Mali one year on: Through teenagers' eyes

From fleeing violence to escaping forced marriage, Plan-supported teenagers blog about their experiences one year on since fighting broke out in north Mali.

They are among 447,000 people - more than half of them children - who have been forced from their homes and now lay scattered across 6 countries.

Plan is providing thousands of displaced children with education, protection and life-saving support.

Read some of their stories below and support Plan's emergency Mali conflict appeal

Læs mere her!

Mali teenager: I never thought I would miss school

Sévaré is a very different town from what it had been over the past weeks.

People are gradually coming back and things are becoming normal as it used to be. We are hearing less and less gunshots.

I am glad things are returning to normal. Even my 6-year-old brother, Mamadou, is not crying anymore - but he has gone all quiet about the dead bodies he saw close to the military barracks. I am avoiding the subject with him because I don’t want to make him cry again. At the same time I am still worried about him. I would like to know what is in his mind when he seems so absorbed in his thoughts. I am hoping that once he returns to school he will cheer up.

Læs mere her!