Jesuit Agency Facilitating Education of Refugee Children with Special Needs in Burundi

Among the beneficiaries of the education initiative is Ibrahim, a ten-year-old Congolese refugee who lives with physical disability. 

With no nearby public school and unable to travel long distances to get to school, Ibrahim had given up on formal education, a situation that changed when JRS offered to support his studies at Bukirasazi Technical School, a private school that is closer to his home.

“I am happy to be at school like other children, even if I am not physically like them,” Ibrahim has been quoted as saying in the March 1 report adding, “Education is important because we learn many things like reading, writing, counting, singing and playing.” 

He looks toward his future with hope and optimism saying, “When I finish my studies, I would like to be a doctor to treat people, especially people with disabilities.”

For Lydie whose four children are living with disabilities, there is no greater joy than seeing all her children go to school despite her inability to support their education.

Three of Lydie's children are deaf while the fourth one has visual impairment.

Following an accident, Lydie had one of her legs amputated, a misfortune that saw her husband abandon the family, as he was unable to cope with his children’s disabilities and his wife’s new condition.

“I am aware that disabled children have the same right to education as other children, but I could not afford to send them to school because of the excessive cost of school fees and materials,” the Congolese-born parent has been quoted as saying in the March 1 JRS report.

When officials of the 40-year-old refugee agency visited her home, Lydie was happy “because it was the first organization that had the courage to come and assist me,” she says.

With JRS support, Lydie adds, her children “are now housed at the boarding school and they are taken care of one hundred percent.”

“They can write and they will become important people in the future. I really enjoy seeing my children go to school,” Lydie recounts in reference to her children who are attending Ephphatha boarding school.

Another family that has benefitted from JRS education support is that of Julie, a Congolese refugee, a mother of five children, among them two girls with some cognitive challenges.

Having arrived in Burundi in 2013 when expectant, Julie says she “had a lot of difficulties and despair.”

“JRS directly supported me in my search for an educational center specialized in the disability of my daughters and that’s how my children were enrolled in the Akamuri Centre,” Julie says in the March 1 report.

She adds, “My two daughters are teenagers now and, despite their disability, they attend school. If they were out of school and regardless of their condition, they would probably be exposed to rape and other types of physical or sexual harassment.”

(Story continues below)

In the report, Julie echoes Lydie’s sentiments about the right to education saying, “Disabled children are just like other children and have the same rights to education, life, and health.”

Meanwhile, the sentiments of the two Congolese refugee women are echoed by Noël Ntungwanayo, the Director of the Ephphatha boarding school who says that pupils with different abilities ought to be allowed to access education opportunities just like their counterparts with no health challenges.

To Mr. Ntungwanayo, education will not only enable the children with special needs have access to better opportunities in life, but it will also enable them “begin to understand the world as they start communicating.”

He decries the lack of suitable schools for pupils with special needs, a challenge he says is the “main difficulty” for families with such children.

At his school, Mr. Ntungwanayo says that out of the more than 120 students in both boarding and day sections, “Most of them come from vulnerable families and some cannot afford to pay school fees.”

“I would like to thank all those who support these refugee students and other vulnerable Burundians with school fees and other materials,” the Director of Ephphatha boarding school has been quoted as saying in the March 1 report by JRS.

He adds, “I make a heartfelt appeal to other benefactors to follow such lead and help these children.”

Founded in November 1980 by Jesuit Fr. Andrew Arrupe, the mission of JRS is “to accompany, serve, and advocate on behalf of refugees and other forcibly displaced persons, that they may heal, learn, and determine their own future.”

ACI Africa adapted this story from the March 1 report by JRS Great Lakes.