Neighbours donate to fire victims

“LOVE your neighbours as yourself.”

This is listed in Mark 12 vs 31 in the Bible as the second most important commandment after the one where people are to “… love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”

And residents in Nkulumane 5 in Bulawayo have shown that they love their neighbour, the same way they love themselves as they have helped a neighbouring family which lost all its property when their house was destroyed by fire a few weeks ago.

The tenant, Ms Moreblessing Nkomo told Sunday News last week that her family has received money DAKAR — Hundreds of Boko Haram fighters and their families have surrendered in Chad in the past month, security and UN sources said, in a sign the military campaign against them is making headway.

Boko Haram, which has killed and kidnapped thousands of people, had seized an area approximately the size of Belgium in northeastern Nigeria by last year but has since lost significant ground amid growing regional military pressure. Analyst and security sources think the fighters are probably recent recruits that Boko Haram has struggled to retain as it has ceded territory. Defections of Boko Haram fighters have been reported in Nigeria but are not known to have previously occurred on such a large scale.

“They surrendered to our troops on the front line in Lake Chad,” said Colonel Mohammad Dole, Chief Military Public Information Officer for the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) headquartered in Chad’s capital N’Djamena. The surrenders are taking place because of the firepower of our operations. The groups, many of them armed, have been arriving since September and their number keeps increasing,” he said.

Some 240 fighters, most off whom are Chadian, are now being held in detention along with their families, Dole said. The MNJTF, with troops from Chad, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon and Benin and intelligence, training and logistical support from the United States, launched a regional operation in July against the group, which has pledged allegiance to Islamic State. — Reuters and other basic necessities from neighbours and wellwishers to help buy some goods that were destroyed by the fire.

“My church gave us $300 to buy food and clothes. The Bulawayo Women in Business gave us $120. We have been receiving aid from our neighbours, they gave us blankets and a double bed too. Members of the local residents association have pledged to give us money to reconnect electricity,” said Ms Nkomo.

She said the house caught fire which destroyed all the property on 1 November.

“I left home in the morning, my children were also at home, the eldest is six and the other one is four. My neighbour called me to notify me about the fire, and I rushed home.

“My neighbour told me the fire started from the sitting room, but they failed to extinguish it as my couch had already caught fire. Up to now I don’t know what caused the fire, because I don’t keep matchsticks, however, I think the fire started from one of the adapters,” said Ms Nkomo.

She said all the property that was in the house was destroyed.

“It was very fortunate that everyone managed to escape unhurt, even though everything was burnt in the fire, we were left with nothing. I lost property amounting to $2 000. However, our neighbours have been offering us help since that day.”

Ms Nkomo said her landlord who is an elderly man understood their situation and did not kick them out of the house.

“When my landlord heard about the fire he came to inspect the house, he was very understanding and said I could continue living with my family,” she said.

‘Hundreds of Boko Haram fighters surrender in Chad’