War is hell. On Schoolchildren.

War is hell on schoolchildren. The decade-plus of war that has killed nearly six million citizens of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and destroyed the country's industry and infrastructure has also destroyed the hopes of a generation of children that they might get an education and with it, an opportunity to help their country break its cycle of poverty and self-destruction.

In 2005 it was estimated that 4.6 million Congolese children were not being educated, either because their parents could not afford school fees and supplies, or because armed conflict had caused the suspension of educational services in their towns and villages. Data compiled in 2007 estimated that 3% of D.R.C. citizens receive a university education, 30% a secondary school education, 46% only a primary school education, and 21% no education at all.

Travel around the D.R.C. and you see children everywhere. In the IDP (internally displaced person) camps, you are followed everywhere by a crowd of kids. In part this is curiosity; how strange the mzungu are! In part it is hope; can the mzungu help us? In part it's boredom; doing anything is better than doing nothing.

Of course, children also work to support their families. They collect water and they help their parents in the fields in times peaceful enough to permit people to cultivate their fields. The above photographs taken in and around IDP camps near Rutshuru in North Kivu show children collecting water and observing the mzungu photographer.

I brought my "A" game and was, I'm sure, at least as entertaining as usual, but I can't claim my visit was an adequate substitute for a good education.