School kits help Tigray children return to school after war

Many children and teens in the Tigray Region of northern Ethiopia returned to school this fall after being unable to go to school for three or four years. Their schools, homes and communities were destroyed or devastated by war from November 2020 through November 2022.

As Tigray People’s Liberation Front fought against the Ethiopian Defense Forces in a struggle for political power, many students fled their homes with their families. Some teens joined the fighters. Other students were killed or traumatized during the war. 

“The devastation is hard to describe,” says Gidey Zerabruk, a member of Enda Ferensay Elementary School’s parent-teacher association. “Some families have lost everything, including their homes. Those who still have homes have lost children, and the economic situation has become crippling. Most can’t even afford daily meals, let alone school supplies.”

Inflated prices have made school supplies more expensive than they used to be, he says. A school bag and notebooks cost about 1,000 birr (US$8) for each child. For a family of five, school supplies would cost about 5,000 birr (US $40) per family. 

That’s why Meserete Kristos Church Development Commission (MKCDC), a Mennonite church partner of Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) in Ethiopia, distributed 15,000 MCC school kits to students in 65 Tigray schools in late September. The school kit contains multiple notebooks, pencils, pens and colored pencils as well as a ruler, eraser and sharpener in a cloth bag.

Recipients were determined based on their level of vulnerability, including those without a father or sufficient income and those who are living in temporary shelter or with a disabled family member.

Kalkidan Fistum, 13, was one fatherless student who came to the school kit distribution held at Rama Secondary School.  She says the kits have been helpful to a lot of people.

“We didn’t have anything, and without the donations, our families would have had to borrow money to buy supplies for us,” says Fistum. She says she was out of school for three or four years. 

“I felt terrible when I was sitting at home without attending school. Not going to school slows your mind down because you are not learning anything,” she says.

Another student Frewyni Abrahaley Teklay, 14, says she is also glad to be back in school.

“I felt stuck at home, but I was afraid to leave because of the soldiers. Now that school has resumed, I’m happy to see my friends again.”

Getting school supplies is encouraging, Teklay adds. “They will assist me in my studies, and they help my family by reducing their expenses. I want to be a pilot and help lift my community out of these difficult times.”

To encourage continued donations of school kits, MCC issued its second annual school kit challenge in August, with a goal of collecting 24,000 kits. Donors responded by exceeding the goal and donating 30,714 school kits. In 2023-2024, MCC shipped 81,048 school kits to eight countries.

At the recent Ethiopian distribution, middle school teacher Memhir Adanech Mekonen, says the students have really been affected by the trauma of the war. 

“They aren’t as hopeful as they once were, and many are injured. It’s hard to motivate them or even give them basic instructions,” Mekonen says. “Some have lost family members, so it’s impossible to expect them to be the same as before." 

Zerabruk says his grandchildren panic whenever they hear fireworks and beg him to run into the woods for safety. “They associate any loud noise with conflict. This trauma affects the youth, in particular, and the whole community as well.”

Going back into a school routine helps children with their trauma, and getting the school kits has been good for students’ morale, says Beriha Maasho, deputy administrator of Addisalem Elementary School in Woreda District.

“They (the students) are thrilled and very happy to receive this support. The parents are also very happy. Seeing their children so happy brings them joy. The entire community – teachers, students and parents – are grateful for any help,” he says.