122.1 million-as many people were at the end of April 2025, according to the UN refugee agency UNHCR, before war and persecution. More than half (73.5 million) form inland -selling people who had to flee within their home country.
Tigray, in northern Ethiopia, is a region that was particularly affected by escape movements within its own national borders. During the two -year civil war between the Ethiopian government and the “Volksfreundungsfront of Tigray” (TPLF), 700,000 people lost their lives. A million fled within the region and lives in makeshift camps. “Schools were often converted into emergency accommodation. The situation is heartbreaking. Even two and a half years after the war ends, families still on a few square meters, only separated by hung planes or blankets that allow almost no privacy”describes Reinhard Heiererer, Managing Director of Youth a world.
The Austrian development organization has supported school and vocational training projects since its foundation 28 years ago. At the beginning of the civil war in November 2020, Youth performed a world with an important emergency for the hungry and traumatized population, including thanks to the support of the Austrian Development Agency (ADA). “The war not only destroyed the life of millions of people in the region, but also hit the education system, which has further consequences for the younger generation”so heizes. “The children had no lessons over several years. Schools that were devastated must now be rebuilt quickly. So that the girls and boys have a perspective.”
Reconstruction of the schools urgently needed
Because during the civil war, the armed troops in the Tigray region stopped nothing. For example, when they moved through the city of Adwa, where youth trained a world together with the Salesians Don Boscos and young people as solar technicians, they tore the doors of the schools out of their fishing, dragged tablets and benches, burned booklets and books. Over 2,400 girls and boys lost their safe learning and shelter in just one day. “”Some schools, if they are no longer needed as emergency accommodation for internal displaced persons, are now open again. But many classrooms no longer have a facility. Everything is empty, except for the dusty soil there is nothing left “”Heierer outlines the current situation. “Thanks to the support of the Austrian Development Agency (ADA), we are now the schools with tables, tables, armchairs, teaching materials and barrier -free toilets. But at the same time, the buildings must also be restored until the coming school year. Learning empty stomach.
Provisional lessons outdoors
Until all schools are restored, lessons continue to run in the open air. Often only a large mango tree serves as a roof over the head. “The schoolchildren move together on simple wooden sections and listen to the teacher who leans his board to the trunk”describes Wolfang Wedan, emergency aid coordinator of youth a worldImpressions of his last visits to the Tigray region. “For the children who have experienced violence and flight, this provisional teaching means much more than reading and arithmetic: it gives structure, security and a dose of normality in state of emergency.”
Please help with your donation
Financial support is urgently needed so that these provisional learning locations – in addition to the re -made schools can also become fixed educational islands. Heierer: “Every pen, every bank, every roof is a building block for a better future and a later life in dignity. Please help with your donation to rebuild the school system in the Tigray region battered by the civil war and thus give the children an important glimmer of hope.”
Youth a world donation account: AT66 3600 0000 0002 4000 | Online donations under www.jugendeinewelt.at/spenden | Donations are tax deductible!
More information: www.jugendeinewelt.at