A displaced resident of Kouakourou shares his ordeal: “When we arrived in Mopti, we were placed in a school. The local authorities and a generous donor provided us with essential supplies — rice, tea, sugar, oil, and powdered milk,” he recalls with gratitude. The distributions are managed by the town hall, and the donor prefers to remain anonymous.”

Yet life in a school building is far from ideal, he admits. “Some people sleep outside in the courtyard. When it rains, we all cram into classrooms. It’s unbearable. The food is available, but this isn’t living. Over 400 of us are squeezed into the school.”

Kouakourou now stands empty, its people scattered. After receiving an ultimatum from Jnim jihadists, residents had no choice but to flee. “Being forced to abandon our homes — everything we owned — it’s heartbreaking,” one displaced villager confesses. “Our greatest wish is to return home. Many left with only the clothes on their backs. The terrorists even took our phones. Worse, we were in the middle of preparing for the farming season. We’ll have to forgo this year’s harvest — a devastating loss.”