Ismail's story: a ramp, a wheelchair, and the road back to school

Ismail Nabil Al-Shaigy is seven years old, and until recently he was one of many thousands of children out of school in Blue Nile State. The challenges there are like those across much of Sudan: poor infrastructure, displacement from recent conflict, ongoing instability, and inadequate investment in education.

Children like Ismail, who have physical or learning disabilities, face harder situations still. Ismail is unable to walk. For a time his family paid 500 Sudanese pounds every day to rent a wheelbarrow to bring him to school. When that became unaffordable, he simply stopped going.

Five hundred pounds a day, for a wheelbarrow. That was the price of his education, until it wasn't.

With funding through the Sudan Humanitarian Fund, LM International included targeted education support in its work in Blue Nile State in 2023: classroom rehabilitation, training for parent–teacher associations, provision of school supplies, and wheelchairs for children with special needs.

The rehabilitation included building ramps, so that students using wheelchairs can reach the classroom themselves. With the ramps and a wheelchair, Ismail now gets himself to school and can develop to his fullest potential.