04/03/2019 Washington D.C. (International Christian Concern) – It is midday and children are making their way into the government settlement camp in Katsaka Kairo, Kenya under the scorching coastal sun. The sweat-covered children are hoping to find a ready meal, though this is not always the case. Poverty has stricken the once successful small-scale farmers of Maleli village, adjacent to the Boni Forest, which is a hideout for scores of Somali-based terrorists linked to al-Qaeda. The forest stretches from Lamu to the southern Somali district of Badaade, making it easier for the jihadist group to move in and out of Kenya.

“We stayed in the IDP camp for a long time, hence missing learning after our school was closed and teachers left due to the rising insecurity and subsequent terrorist attacks. This was interrupted for a year, but now we have joined the school near the new village where the government has settled our parents. We feel strange and backward, but we are making progress,” Charles Kahindi told International Christian Concern (ICC).

Four primary schools in Lamu West, Pandanguo, Kakate, and Maleli were closed in 2017 when terrorists raided villages neighboring the dense forest. They killed 13 people, burned houses and police stations, and vandalized medical centers.

“We were used to our school and our teachers and we were doing very well academically. Living here without a source of income makes life very difficult for my family. Sometimes I go to school without having breakfast and it becomes really hard to concentrate in the class,” said Mercy Ziro, a class 4 pupil at Katsaka Kairo Primary School.