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Page 2 of 2 Abdul Hakeem Fakher, general director of Amarah education directorate, said that there had, however, been good progress in establishing school buildings. There are 75 primary schools and three intermediate and secondary schools in the marshes of Amarah. "We already have 65 schools and another 10 schools are being built after the fall of the regime. The percentage of students in primary schools is 80 percent, but for the secondary schools it is 20 percent only," he added. Bad roads, transportation and insecurity were reasons for poor attendance, according to Fakher. "Some of our schools were built with mud and have been damaged so it is very difficult for the students to attend lessons. The level of literacy in the children of the marshes under 12 years is 30 percent," Fakher explained. Most families here prefer not to send children to school, due to financial needs and send them out to work instead, he added. Kareem Helow, a primary school teacher in al-Wadeah marshes, said that the situation in schools was miserable. "We are only four teachers in a school for 186 pupils." PROGRESS MADE IN HEALTH CARE Improvements can be seen, however, in the health system in the marshes. Today, there are five primary health clinics serving the area. Most of the centres were built over the past two years, Mejbal al-Mosawi, a senior official in the Amarah health directorate said. All were constructed by the AMAR NGO, which also provides 12 health professionals. The Ministry of Health in Baghdad said it had invested in the marshes and hoped by 2006 to be able to cover the needs in that region. A new highly equipped hospital is also planned. "The marshes were one of the largest economic and historical centres in the country and it is very important that health care needs are met," Mustafa al-A'ani, a senior official at the ministry, said. REHABILITATING FISHING IN THE MARSHES AMAR and the Centre for Marine Studies (CMS) are also focusing on rehabilitating fishing in the area. "Because of the draining, the marshes faced a severe shortage in Benni fish, the most important kind of fish in the area. We have a project to increase their number through a breeding programme where they are raised until they are the size of a finger and then released into the marshes," Sajid al-Noor, chief researcher for the CMS, said. Fishermen had been told not to fish in the area until stocks were replenished to guarantee growth - but many are continuing due to financial needs. "We need money to feed our families and for these reasons we cannot wait for the fish to grow and sometimes we have to fish the new baby fish," Hussein Nuridin, a local marsh resident, said. Livestock has also been seriously affected. A report issued by the Animal Production Department (APD) of Amarah, on June 2005, said the number of buffalos before the draining was about 26,500 and in 2000 were there were 16,850 - a decrease of 38 percent. "Before the draining each family owned 15-25 buffalos, but now the number is around seven due to the shortage of water," Aloki, a local tribesman, said. The UN Food and Agriculture organization (FAO) is in the process of implementing programmes to replenish livestock, but help can't come soon enough. UNCLEAR FUTURE Slow reconstruction has forced many of them to search for alternative ways to survive. "We do not have jobs to survive and for this reason we have been obliged to ask our children to join the Iraqi Army or local police to get money to help our families," Shabil Hussain, a local marsh Arab said with tears in his eyes. "No one is taking care of us, we have no services," Hasn Falih, a young marsh man, said. "They only know how to talk about democracy and elections, but talking about these things is useless without essential services for the people." Recommend this article...
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Tags: Dispatch from Iraq IRAQ: Focus on progress made in marshlands
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