“I Need to Go Back to School”

My name is Abdi. My favourite subject is maths. I want to become a maths teacher one day.

I was doing well in school. When I was there, I didn't just learn; I also helped explain maths to the other students when they were stuck. That was something I was proud of.

Then my father, who was the breadwinner for our family, got sick. He couldn't work anymore, and my mother couldn't afford the school fees. I dropped out of school.

Now I go to the SOS Child Friendly Space instead. It's helped me keep learning, but it isn't the same as being back in my classroom, with my own teacher, on the path I was on before.

My friend's name is Abdisalan. He's still studying in school. I am not. I missed him, and I missed school.

I need to go back to school.

What Abdi Needs to Return

Abdi has school and friends waiting for him, in the same grade he left, at the school he knows, this term.

What's standing between him and that classroom isn't distance or paperwork.

It's $60 — the cost of a full return-to-school kit for one child.

Here's exactly what that covers:

You can cover one piece of Abdi's kit, or the full $60 to send him back with everything he needs on day one.

Every dollar goes toward getting a specific child, not a statistic, back into a classroom that's already waiting for him.

Abdi didn't stop wanting to learn. His family simply ran out of money.

DONATE NOW — BACK-TO-SCHOOL CAMPAIGN 2026

This story is published as part of SOS Children's Villages Somalia's Back-to-School Campaign 2026.

Abdi's account is told in his own words, gathered with the consent of his family and in line with our child safeguarding procedures.