JOWHAR, SOMALIA — A nation overwhelmed by civil war, flooding and, most recently, the threat of starvation might be forgiven for overlooking the back-to-school season.
But Abdulkhadir Wasuge has devoted his life to making sure his corner of Somalia never forgets. Over the last 14 years, Wasuge has emerged as a leading education advocate in this Horn of Africa country, one of many unsung heroes who have stepped up to fill the void left by the government's collapse in 1991.
As he does each year, Wasuge, 43, recently made the rounds in Jowhar, 60 miles north of Mogadishu, the capital, collecting enrollment figures, assessing teacher curricula and reminding parents and community leaders about the importance of putting children in school.
His Shabelle Educational Umbrella, which functions as a de facto school board, is largely responsible for rebuilding the region's education system, which has grown from a single schoolroom with 40 pupils in 1993 to 146 schools and 10,000 pupils.
"Education is the light," said Wasuge, a father of eight. "I want to make sure young people don't miss out."
He attributed his motivation to overcoming personal challenges as a child. A bout with polio at age 5 left him without use of his legs. "I've lived with a handicap myself, so I know what that's like," he said. "Lack of education is just another kind of handicap."
Much of the time he gets around town on a specially built four-wheel motorbike or in a wheelchair. But often he walks on his hands, protected by a pair of well-worn sandals, using a powerful upper body to go up steps and climb into cars without assistance.
Aid groups say his efforts have pushed the primary school enrollment rate to 24% in the Middle Shabelle region, which includes Jowhar. Though still relatively low, that rate is the highest in southern Somalia, where only about one in five children attends school.
"He's someone who never gets tired of working for what he's committed to," said Marian Abkow, education manager in the Jowhar office of the United Nations Children's Fund, or UNICEF.
Somalia's school system disintegrated in 1991, when the dictatorship of Maj. Gen. Mohamed Siad Barre was toppled and the country descended into clan-based civil war. Government institutions were the first to collapse; schools were ransacked and teachers fled the country.
Lack of education represents one of the country's biggest challenges as it tries to rebuild with a generation that can barely read or write. Drug addiction is high among young men, many of whom work for warlords and are paid in khat, a narcotic-like plant. Somalia has gone from one of Africa's most literate nations, with a rate of 60% in the 1970s, to one of the least, with about 25% today.
"This is going to have implications for generations," Abkow said.
Wasuge said he got involved in education after losing his job as an accountant for a sugar factory, which closed in 1990 amid mounting clan-related clashes. The Jowhar factory's closing left several thousand people unemployed and desperate. It was followed by a drought-related famine that killed hundreds of thousands. Wasuge and his wife lost their firstborn to disease before the boy turned 2.
"I was practically begging for food," he recalled.
In 1993, community leaders reopened a primary school and Wasuge found work teaching math. Over the years, he became more active in the school, eventually helping to establish the umbrella group, which organized the reopening of schools in Jowhar and surrounding villages. The group also established minimum academic standards, recruited teachers and raised money from foreign aid groups and local charities.
Wasuge became a fixture in the region, sometimes going door to door to convince parents, clerics and warlords of the importance of reopening schools.
"I felt the community needed me," he said.
Mindful of the challenges he sometimes faced, Wasuge launched a special class for disabled students, which he taught under a tree until funding was obtained in 2000 to build a classroom.
Likewise, he added adult- education classes after discovering how many adults missed the chance to attend school.
"When I was young, girls were just ignored," said Fatuma Ali Abdulle, 46, who sells gasoline from plastic drums in Jowhar's main market. She complained to Wasuge that her customers were defrauding her and she was helpless to stop them because she could not read and write.
"They would take 50,000 [shillings] in gas, but only write down 5,000," she recalled.
Wasuge enrolled her in one of 17 primary schools that cater to people older than 18.
"It was a little embarrassing at first," Abdulle said, "but now I can even figure out my profits."
