DR Congo: Caught Between Conflict and Ebola, Nadège, 12, Fights Not to Lose Another Year of Learning and Life
Kiwanja, North Kivu – She fled the war on foot for three days, crossed the Virunga park at night, lost her sister in the crowd, and saw her classmates disappear forever. Today, Kelly, 12, faces a new enemy, as silent as it is deadly: Ebola. But at the MUHOKONZI primary school in the town of Kiwanja, a World Vision project is trying to give back a future to children from a region that has been battered.
The year school stopped: war
"During the 2022–2023 school year, the principal asked us to go home and stay close to our parents because the war was at our doorstep. I went home that day and didn't leave."
Like thousands of children, Kelly saw her life turn upside down in a few hours. Gunshots ring out. The crowd flees. She takes to the road with her mother and siblings, taking the only route still open: the Virunga park.
"We spent three days walking day and night to reach Kirumba. I saw monkeys on the road that had snatched a woman's food supplies. I was too tired, but I couldn't stop."
In the chaos, she loses sight of her little sister, who is fortunately found later with another family. After two weeks in Kirumba, they return to Kiwanja, where the fighting has stopped. But the school does not reopen.
"When I got back, I found my friend Queen in the neighbourhood, who told me that the school had completely closed its doors. There are some classmates I haven't seen again since that day."
To cope with the emptiness, Kelly and her siblings invent a game in the yard:
"We would pretend to play school. One played the principal, another played the teacher, and the others played the students."
For months, their classrooms became dormitories for displaced people.
"They did everything in there. Cook, eat, and sleep. When classes finally resumed, we found our classrooms in a filthy state. Desks were broken, and grass had grown everywhere."
World Vision and "Education Cannot Wait": a breath of fresh air
Thanks to the Integrated Response to Emergency Education in Eastern DRC project, supported by World Vision, Kelly and thousands of other children were able to find their way back to school. Basic but vital supplies: backpacks, geometry sets, notebooks, pens. For girls who have reached puberty, an intimate hygiene kit. For the schools, latrines, and handwashing kits.
The numbers speak for themselves:
23,700 schoolchildren supported in 60 schools in the Rutshuru territory (North Kivu)
Each school received at least one handwashing kit
Latrine blocks are under construction
Teachers have received training, and each school received teaching materials
480 teachers trained on the school-based risk reduction plan, as well as on active and participatory teaching methods, mental health and psychosocial support, and positive masculinity
360 members of parent-teacher committees trained on good governance in schools
"Today, they are telling us about Ebola being among us," Kelly whispers. Her voice changes. Fear returns.
Ebola: a new sword of Damocles
"What scares me the most is that we've been told that this time, Ebola has no specific treatment."
Rumours spread faster than protective measures. On the radio, they repeat the guidelines. But in the schoolyard, the fear is raw:
"I'm so scared when playing with my friends at school because I don't want to catch this disease that has no cure. They tell us that if we come into contact with an infected person, we both risk dying."
Still, World Vision has set up a "Team Up" – fun, educational activities – to keep school a place of life, not just instruction. But rumours are already circulating:
"They're going to cancel this event that brings us so much joy here at school."
Kelly is not giving up. She is part of her school's hygiene committee.
"In total, there are 16 committees. In each class, there are volunteers like me who remind everyone how important it is to wash our hands before entering class and to avoid physical contact."
Hope despite everything, warning despite the fear
Nadège wants to believe that this time, the school will not close.
"I missed school so much. I don't want to see our classrooms closed again."
But the risk is real. Closing schools during the Ebola outbreak would be a catastrophe: lost school years, child marriage, unwanted pregnancies, and children on the streets. The worst-case scenario of 2022–2023 must not happen again. In this new fight, Nadège and her classmates haven't won anything yet. They just need us not to let them down.
For security and protection reasons, the real name has been changed