14.06.2020
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Mobile Camel Library Keeps Ethiopian Children From Forced Labor.

In a remote part of Ethiopia, one charity has come up with a novel way of protecting children that are out of school because of the coronavirus pandemic from forced labor – camels bearing books. Ethiopia closed its schools in mid-March and sent more than 26 million children home, where experts say they are at greater risk for forced labor and child marriage. But in the country's eastern Somali region, more than 20 camels have been deployed to carry wooden boxes filled with storybooks to help thousands of children in remote villages to continue their education. "Save the Children" launched the mobile camel libraries a decade ago and has helped more than 22,000 children in 33 villages to get access to education during the pandemic. Community volunteers travel around villages with the camels, carrying boxes of books and a tent to set up a temporary library that stays in each village for two and a half days before moving on. In may 2020, it surveyed 90 Ethiopian children about their concerns over the coronavirus, finding they were worried about the economic pressure on their families and about rises in early marriage and child labor. Almost 19 million children aged between 5 and 17 are engaged in child labor in Ethiopia, according to a national survey published in 2018. Credit: ALJAZEERA