A day in the life of Khalim
A young boy living in an IDP camp prepares for his future
Khalim, 15, lives in in Sortoni IDP Camp, North Darfur with his family. They moved to the camp after the armed clashes in the Jebel Mara region in 2016. This week he took a half day road trip to the locality of Kabkabiya where the Al Hamiya School for Boys and Girls is located. Khalim and 297 students from the Sortoni camp are there to take their G8 exams.
We all have to be relocated far from our homes to various examination centres, because of conflict and insecurity. It is virtually impossible to effectively study for this critical exam and continue our education where we live.
Afternoons at the school are reserved for house chores such as laundry. UNICEF local partner, the Kabkabiya Small Holders Charitable Society, as well as the neighboring community, provide the students with clean water, sanitation and laundry needs.
Afternoons are also dedicated to course revision, especially late in the day, when it gets cooler. The school has dedicated teachers, provided by the North Darfur Ministry of Education and UNICEF, who accompanied the students on the trip to Kabkabiya to prepare them for the exams.
As we approach sunset my day also comes to an end and I return to the room that serves as a dormitory, I always find myself dreaming pleasantly. I dream of the day when we will return home, not to our Sortoni home, but to our village of origin. But above all, I dream of the day when I am announced that I have successfully passed my G8 examinations, and when I will join a normal school, with beautiful and sustainable classrooms like these ones; a school where I will not have to travel hundreds of miles to just write a test or an exam!
