Going back to school after a natural disaster

Preparing children for the new school year is never an easy task, even at normal times. As a parent of three, I know this first hand. It is next to impossible in countries where half of the working age population is unemployed and, as it happened, where thousands of people witnessed destruction of their homes, agricultural land and their only sources of income caused by severe floods and landslides.

Damage the floods made to a school in Maglaj.

We are now six weeks to beginning of the new school year. The recovery from torrential rains that hit Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and Serbia in May causing flooding of rivers and thousands of landslides is painfully slow.

Our Emergency Team is working in the field, assessing the situation and giving us essential inputs where to direct our aid, but the damage is overwhelming and we are worried that upcoming cold autumn and winter months will bring numerous problems – inadequate housing, living expenses growing rapidly, and one that we will face fairly soon – unpreparedness for the new school year.

We have warned repeatedly in the past weeks that many schools are still unusable and it is still unknown if those schools will be ready for successful beginning of the new school year. As Save the Children we are doing our best to contribute to the rehabilitation and recovery of several schools that were damaged in floods and landslides all over BiH. There are some other organisations doing the same, but it is not enough, especially in this short period of time we have left until September.

Reconstruction of a classroom in a school in Olovo.

 

At the same time, thousands of families are struggling with existential issues and are essentially helpless and unable to stretch to anything above the minimum family needs. New textbooks, school supplies and clothing are becoming luxury to many, when food on the table and roof over the head is a priority, often unreachable.

We should not forget that re-establishing education process after natural and other disasters, for the psychosocial recovery of the youngest is of key importance. In our Child Friendly Spaces in BiH and Serbia we listened to children talking about their experiences – watching their homes being filled with water, running to safety, living in improvised shelters and we are partnering up with both international and local organisations to help children from affected areas to get back the feeling of 'normalcy'. We wouldn’t want to see, in addition, their education suffering due to emergency circumstances.

We will try to prevent this and make the lives of the students affected by floods easier by providing them with necessary school supplies, thus helping the families in need to get the kids ready for school.

And last but not the least, we are also calling on other donors and institutions to take part in ensuring conditions for the timely beginning of the new school year, in dry and renovated schools, with students having all they need to learn.

Growing up fast in time of crisis

“When the water withdrew we had to throw away everything. We have nothing now.” – These are the painful words we heard from 14 year old David from Bijeljina who, like many others this May, had to flee his home because of severe floods that hit Bosnia and Hercegovina (BiH) and Serbia.

Our team visited Bijeljina on several occasions since the floods. We first distributed lifesaving equipment there, followed by personal hygiene kits, cleaning items and disinfection products.  Now we are about to open a Child Friendly Space in this town – a space where children can continue to learn, develop and overcome traumas caused by this natural disaster.

The flood reached the outskirts of Bijeljina on May 16^th when 6000 persons had to be evacuated. Water has now withdrawn from the town and its surroundings, but this year’s crops are now ruined in this mostly agricultural area. A lot of cattle also died in the chaos of flooding, all off this strongly affecting the Roma population because they normally work in the fields during the summer.

David’s family returned to their destroyed home after the water wiredrew. He lives with his parents and siblings Armanda (2), Leonardo (4), Maikel (13), Jasmin (16) and Jasmina (19).

“The water came in from the ground and totally destroyed our floor”, David’s father tells us. “We had to move everything outside.” He is now trying to dry the wooden floor by placing it up against the wall and shows us the cracks in the fundament. We have provided this family with humanitarian aid after the flood.

At the end of the visit we ask David how he will spend the rest of the summer and his words are painfully grown up’s: “I work with my father. We collect material in the streets, mostly iron. It is easy to find things these days. I got no time for school or play.”

And yet, in midst of this entire crisis, we also found exemplary work. We saw it in our young Roma leaders in Bijeljina, those gathered around Save the Children’s regional Leaders - Young Roma in Action (LYRA) Project. They are volunteering in our partner organization Otaharin, distributing humanitarian aid and helping their fellow citizens, while at the same time continuing to work on pressing issues in their communities.

“During the flood we went to the Roma settlements to help out with the evacuation. Later on we visited families who had lost their homes to find out what their needs were. From there we could start the distribution of humanitarian aid like food and diapers,”  Almir (22), a Roma youth leader from Bijeljina told us.

LYRA Project aims to educate Roma youth to be change makers in their local environment and the program is showing great results. It is implemented in BiH, Albania and Kosovo. In BiH you find it in five cities: Mostar, Sarajevo, Banja Luka, Bijeljina and Tuzla.

Save the Children will continue to work in Bijeljina through both, LYRA Project and the Child Friendly Space, doing our best to reach as many children and families that need assistance as possible.