The educational complex in Sabah – Governorate of Abyan – no longer lives up to what is expected from an educational building. The only sign that it's an educational institution is the signboard. All other features have vanished. 37 years after it was built, the complex have never been maintained or renovated since the early eighties when it was built.

650 students, including 140 females are enrolled in the basic and secondary educational levels. They get their education in run-down classrooms which lack the utmost basics. They have to sit in the floors for lack of desks. The students don't feel that they are in a school. They are only reminded by the shouts of the teacher  who asks them to take out their textbooks. Even this instance only lasts for seconds before the stark reality comes back. The educational environment in the complex is repulsive and inhospitable. There are no alternatives in this district, it's the only educational institution in the area for both residents and IDP's.

An Attractive Educational Environment

Ahmed al-Khadher- a teacher- said he joined this educational institution when he was a young man. Now, that he has gray hair, he has seen the educational Complex's deterioration minute by minute. With no one paying attention, the complex has become dilapidated and has since reached its end of life- in spite of the fact that it's the only educational institution in the area.

The intervention by PWP to restore and renovate the complex, according to Ahmed Al-We'ayel, means reviving the pulse center for the area after it deteriorated and almost fell into ruins.  

He adds, "today we can speak of an educational complex and a hospitable educational environment that encourages the residents and the students alike". The Complex now provides an opportunity for IDP's who, being displaced, have lost their  previous schools.

Work Opportunities

The rehabilitation of the educational complex - which consists of 23 classrooms and annexes, in an area where the majority of the inhabitants are poor and rely on daily labor and substance farming for their livelihoods - means the creation of tens of work days for many heads of households. The work days benefited both the residents and IDPs providing them with work to provide sustenance for their families.

Alawi Mahsoon explains that the rehabilitation of the complex employed a number of workers  and saved them the hardship of having to travel between the district center and Lahj and Aden to look for work – especially under the current circumstances where jobs are scares and almost non-existent.