Rhima’s first step into school
Every morning, Rahima used to sit outside her home and listen. She listened to the laughter of children walking to school. She listened to their footsteps fading down the dusty road. And she imagined what it might feel like to walk beside them.
“I wished I could go with them,” she says quietly. But for years, school felt impossible.
When Rahima was nine years old, she was diagnosed with aggressive bone cancer. Her mother still remembers the moment clearly. “We did not know what tomorrow would look like,” she says. “We were very afraid.” The treatment saved Rahima’s life. But it came at a cost. Doctors had to amputate her right leg.
“I felt like my whole life had stopped,” Rahima recalls. After the surgery, she remained at home. Her parents worried she would face stigma from other children and the wider community. With limited income, they could not afford the support she needed to start school. As the years passed, Rahima watched other children leave for class each day while she stayed behind.
Opening doors for more children
Across Somaliland, many children with disabilities still face barriers to education.
Recent disability assessments conducted in twenty Education Cannot Wait (ECW)–supported schools identified 72 children with disabilities, many of whom had never accessed education due to stigma, limited support, or financial constraints. Through the ECW‑funded Multi‑Year Resilience Program (MYRP)—implemented by UNICEF in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Science (MOES), Africa Educational Trust (AET) and local education partners—children with disabilities and out‑of‑school learners are being prioritized with scholarships and inclusive Accelerated Basic Education (ABE) pathways to restore their right to learn.
For families like Rahima’s, these changes are opening doors that once seemed permanently closed.
A future reimagined
Now settled into her learning journey, Rahima dreams of becoming a teacher.
“There are many girls like me still at home,” she says. “One day I want to help them learn too.”
Her story is a testament to the transformative power of inclusive education, made possible through the ECW‑funded MYRP, dedicated educators, and a community beginning to believe that every child deserves a place in school. For Rahima, the scholarship opened more than a school door. It gave her the chance to learn, to belong — and to dream again!
Impact beyond one child
The disability assessment in the ECW schools found significant numbers of children with:
- Learning difficulties (32 cases)
- Mobility impairment (13 cases)
- Vision impairments (11 cases)
- Hearing impairments (7 cases)
- Behavioral challenges (7 cases)
These findings have strengthened inclusive practices, improved early identification of learning needs, and guided scholarship prioritisation to ensure children like Raxiima are not left behind.
Beyond the numbers, the assessments have also helped communities recognise that disability should not mean exclusion from education. By identifying barriers early and connecting families with schools and support programs, the ECW-supported initiative is helping more children with disabilities step into classrooms, rebuild confidence and begin their own learning journeys — just as Rahima has.
