family’s makeshift shelter at Badbaado.

Apart from a few informal Islamic schools where children are taught to memorise the Quran, education at the camp is almost non-existent as aid agencies prioritise feeding and treating those affected by the famine and drought. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.ips.org/africa/2011/08/somalia-massive-school-dropouts-as-famine-continues/

[jwirr]

1. The thought that keeps running through my mind is that there are

so many things we in America take for granted.