Abdulaziz, 10, dropped out of school in first grade. He couldn’t stand the harassment anymore. “I had no friends,” he said. “My schoolmates used to make fun of me, and call me bad names because of my eye.” Since birth, Abdulaziz’s right eye has been larger than his left eye, a problem that weakened his eyesight and caused him to be on the receiving end of continuous bullying. He withdrew socially, ultimately refusing to go back to school, despite his father’s many attempts to convince him of the importance of education.
Abdulaziz lives with his parents and three younger siblings in Moqaz village in Yemen’s southwest Lahj governorate, one of many remote villages that lie atop mountains with rough, rugged roads and a lack of basic health facilities. Abdulaziz’s father, a mechanic, struggled for many years to address his son’s eyesight as he could not afford to take him to a specialist in the city.
However, in September 2019, the USAID-funded Education in Emergency project implemented by Save the Children chose his village as a site for one of 102 non-formal education classes across Aden and Lahj governorates.
After Abdulaziz joined the class in his village, the psychosocial support team decided he needed additional support to improve his eyesight. After an eye exam provided by the project, he became one of the 55 proud children to receive eyeglasses and a new outlook on life.
“He became more confident,” his father said. “With his new glasses, he now can see clearly. He started to go out more often, and play with other children in the village.”
Sporting his new spectacles, Abdulaziz is not letting anything hold him back. “I like to play with my new friends,” Abdulaziz said. “We play football, racing, hide and seek, and many other games. I can’t wait to go back to the class. Now I can see clearly and can play with my classmates, and I will learn how to read properly from my teacher. When I grow older, I want to become a mechanic like my father.”
The USAID-funded Yemen Education in Emergency project, implemented by Save the Children, has supported 275 children with disabilities since February 2020. The project team has distributed eyeglasses to 185 children and hearing aid devices to 88 children.
Omaima Adu, Nahda Makers