Hawa was 20-years-old when she “lost everything in Sudan” and arrived to refugee camp Kounoungou “in a very bad situation.” Hawa fled her village and walked three days to safety to the border of Chad. She had lost touch with her family and walked with people from her village—she knew nobody and ate nothing for three days. Upon arriving at the border she found her family again. Hawa says, in the beginning, life in the camp was good because they had food rations, but now, since the food rations have decreased, she feels life in camp is miserable.
Hawa is 30-years-old and has five children. She spends most of her day preparing meals, washing clothing, taking care of her children, and going out to collect water and wood. She has two young daughters: Ikbal, age five and Nabila, age three. Ikbal and Nabila did not eat breakfast today—the family only eats two meals a day. What Hawa hopes for most is for her children to be educated and have a better life. In her village in Sudan, there were no schools and so Hawa is illiterate. She doesn’t want the same for her daughters.
Starting this month, Ikbal and Nabila will be attending a new Little Ripples preschool center in a home near their house in refugee camp Kounoungou. Here they will no longer have to miss a meal. At Little Ripples, they’ll eat a nutritious breakfast everyday, and spend their entire morning learning and playing. Every aspect of Little Ripples–the daily meal, the curriculum, it’s location in the homes of refugees–is designed to meet the hopes of and challenges faced by refugee mother’s like Hawa and her children.
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