Since 2015, the Lutheran World Federation’s World Service program works to support both refugees and host communities in the area, as they grapple with dwindling livelihoods and limited capacity in public infrastructure – for example in the form of schools.
Access to education a multilayered challenge
Today, the two ‘Ecoles Publiques de Borgop’ (Public Schools of Borgop) host 2,366 primary school children across four groups. Close to half of school-age refugee children are attending school.
Yaya Ibrahim, Chief of Office for General Affairs in Inspection of Basic Education at the municipality of Djohong, tells the story of a school that has been largely transformed by the arrival of the refugees.
“One challenge is the issue of social cohesion. When the refugees came, it was not easy at first. And the infrastructure was not sufficient, even for the host community itself. Living together was not easy,” Ibrahim says.
But he also notes that many children today are also not regular in school, for a variety of reasons. “Particularly the older children, we find that they go out to try to get something for themselves, instead of coming to school,” he says.
Finding ways forward, letting children teach ways to peace
Today, the LWF has helped establish two so-called ‘listening clubs’ in the Borgop school.
Through monthly sessions, children are trained in hearing messages of peace, and communicating them to their classmates.
Dogari Samson, painter and consulting artist is part of a specific eight-day intervention to teach the children how to make drawings with images and messages of peace.