Learning Through Play: Ifrah’s Story

Ifrah* is six years old and lives in one of the refugee camps in the Liiban zone in the Somali region of Ethiopia with her parents, who are originally from Somalia.  

Currently Ethiopia hosts over 823,000 refugees and asylum seekers, like Ifrah and her family, mainly from South Sudan, Somalia and Eritrea. 47% of refugees are women and girls, while 59% are children. Ethiopia also has 4.2 million temporarily displaced persons and over 1.5 million returnees (people who left their communities but have since returned, though are still without a permanent home).

Since the centre in her camp is not fully functional, Ifrah participates in Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) activities in a nearby camp. 

“I enjoy coming to the centre,” she says. “English and Mathematics are my favorite subjects. I [also] participate in… handicraft training, where volunteer mothers teach us how to decorate our hands using henna. My favorite part of the day is the henna decoration training.”  

The Child Friendly Centre built by Save the Children in Dolo Ado where Ifrah attends catch-up classes and participates in activities.

Save the Children – through our Brighter Outcomes Ethiopia (BOE) project – is partnering with local organizations to establish/strengthen ECCE Centres to deliver gender-and disability-responsive quality education in the refugee camps for children like Ifrah. These ECCE centres provide opportunities for children to learn basic skills, interact with their peers, and engage in play.

“In addition to [the] henna training, I enjoy activities like playing football, skipping rope, storytelling, and engaging in traditional music singing and dancing at center,” Ifrah says. “I want to be a pilot when I grow up.”

Ifrah* practices her henna designs at the centre.

The Brighter Outcomes Ethiopia project also aims to increase equitable and inclusive learning opportunities for refugee, internally displaced and host community children – particularly young and adolescent girls – in Oromia and Somali regions of Ethiopia.

Save the Children is partnering with local organizations who will work to improve access for out-of-school children and support in-school children by providing inclusive and gender responsive education materials and learning environments; strengthening the capacity of teachers and ECCE facilitators; and improving the delivery of quality and inclusive education with community and education authorities.

*Name changed.

Related posts:

  1. Will we Learn from our Mistakes and Respond in Time to Ethiopia’s Drought?
  2. Our 30-Day Ask: No Refugee Child Out Of School For More Than a Month
  3. Save the Children’s Efforts to Reach Every Last Girl and Every Last Child
  4. International Day of the Girl Child and SDG’s October 2016