27-06-2024 | di COOPI

RCA. Chancella and Luc rewrite their future thanks to education

In southeastern Central African Republic, the war has left many children orphaned and with an uncertain future. COOPI is intervening with funding from European Humanitarian Aid to provide quality education for children who had to drop out of school, or who never had the opportunity to go to school.

The stories of Chancella and Luc, two of the many orphans taken into the homes of families in need, highlight the importance of the work being done as part of the project “Integrated Emergency Response to Support Accessible, Inclusive, Quality and Protective Education for the Most Vulnerable Populations Affected by the Crisis in the Central African Republic”.

Angeline took little Chancella, who was orphaned at the age of 2, into her home.

At the time I was unemployed, getting food was difficult, let alone sending Chancella to school. I secretly wanted to see her study with other children her age, but even if I had the economic ability the armed conflicts had devastated everything, even the schools were inaccessible,”  

Angeline says. But the itinerant psycho-social support and training devices (DIAPADOS) implemented by the project have brought great change to their lives:

When the COOPI project came to Zemio, my daughter started attending the DIAPADOS. At first, I was hesitant and sometimes I forced her to stay home to do household tasks. Then one day I heard her imitating children coming out of school, as if she had always gone there,” Angeline explains. "I realized that she had the motivation and willingness to learn, so I encouraged her to attend DIAPADOS more. Now Chancella has been reintegrated into a formal school in Bouna and I am really proud of her. COOPI's project is the best thing that ever happened to the city of Zemio “  

Even for Luc, another child placed in a very poor foster family, the project funded by European Humanitarian Aid made a difference. Initially Luc had no supervision, but despite this he never stopped dreaming of a better future through education.  

When I started classes I was aggressive with the other children. However, the teachers taught me not only to read, write and count, but also to respect and love others, to listen to my parents and to know my rights,” Luc says. “I was even able to make other children aware of these issues during an exercise.”  

The community-based protection and education systems strengthened by the project have had a profoundly positive impact on the lives of these orphaned children, offering them greater hope for the future.

COOPI has been working continuously in the Central African Republic since 1974. For more than a decade it has been promoting education in emergency disputes, carrying out interventions to rehabilitate school infrastructure and support and training.