{"id":613,"date":"2023-03-21T10:14:05","date_gmt":"2023-03-21T10:14:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/intdevalliance.scot\/news-views\/2023\/08\/24\/learning-in-the-time-of-cholera-link-education-international\/"},"modified":"2023-09-11T14:08:37","modified_gmt":"2023-09-11T14:08:37","slug":"learning-in-the-time-of-cholera-link-education-international","status":"publish","type":"news-view","link":"https:\/\/intdevalliance.scot\/news-view\/learning-in-the-time-of-cholera-link-education-international\/","title":{"rendered":"Learning in the time of cholera :: Link Education International"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

An update from Link Education International<\/a> on their response to the recent cholera outbreak in Malawi. By Rebecca Hami (Malawi Office) & Kate Sykes (Edinburgh Office).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since January, Malawi has been experiencing its worst ever cholera outbreak. Cases have rapidly spread to all districts in the country. One of the worst affected districts is Lilongwe Urban, where the government issued the instruction that schools were not to re-open following the Christmas break to stop the spread of the disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lilongwe is one of three districts that Link\u2019s flagship girls\u2019 education programme in Malawi calls home. The TEAM Girl Malawi<\/a> project provides complementary basic education and life skills to out of school adolescent girls, and supports them to re-enter primary school, or join vocational or entrepreneurship training. Our participants face high levels of poverty, many coming from child-headed households, early marriage and motherhood, in addition to having disabilities which have kept them from mainstream education and limited their life chances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cholera outbreak meant that the project\u2019s community-based learning centres were also closed. The situation was particularly concerning for us as the girls in our programme are highly marginalised, and are especially vulnerable to falling behind in their learning and dropping out before finishing and transitioning onto their next steps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was not the first time Link had to respond to school closures. During the COVID-19 outbreak we had experienced a similar situation. Many girls in the programme \u2013 who had already experienced significant challenges causing them to leave mainstream school \u2013 reported an increase in anxiety and mental health issues during this period. Others underwent traumatic experiences including gender-based violence and abuse. All of these issues have had a further negative impact on their resilience in the face of challenges, self-esteem and self-confidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When this new outbreak hit, we were able to draw on our experience during the COVID-19 emergency, implementing our education in emergencies response plan. After receiving the news of school closures due to cholera, our team acted immediately to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n