Sabah - Struggling to go to School

Sabah, 12, lives in southern Iraq. He and his family had to leave their home near Baghdad when it became too dangerous to stay.

This isn’t the first time Sabah’s family had to turn their backs on their home. In 1993 under the previous regime they, along with thousands of other families, had to flee the marsh area when the wetlands were drained and their home was under threat of military attack.

In 2006 War Child visited Sabah’s new village to complete a research project with children and the individuals who have an impact on their lives to find out what they needed mopst. At that time Sabah said:

I love school, but our classroom is very cramped. We all have to race to find a place to sit and even then there are three of us at one desk which makes writing difficult. I still have to be careful though because if I have poor presentation my teacher might punish me for being lazy. I also have to be really careful with the pencils I use; my family doesn’t have enough money to buy new ones.

In the winter it’s a little harder to enjoy school - when it rains the ceiling leaks. It sounds silly, but it’s a struggle to work out where to put my bag. The floor is covered in mud and I can’t risk being punished for getting my books and bag dirty.

In the summer it’s always good when other children aren’t able to attend school because it means the classroom won’t be so cramped. All the students there on those days are happy to have more space!

But in the winter months the more students in the classroom the better chance we have of keeping warm. Otherwise it gets so cold my body starts to shake so I can’t write properly or even turn the pages of my book.

I’m sad that I don’t have any friends. No one asks me to play with them. No one wants to talk to be because I’m not from around here.”

Following the research, War Child identified two programmes to deliver; a Livelihood and a Child Protection Project. The Livelihood Project aimed to support the households in this village because the majority of them had to leave their homes in other parts of the country - leaving families without the means to survive.

War Child established a concrete brick factory, which not only provided jobs for the head of households but - as the majority of homes are built from reeds – provided a stable structural alternative.

As part of the Child Protection Project, War Child built a school with the bricks made from the newly established brick factory, giving the children a secure place to study and play.

Sabah and the other school students were very happy with their new school. Once the school was built War Child asked Sabah how he felt. He replied, “I will protect the school like my second home".