Care from individuals and private organi-sation has kept internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Abuja going. On Valentine’s Day, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) kept the tradition alive. GRACE OBIKE reports
If internally displaced persons or IDPs in the Kuchigoro camp, Abuja, were to depend on government, they would probably starve. Deputy Chairman of the camp, Alhaji Usman Adamu once accused the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) administration and Federal Government of visiting the camp only twice in its three years of existence.
“We have been here for almost three years now,” he said, [and] NEMA [National Emergency Management Agency] and FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency] only visited us twice since we arrived.”
Private individuals and corporations have been doing better. On Valentine’s Day, Bunmi Cares, an organisation with the hashtag #DontTrashTheRag has clothed over 2000 IDPs at the camp. The group took bags of clothing items, shoes and toys to the makeshift camp which houses over 900 displaced adults and their children.
Coordinator of Bunmi Cares Ademolu Olubunmi told Abuja Review that when the idea of recycling used clothing items for the IDPs came to her, she sent out messages to friends who agreed to help and she took weeks, driving around Abuja to collect the items which where all drycleaned and mended.
“The idea came up when one day I saw those people that dispose of refuse and pick clothes from the bin. I saw one of them pick the clothes that a neighbour thrashed and immediately wore it not minding where he picked it from. It occurred to me that what we consider as rags might go a long way for someone else.
“I feel that since we buy western used clothing, we can also come up with Nigerian used clothing that will be important to take care of the vulnerable ones in our midst.
“We got clothes, bedsheets, shoes and toys for over 2,000 people, children and adults from people who no longer needed them, we tell people that if you change your wardrobe and you are looking for a place to thrash the old clothes, we will pick them up from your house, from our little savings we dryclean and mend them well. For this phase we realised over 1,000 pairs of shoes for children, close to 2,000 for women and men, we realised that it will go a long way to celebrate Valentine.
“We all know that the government is doing its best to provide for the IDPs but we need to support the government as individuals because the government cannot be depended on to do it all on their own.” she said.
Olubunmi also said that the group encourages people not to thrash their rags but to give it to the less fortunate who need it more.
She added, “We tell people that if you have not worn or used an item for over a year, then please give it to people that really need it. We try to send out love by collecting clothes, shoes, toys, food items and share them with the less fortunate, widows, widowers, orphans and hungry children.”
Alhaji Adamu appreciated the gestures of groups and well-meaning Nigerians who provide for them.
He added that the government which should naturally take care of them, does not do so.
He said, “They invited us and told us that the government does not want to see any IDP in Abuja and my people said we are not going anywhere, we are Nigerians that escaped Boko Haram.
“Our survival here is not because of the government, we survive because of individuals and organisations that provide for us. We are praying for the government to do something about our home, we will like to go back home but the situation back home, with bomb blasts in IDP camps is not good, how can we return to a home that is not safe, if peace returns to the Northeast, the government will not have to tell us to go back home, we will return on our own.”
He listed the challenges facing the camp.
“We face a lot of challenges,” he said. “We do not have any hospital to provide us with affordable health care, we don’t have enough water, only one borehole to cater for all of us and we are many, we are over 936 people in this camp.”
Women leader of the camp, Ladi Mathias explained that the camp is faced with a lot of challenges.
She said, “We do not have a hospital, when people fall ill, it is difficult to get them to the hospital, pregnant women also suffer, we have to go all the way to new Kuchigoro to get midwives to assist us in births and it is not easy and going to the hospital itself is not easy because we do not have the money but it would have been worst if not for churches, mosques or islamic organisation, groups and individuals who refuse to see us as a burden but are constantly ready to help us however little. Without their help it would have been terrible since we do not have jobs or a means to provide for ourselves.”
