The Igawa teen club: recovering peace and friendship
In the heart of the IDP site of Igawa in the Far North, a teenager club was set up in March 2018. It changed the lives of children, helping them escape their daily life as internally displaced persons, to recreate ties of friendship that have disappeared since their forced exile and get involved in constructive activities.
The children of the Igawa IDP site have a child-friendly space that enables them to enjoy several activities. Thus, some 500 children of all ages participate in this locality. However, Bouba, animator at ADELPA, explains that while the childfriendly space is essential, formerly “the same daily activities were offered to everyone, regardless of age. The teenagers quickly got tired of these activities, which were not adapted to their age. The teen club has changed everything for them. What interests them a lot is the talk about discrimination. They share what they learn in the neighbourhoods through their skits. They play scenes of life that convey messages about the importance of girls not getting married too young, for instance, or sending them to school. And it bears fruit. We have noticed a slight decline in teenage marriages here for instance since the establishment of the club.” The club was set up by UNICEF, with funding from the Government of the Republic of Korea, through its KOICA Cooperation Agency. It is run in partnership with a local NGO, ALDEPA.
Amina, an ALDEPA social worker, explains that this club, created in March 2018, welcomes adolescents aged between 10 and 19; both IDPs and children from the community. “All of these activities help children to, firstly, be united by promoting social cohesion, solidarity and living together. These are activities that bring children together. It also helps to keep them away from dangers such as kidnapping, unsafe relationships, drug consumption…” This first adolescent club brings together 30 members: 15 girls and 15 boys. In a gender-equal approach, they participate in many fun and informative activities such as sewing or spaghetti-making workshops, but also raising chickens in the peace farm, another component of the project, launched a few months ago.
Sewing or spaghettimaking workshops
The adolescents work on making the pasta, then on the shaping of the spaghetti and finally on drying it in the hot Far North sunshine. Everyone participates in each step. The bags of spaghetti are consumed locally by the population, but are also intended to be sold, as are the cushions made in the sewing workshop. If the spaghetti workshops are equally gendered, the sewing ones remain exclusively female with welltrained.
young girls concentrating hard on their work. But discussions and laughter are also on the agenda. And when someone buys one of their cushions, the girls’ wide smiles show their delight.
