Aisha Mint Arahma is 12 years old. Because of the insecurity in her village, Touwal, she was forced to flee with her family to the city of Timbuktu in search of safety. Touwal is located 90km from Timbuktu.
A place for Aisha to flourish
The village’s population specialised in livestock farming, gardening and trading to earn money. The displacement caused significant difficulties for Aisha’s family because they, like many other families who fled the area, lost most of their belongings.
Aisha didn’t attend school when she was in Touwal: her daily life consisted of playing with her friends and helping with chores at home.
Upon her arrival in Timbuktu, however, she benefitted from the assistance of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and financial support from the European Union to attend the Learning Centre for Resilience and School Reintegration (CARIS) in Abaradjou. Aisha has been taking part in classes at the CARIS for several months now, where she has learnt to read and write.
We find Aisha in a lively and noisy classroom, where the students follow the teacher’s lesson attentively.
Comfortably seated at her desk, Aisha listens carefully to her teacher’s instructions. She actively participates in the class and volunteers to go up to the board.
“I feel good here. I really like this Learning Centre. Now I can read and write,” Aisha says enthusiastically, a big smile on her face.
The CARIS in Abaradjou has 16 female and 19 male pupils. According to the teacher, students here are diligent and enjoy learning.
Billi Baba, a representative for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Abaradjou, affirmed that the Learning Centre greatly benefits children from displaced families. “The opening of the centre was incredibly important because we would never have believed that in such a short time these children would be able to acquire such a good level of education,” he says.
Since 2012, Mali has been embroiled in a leadership crisis that has led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people. Conflicts in the region have also created an extreme humanitarian crisis, which has had a considerable impact on the human rights of displaced people. This has particularly affected children, threatening their right to education.
The village’s population specialised in livestock farming, gardening and trading to earn money. The displacement caused significant difficulties for Aisha’s family because they, like many other families who fled the area, lost most of their belongings.
Aisha didn’t attend school when she was in Touwal: her daily life consisted of playing with her friends and helping with chores at home.
Upon her arrival in Timbuktu, however, she benefitted from the assistance of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and financial support from the European Union to attend the Learning Centre for Resilience and School Reintegration (CARIS) in Abaradjou. Aisha has been taking part in classes at the CARIS for several months now, where she has learnt to read and write.
We find Aisha in a lively and noisy classroom, where the students follow the teacher’s lesson attentively.
Comfortably seated at her desk, Aisha listens carefully to her teacher’s instructions. She actively participates in the class and volunteers to go up to the board.
“I feel good here. I really like this Learning Centre. Now I can read and write,” Aisha says enthusiastically, a big smile on her face.
The CARIS in Abaradjou has 16 female and 19 male pupils. According to the teacher, students here are diligent and enjoy learning.
Billi Baba, a representative for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Abaradjou, affirmed that the Learning Centre greatly benefits children from displaced families. “The opening of the centre was incredibly important because we would never have believed that in such a short time these children would be able to acquire such a good level of education,” he says.
What’s more, the Abaradjou Learning Centre also provides a safe space for children from displaced families. “Thanks to the school, parents are reassured that their children are no longer wandering around the city, getting lost or even finding themselves in danger. The offer of the hot meal in the canteen is also a great motivation for the children,” says Billi Baba.
This is particularly important for the development of girls like Aisha, who now have a secure environment in which to learn. In addition, since starting at the centre, Aisha has been able to make new friends.
The overall objective of this project, which resulted from the partnership between NRC and the European Union, is to improve and protect learning environments for children affected by the conflict. Aisha and 187 other learners, including 101 girls, can access education in the five centres set up in the Timbuktu region.
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