(ERGO) – Abdirizak Mohamed Gure, 14, has been idling at home since General Adde school in Hafun, on the northeastern tip of Somalia’s Puntland state, was damaged by cyclone Gati that struck the area on 23 November.
His family’s home was also damaged and their fishing boat that used to generate $400 a month for the family of eight to live on was washed away.
Part of the roof was blown off their house and living conditions are tough. Abdirizak knows his parents would do anything possible to get him back to class if they could.
“They don’t even have proper shelter and their source of income has been destroyed. This cyclone even destroyed my books, some were blown away and others are drenched and torn apart,” said Abdirizak, a grade 9 student.
Just before Abdirizak was born, the school was destroyed before by the tsunami that struck in 2005 and rebuilt a year later by the community with support from the state government and aid agencies.
Omar Ali Mohamed, General Adde school principal, said he has not yet had any response to the requests for assistance he submitted to Puntland’s education ministry and other organisations. The 171 students enrolled in primary, intermediate and high school are all at home.
“The cyclone has done a lot of damage to the school. It blew off the roof and two classrooms have completely collapsed. It damaged the chairs and tables, and all the electronic equipment, like computers and printers, were drenched and rendered useless. The school water tank and toilets have also been wrecked,” he told Radio Ergo.
Omar estimated that they may need at least $40,000 to rebuild the school. The community which played the biggest part in building the school is not in a position to help now.
Hawo Hirsi Arale, a mother of seven, told Radio Ergo that the cyclone destroyed her house and small restaurant. She is worried about the education of her two daughters and son in grades 4, 8 and 9 respectively.
“They just idle around or at best read the Koran. We [the community] even thought of building [a school] with plastic, but that would not withstand the strong winds. With school, the children were disciplined, but now they come and go as they please, and we can’t say much because we don’t have anything for them. We are waiting for the government to do something,” she said.
Fadumo Muse Haji, 13, was one of 14 students in grade 8 at General Adde school. She told Radio Ergo she knew her parents were doing what they could to get her back to classes.
“I worry a lot about the interruption in our education. I know if my parents were able to send me to another town to continue my education, they would, but they are not in a position to do that because they lost the [fishing] equipment they used to work with, so there is no other option but to wait until our school is rebuilt,” she said.
The school fees from parents pay the monthly salaries of seven teachers at the school, while the Puntland Ministry of Education provides $200 a month as a supplement.
The sole road that connects Hafun to the rest of Puntland was cut off by the cyclone, disrupting the flow of emergency humanitarian aid and other support and services to the community.
