Muna Garage Camp
Nigeria

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Upon investigating areas of concern that I could create a learning space for, I came across the story of the 276 school girls from the town of Chibok in the Borno State of Nigeria, who were abducted from their school in April 2014 by the Boko Haram, an extremist Islamic group active in in the northeast of Nigeria.

Boko Haram began in 2002, but began terrorist like activity in Nigeria around 2009. Its full name translates into "People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet's Teaching and Jihad," but the group is better known by the shorter one, which loosely translates to "Western Education is Forbidden”. It prohibits taking part in any activities associated with Western Culture (including western education)

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Boko Haram's attacks soon intensified into bombings, killings and kidnappings all over the north east of Nigeria. Targets were mainly community areas, such as schools, and children were being targeted as emotional ammunition. After bombing the U.N. headquarters in Nigeria's capital in 2011, they then made global news by kidnapping the school girls in Chibok. The world responded by rallying to assist and the hashtag #bringbackourgirls was created.

After 8 years of these continual terror attacks by Boko Haram, the advocacy organisation, one.org, estimates over 14 million people across the northeast of Nigeria have been forced to flee their homes with more than half of those being children.

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One of the places that these people flee to is the Muna Garage Camp. It is one of the 2 informal camps and 11 formal camps that have been set up in the city of Maiduguri, the Borno State Capital in the North East of Nigeria. The Muna Garage camp is estimated by UNICEF to have a population of over 40,000 individuals of which 55 % of those are children, settled within an area of 39.7ha or 400,000 sq. metres. The average area per person is estimated at 23m2 which is below the international standards of 45m2 per person (Sphere Project Chap 4 pg. 217) The size of camp and area per capital is critical as crowded conditions increase morbidity, stress and protection concerns. The Muna Garage Camp is made up of a variety of makeshift shelters. Most are made of straw or from plastic sheeting,  are a few tents for accommodation. The permanent buildings on site are of poor construction by western standards these buildings are reserved for latrines, and other health facilities.  Health and Education services are limited as the host town of Maiduguri struggles to maintain its own resources.

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Muna Garage Camp is now home to many young children and youth who have survived horrific violence and persecution. Many of the children arrived without family as they ran to escape the death and destruction of family, friends, home and school. Every one of them has been touched by trauma and has suffered the loss of their basic human rights. The survivors still live in fear of attack, are malnourished and in dire need of global assistance. Having abandoned their towns, and walked days to reach the IDP camps, many children and parents have also abandoned any hope of education.

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The video link below will give you an idea of how life is in the Muna Garage Camp.

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It is their journey, fraught with danger, the unknown, equipped with only the bare necessities that inspired me to create my Future Learning Space, Bindlestick Learning.