Life after conflict

Since the conflict erupted in 2012, children in Mali continue to face significant threats, including losing their homes, families, and schools. Aminata Haidara, 14, is one of those children. She fled the conflict in 2013. Torn from everything she knew in her hometown Gao, she is now building a new life in Mopti, central Mali.

The Niger River flows through Gao and Mopti. Although both regions have been affected by the conflict, Gao remains one of the areas where violence and insecurity are the worst. Some parts of Mopti have also experienced violence, school closures linked to insecurity, as well as internal displacements. At the end of the 2016/2017 school year, more than 200 schools in Mopti were closed. The region also hosts more than 1,400 internally displaced persons.

Aminata has deep emotional scars and trauma from the loss of her loved ones. She was only 10 when she escaped the conflict in Gao with her parents, going on a hazardous two-day journey by motorbike to come to Mopti. Her house in Gao is destroyed.

Unlike over one million children who are still out of school in Mali for reasons in including school closures, household poverty, child labor and child marriage, Aminata was fortunate enough to go back to school. She has joined Moulaye Dembele school in Mopti.

“All out of school children need to go back to school,” says Aminata. “When children are not in schools, it leads to all kinds of problem, such as malnutrition and violence.”

At Moulaye Dembele primary school, there are more than 2,000 children, some of them internally displaced who fled the conflict. UNICEF helped the school by building temporary learning spaces and providing school manuals and equipment.

Education has helped Aminata get back on her feet. For her, school is a tool for recovery by reestablishing a daily routine and helping to restore a sense of normalcy.

Aminata performs a Physics exercise. Her favorite subject is English and she also likes math and French.

Oumar Dia left the conflict-affected region of Kidal and is now a teacher in Aminata’s school. “Children who have been caught up in conflict are struggling with trusting other people. I talk to them and try to find out what happened. I try then to help them return to a normal life. I also support them to catch up and be at the same level as other children in their class.”

Peace education is an essential component that is supported by UNICEF in Aminata’s school. Training modules provide children with knowledge, skills, attitudes and values needed to prevent violence, resolve conflict peacefully and to create an atmosphere of trust.

Aminata’s best friend is Bintou. Schools do not only provide children with a safe environment, support and supervision: they also allow children to socialize with other children, which is fundamental to strengthening social cohesion.

This teacher uses an audio learning tool. As deteriorating security makes it difficult to deploy teachers to conflict-affected areas, volunteer teachers at times replace civil servants. With this innovative tool, volunteer teachers can offer quality education by following audio lessons step by step.

Being back at school has helped Aminata cultivate new dreams. She now wants to become an obstetrician when she grows up. “I want to help people, and especially women.”

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