December 4, 2007
Education can liberate children of war
As a high school student in Ramallah during the second intifada, Tala Rahmeh endured daily bombings, curfews, and searches—all while studying for the exit exam that would determine her future.
Despite the round-the-clock stress, Rahmeh never lost sight of her goal: to get into a good college.
“Getting an education is the only thing that makes you not a victim. You have to dare to envision what it’s like on the outside, as a scholar or a doctor or a teacher,” the current AU MFA creative writing student told those gathered for last Tuesday’s event.
“People need not only money—they need a good school with staff who care and can make a great difference in a victim’s life,” added panelist Damba Koroma. The 15-year-old survivor of Sierra Leone’s civil war, who now lives in Alexandria with her adopted family, spoke about the impact of education in her own life. “A good education can liberate people.”
According to Eluned Schweitzer, senior education advisor at Washington-based Save the Children, 77 million primary school–aged children are not in school and 39 million, more than half of those, live in communities affected by war or conflict.
Though education is generally seen as secondary to life-saving services—food, water, and shelter—“it’s the minds of human beings that need to survive conflict,” said Schweitzer.
“Young people can be extraordinarily resilient; they can still become productive human beings. We just need to give them a chance,” she continued.
“The first major challenge is that this is a huge problem. The second . . . is that education is simply underfunded,” volunteered Nicole Gaertner, who represented the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration. A scant 25 percent of her bureau’s $800 million budget funds programs with an education component.
“Clearly, we need to do more.”
“Educating Children in War and Conflict Zones” was sponsored by AU’s Peacebuilding and Development Institute, Creative Peace Initiatives, and Save the Children.
