Their Boundless Hope Breaks All Boundaries

Those left furthest behind are the ones with no legal, nor physical protection. They are the ones not accessing their right to an inclusive and continued quality education. They are hidden in the margins of the society - far away from official registers and development plans. They are hiding in the woods shattered by fear as they flee persecution in their country. They subsist in makeshift shelters in cramped camps for the forcibly displaced. They are pushed out of sight because of a disability or because of their gender or ethnicity. They are the ones forced to marry at 13 and bear children, exposed to trafficking, sexual- and gender-based violence or recruitment into armed groups and terrorist groups.

As if this was not enough, they also endure their young years in countries and regions plagued by war-crimes, crimes against humanity, climate-induced disasters of epic proportions, while shackled to the chains of extreme poverty.

Those left furthest behind are the forgotten children and youth of the 21st Century. Today, they comprise a staggering 128 million due to COVID-19.

The joint ECW/UNHCR mission to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) this month was a stark reminder of their existence, their burdens of inexplicable suffering, as well as the shimmer of hope that they carry in their young hearts: their hope for an education. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi and I traveled to Ubangi-Nord Province to meet newly arrived refugees from the Central African Republic, of whom 70% have never attended a school before arriving in the DRC. It took 14 hours to travel back and forth between Kinshasa and their Settlement of Hope in the north, established by the Government of the DRC. We travelled by air and changed planes, then we boarded all-terrain vehicles and maneuvered over dirt roads for another two hours and 33 kilometers to reach Modale village, where refugee children and youth from the Central African Republic had been transferred with their families for their safety.

To read the full story on Exposure THEIR BOUNDLESS HOPE BREAKS ALL BOUNDARIES by Education Cannot Wait - Education Cannot Wait (exposure.co)