RAPID RESPONSE TO THE NEEDS OF CHILDREN AFFECTED BY THE CRISIS IN NORTHERN MALI.
Thanks to the flexible contributions of the German Federal Foreign Office, Abdel and more than 480 unaccompanied or alone children have benefited from quick and effective humanitarian assistance in Timbuktu.
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In the Bellafarandi neighborhood on the outskirts of the city of Timbuktu, Abdel and 3 other children are playing soccer in the courtyard of their home. Their laughter can be heard as one enters the compound. Abdel*, 11 years old, joined this foster family of 07 children less than a year ago. This is his new home.
He lived with his parents in the city of Ber, in northern Mali, before fighting broke out between armed groups and the Malian armed forces in August 2023. He left the city, fleeing the threat of being forcibly recruited by the armed groups.
"They came to take the boys and young men to go fight. I fled with the father of a neighboring family who owned a car," Abdel recounts.
Abdel eventually found himself alone in Timbuktu, at a site hosting internally displaced people from Ber. There, he was recognized by Albakaye Cissé, married and father of 07 children. Albakaye, who knew Abdel's parents, decided to take him in with their agreement.
"I feel good here. I now have 7 new brothers and sisters. I don't want to go back to Ber. Plus, soon, I'll go to school."
Abdel is registered on the list of internally displaced people kept since the early hours of the conflict in Ber by the Regional Directorate for Social Development (DRDS), a partner of UNICEF and the technical service in charge of coordinating population movements. After a search and exchanges with Abdel's parents who could not flee the city, the DRDS entrusted Abdel to Albakaye. For the young boy, this is finally the beginning of a return to normalcy after several very difficult weeks. In this foster family, he will finally have a roof and adults to take care of him.
"When he arrived at our place, he only had the clothes he was wearing when he fled Ber. He was very emaciated and scared," Albakaye recounts.
Abdel benefited from psychosocial support sessions through the NGO Terre des Hommes, a partner of UNICEF for the protection of children affected by the crisis in the Timbuktu region. His foster family also received food and clothing to enable them to properly take care of the child. "I feel good here. I now have 7 new brothers and sisters. I don't want to go back to Ber. Plus, soon, I'll go to school," Abdel confides before returning to play soccer in the courtyard.
The support of 35 foster families with food and non-food items was made possible in four circles of the Timbuktu region affected by the crisis in Mali thanks to the support of the German Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs through a flexible humanitarian contribution received in 2023. More than 480 children affected by the crisis in the Timbuktu region have thus received rapid and effective psychosocial, medical and humanitarian care.
Flexible contributions like that of the German Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs allow UNICEF and its partners to respond without delay to the most urgent needs of children affected by the complex and multifaceted crises shaking the Sahel region. They also allow for the preparation of humanitarian responses to various security and climate threats already identified in the region.
* The name has been changed to protect the child identity.
