The girl who wanted to disappear
UNICEF and the EU are working together to support the Government of Iraq in reaching children and adolescents with the aim to identify out-of-school children and modalities for their return to school.
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Samah, 13, has been living in Hassansham IDP camp, Iraq, for the last six years. Even though she looks much younger than her age, she could not enroll in school because she was too old for the school age limit.
"I don’t have a future. After enrolling in the child-friendly center, I had the opportunity to learn to read and write,” she says. Like most children in displacement, she wants to become a doctor, like her uncle who is studying outside the camp, fighting all odds.
Samah’s family cannot go back to their area of origin because it’s not safe for them. So they’ve been in the camp since 2018, living with extended family in a tent, hoping for better tomorrows.
Her grandmother also helps Samah with reading and writing every day. “There is a border to our dreams; we can’t go very far”, she says with a resigned smile.
“If I had superpowers, I would like to disappear,” Samah whispers.
UNICEF and the EU’s humanitarian aid are working with Government and partners to ensure that boys, girls, men and women in IDP camps and informal settlements are reached with education, child protection and GBV prevention and response services.
