2 weeks ago,on Wednesday to be precise, I decided to go see for myself the Internally Displaced Persons at their makeshift camp here in Area 1.
They were evacuated from their homes in the north east and since they got here, from what I was told, no substantial plan had been made to help them return home even though the Army claims to have 'ended the Insurgency'.
Climbed a bike at the roundabout at Area 1 popularly called "under bridge" and was relieved when the bike-man, without hesitation nodded quickly after I asked if he knew where the IDP camp was. We rode through the Dunamis church,a small market called Durumi market, through a sparse bush path and finally got to where the bike-man called the 'secretariat' , a well finished duplex which was locked but looked empty from the outside. This is where visitors, NGOs and the like drop their donated relief items.
He spoke some hausa and I could tell he was telling me to go see the camp chairman first before going into the camp.
Camp chairman, a dark young man in his late 20's advised me to go see the Women leader as he was obviously busy. Women leader, a plump middle aged woman, who seemed friendly and could speak English motioned for a chair to be brought for me to sit and from the look on her face, I could tell she did this often and probably thought to herself 'oh look, another helper who has come to take pictures, donate relief items and disappear'. I promised to make it quick as I brought out my notepad and prepared to ask my questions,lol. Just as I started,she interrupted me and called someone to bring a list. Next thing she said was "my sister, I know you want to help but to be honest we really would like to return home,living on handouts is not easy" I asked her what their needs were asides that and she pointed to the list she handed me saying, asides all these, we want proper health care and good teachers to come and teach these children.
After speaking to the women leader, She told some of the women to lead me to the camp which was about 200 meters from the secretariat.
On approaching the gate,it was clear that there wasn't any provision for toilets as waste water was everywhere, the nearby bushes probably served as their toilet.
The 'houses' were made of sticks used to make frames which were covered with cellophane or sacs (this was just sad)
There was a clinic, looked more like a sickbay with no medical personnel and no drugs as I was told..adjacent to the clinic was the makeshift houses then adjacent to that, were classrooms made out of wood and aluminium roofing..hot as heck but the children had no choice but to take their classes in there.
Classrooms were donated by the Nigeria Army Officers Wives Association (NAOWA) and the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG).
There were other classroom blocks that were donated by private individuals. Was weird that the classrooms we're locked so I asked why and was told the woman who built them selected only 50 children to attend the classes and she employed 2 private teachers who came as they liked.
The students were being taught English by a teacher who said he was from the RCCG too and he had a few words to say.
As I walked from class to class (about 3 classrooms were in use) this cutie caught my eye.
12 children in the camp are orphans.
Some other classrooms probably hadn't been used in a long time so they had weeds growing in them
In all, it was an eye-opening experience. I learned life isn't just about me, it is imperative we think about others too especially those who have very little going on for them. I learned not to believe what I heard in the news, media serves packaged BS... I just knew I had to work very hard to help these people, as I realised if you want to get something done especially in this country, you're probably better off doing it yourself.
I posted this on instagram and got a few responses from people who would like to help, baby steps huh!
If you come across this write-up and would love to help in anyway, please send me a mail on sadiqolawumi@yahoo.com
