Reprieve for IDPs in Edo
Rebecca Ejifoma, who visited the Uhogua IDP camp in Benin for two days, chronicles the plight of the refugees and how they are adjusting to their new abode
It was indeed a bright Thursday morning at the International Christian Centre, Uhogua in Edo State. I had arrived the centre, which is host to a camp for about 3,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) mostly from the Northern part of Nigeria in a bubbly mood ready to do my beat as a reporter. The centre could truly be described as beautiful sprawled across a rich, vast and unruffled land. This camp, which was established in 1992 as an abode for orphans, has become a comfortable home for the thousands of IDPs who have traversed the mountains and bushes from insurgent ravaged sections of Northeastern Nigeria.
Although they feed on mostly rice meals that are served with little or no animal protein and pitiful sauce for most parts of each day as breakfast, lunch and dinner, these internally displaced persons who are mostly from conflict areas in Borno State in North-east say they have found paradise in Edo State. At least, they now live many miles away from the incessant gunshots, arsons, abductions, wailings and funeral songs.
Indeed, from where they have come, they feed on the unimaginable and drank from the dirtiest waters just to stay alive. From the experiences of some of the IDPs at the camp, they have endured dangerous ailments and conditions like malnutrition, hepatitis, skin infection, urinary tract infection and acute ulcer among several others.
They were happy to list some of the foods they were being fed at the camp as decent, including beans, rice, pineapple, oranges, potato and vegetables among others, although a closer look at what they call good food shows that, they are fed what could pass for chaff.
Unfortunately, not many lived to share their own stories. Even those who reluctantly shared theirs were either taken for granted or perceived as cooked up. But for the very few who survived and made their way to the IDP camp, they could only heave sighs of relief.
Today, 13 years old Esther Andrews is one bold young girl, who conquered the stings of death against all odds. The camp pastor told THISDAY that she came to the camp at age six. Initially, the trauma was so acute on her that she would scream at intervals like one with a mental disorder.
Although she went to the camp alone after a long period of suffering in the North-east where her family members were brutally killed, she said, Esther seems to have recuperated just fine.
“When Esther first came, she was about six years old. She would scream every night. She would never fall asleep. If she sat in the daytime, she would stare into space and be mute forever. The only times she spoke, it was a thunderous scream – ‘Daddy’ in her dialect,” one of the Supervisors of the camp for missions caring for the IDPs from Adamawa and Borno states, Mrs. Evelyn Omigie (a pastor), told THISDAY.
In Esther’s words: “I came alone. That Saturday they came. They said they were insurgents. My family and I ran. They caught us. They killed my grandfather - cut his hand and his leg. But when they tried to gun us down, there was no more bullets. They then tried to use a machete, it broke. We escaped again. But they caught my mummy. Since then I've never seen her till now.”
Truly when compared to what she was eating in the mountains after her escape from the den of her family killers, Esther gave a very long smile accompanied with a transparent laughter that she eats well. “I was eating everything before. I have eaten many things before. I eat good food. I drink water. I eat fruits. And I like here very well. I don’t want to go back.”
Coming from a little girl, who learnt to sleep at nights with eyes opened wide or run away seeking for a place to hide, it is, indeed, a haven. “I sleep all the time now. I don’t hear gunshots again. I don’t see fire everywhere. Fire is not burning. I am very happy now. I don’t run anymore. There is no gunshot in the street. Everywhere is quiet,” Esther added.
Interestingly, Esther dashed a very beautiful grin every time she responded to a question. Her eyes glowed with joy and her English exuded strength.
Swiftly after this, Omigie expressed joy seeing how Esther smiled and spoke. “You can hear her speak today. She is doing very fine now. When she was new here, you couldn’t go near her, she would scream. Because we realised she needed medical attention urgently, we followed her up with prayers and medications. And just one day, Esther began to sleep at night like every other child.”
Lami Beatrice is another young girl. She is 18 years old. She is from Chibok in Borno State. She says she is still waiting for the arrival of her elder sister, Saratu, who was abducted among the famous Chibok girls. “She was in SS 3 ready to write her exam. One day, she came back home and took her things that she wanted to go stay in school.”
Recalling the ordeal that led to her family becoming casualties, Lami narrated: “It was 12 a.m., my father was outside sleeping while my mother and I were sleeping inside the house. When the gunshots began, my father escaped as planned. My mum and I hid behind our house because the insurgents surrounded the place already. The gunshots were coming closer and they put fire on all the houses.”
She recalled that she told her mum that the fire would get to them if they stayed home. “We then ran to the bush where we stayed. But at 3 a.m., we heard wailings from our village at Chibok. We didn't know what happened to my sister.
“When we woke up that morning, we were told that Boko Haram had carried all the students to Sambisa Forest. My mummy ran to the school. But we did not see anybody, everything in the school was in debris. It had all been consumed by fire.”
Sadly, young Lami says till date, she hasn’t heard of or from her kidnapped sister – dead or alive. “She is 30 years old now. But she hasn’t been released. My parents are still in Chibok. I came here with my other sister.”
Today, however, she is in SS2 having a good time with her books. “I want to become a doctor in the future. I shall write UTME and study Medicine at UNIBEN. When I’m done studying, I want to help those suffering from sicknesses.
“In the mountains and caves after that famous Chibok incident, my dad took me to my grandma’s place where I lived before I continuously eloped into the bushes to cook. From there, the bush became our home.”
Little wonder how most of the children came with unknown diseases that are rare in Nigeria. They, faintly, disclosed the garbage they fed on while traversing the mountains, caves and bushes.
“Sometimes, we ate groundnut in the bush then drank water coming from the mountains. In one village, we stayed in the bush for one month and we stayed for three weeks in another. We used rags as sanitary towels during menstrual flow in the bush.”
Separately, these girls came to life. They saw death. They conquered and are standing tall still. Part of the many nights they experienced was during the about five days each of them had her menstrual flow.
Lami told THISDAY: “Sometimes, I used rags. But while in that bush, my grandma carried some pants for me and a rag. Every time I flowed, I tore a piece from the rag and used. But when there was no more rag, I tore the cloth I tied in the bush and folded it well.”
Now, fortune did not smile on 16 years old Charity Musa while in the bush. She didn’t find groundnut growing around. “We ate those tiny fruits growing in the mountains. But when the fruits were finished, we ate every leaf there. The other girls and I ate every leaf we saw in the bush. We drank every water that flowed in the mountains and caves.”
Undoubtedly, those leaves were flourishing happily in the mountains before the arrival of the girls. And of course, when the leaves were no more, she and the other girls starved for the one year they resided there.
“We stayed in the caves for one year. So many girls died because there was no food, no water – so many. The hunger was too much. We had nothing to eat. I don’t know how my sister and I survived. It was a miracle,” she recounted their ordeal.
Comparing the mountains and Uhogua paradise, Charity’s eyes glowed with confidence. “I am very happy. When I first came here, I did not have clothes. I wasn’t eating good food. Now I eat very well.”
She continued: “At our place, you cannot stay for two minutes and thank God. They will not allow you. But now I come here, I have a chance to praise God. I'm going to school now. In Borno, I wasn't going to school. I was home always.”
Having been at the camp since 2014, Charity is in JSS1 now. “Now that I'm going to school, I'll like to study medicine at UNIBEN and become a doctor. I want to treat people who are wounded but do not have money.”
Notwithstanding, Charity gave her reasons for hiding from her prey. “They would capture us if we stayed in the mountains. They kidnap girls and women. They don't capture men. They kill men.”
Coping with a menstrual cycle like Lami
We call on Nigerians to come and help these kids. We have a lot of challenges. To care for over 2,500 is not easy. They are feeding. We cook 11 bags of rice per meal