Wheels of hope for disabled children at flood disaster sites in Kousseri
UNICEF donates tricycles to disabled children in Kousseri affected by flooding
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"I'm very happy. I'll be able to go to school and get around more easily.
For Lareh and Halima, it's much more than tricycles. It's the freedom to move around, to go to school, to play, to be psychologically fulfilled and, above all, to dream like all the other children. Lareh, 14, stands at the entrance to their makeshift home in the Kousseri "Camp militaire" flood disaster site in Cameroon's Far North. Lareh has had a motor disability since birth. In the camp, she crawled her way around. Her knees were whitened by dust, and her dress was always stained with dirt, while she took care of household chores in her mother's absence.
But that morning, Lareh's face lit up. She had been given a tricycle adapted for children with disabilities by UNICEF, the result of case management by the Social Worker from the Logone et Chari Departmental Delegation for Social Affairs, with technical support from UNICEF.
"My dream is to become a teacher. I'm going to help children who weren't as lucky as I to go to school early".
The young girl does not go to school. Her widowed, unemployed mother has been unable to send her to school for lack of funds. She has just been registered for the 2025-2026 academic year. For years, Lareh has watched other children go off to classrooms, including the makeshift ones at the disaster site, without ever being able to join them. Now she wants to make up for lost time. She wants to learn to read, write and count... and one day work in her community to help other children learn too.
Among the displaced families, Fatimé, a courageous 64-year-old grandmother, received a tricycle for her "child". Since the birth of her granddaughter Halima, who has a motor disability, she has carried her on her back every day. To fetch water, to go to the health centre, or simply to go about her daily activities. Despite the pain, despite her age, she never gave up.
"She's my only granddaughter. Her mother died when she was just 2. I've always carried her everywhere. As she got older, it became more and more difficult for me to carry her everywhere. With the floods, this task was made even more difficult both during the journey to this site and daily life in this makeshift site. Now, thanks to this donation from UNICEF, I'll be able to move around more easily with it, and I'll be able to stay healthy too."
Thanks to UNICEF's rapid response programme to protect children during the floods of 2024, Halima and Lareh will be able to move around the site more easily and become self-sufficient. These tricycles are much more than just equipment. They symbolise inclusion, autonomy and restored dignity. In emergencies, UNICEF works to ensure that every child, whatever their physical condition or background, can live life to the full.
