By; ISAAC ODEH, Kaduna
Two humanitarian groups, Raymond Akor Memorial Foundation and Wadi Ben-Hirki have donated food items and medicare services to Nehemiah IDP Camp, Kafanchan to aid their feeding and tackle basic health challenges among women and children.
Executive Director of Raymond Akor Memorial Foundation, Mrs Helen Akor said during the exercise that health talk was delivered alongside distribution of drugs and hand sanitizers to aid hygiene and address the prevalence of illnesses such as diarrhea and vomiting among other communicable diseases in the camp.
According to Mrs Akor, psycho- social support was also rendered to the over 2,000 victims of attacks at the camp via messages of hope and counselling towards ensuring mental alertness.
Mrs Akor maintained that, ”These people have gone through a lot of traumatic experiences, some of them have lost children, spouses and even the whole family, while some children have been orphaned as a result of the attacks.
“In this camp, there are about 85 orphans and 91 widows.
“You can imagine the horrifying experience, so it was important for us to speak to them first of all, because sometimes, what people need is the assurance that there’s still hope, and that is very important,” she explained.
She called on wealthy individuals to emulate the gesture by extending hands of fellowship to those in need, especially the less privileged and victims of attacks who have lost their homes, loved ones as well as means of livelihood.
“We got to know about this camp a couple of months ago, when there was an SOS call from a resident of Kafanchan to my foundation to let us know that people whose houses and settlements have been burnt down by terrorists herdsmen were stranded in camp and in urgent need of relief materials and pleaded with our organizations to reach out to them.
“Immediately we got that information, we swung into action, we were able to secure collaboration with Wadi Ben-Hirki Foundation, and we have come here today with relief materials and drugs to help them.
“We have multi-vitamins, antibiotics, blood tonic for pregnant women, and some drugs that would take care of prevalent illnesses in camps of this nature like diarrhea and vomiting.
“We also brought some food items like bags of rice, beans, maize, milk, sugar, millet, vegetable oil, condiments, and palm oil.
“So far, we’ve had health talk, distribution of sanitizers and drugs to family heads, as well as women and children,” she said.
Receiving the items, Pastor Gideon Mutum of Governor’s Assembly, Kafanchan and founder of Nehemiah’s IDP mobilization camp described as pitiable, the situation facing the people at the camp and called for more interventions from individuals to alleviate their condition.
According to Pastor Mutum, the internally displaced persons camp has over 2,000 people from different communities across the region of Southern part of Kaduna State who are victims of attacks by unknown gunmen.
He pointed to the fact that, they are being mobilized at the camp on a daily basis for food and other necessities such as clothes and medical care, including educational materials for children, among others.
“It used to be a full fledged camp, but because we don’t have facilities to house them, so we look for houses where the people can stay, and by that, we call it mobilization camp because they come from their houses. They only gather here for food in the morning, afternoon and in the evening they go back.
“We have been on this since 2016 after attacks in Godogodo, Ungwan Anjou, Ninte, Gada Biyu, Ungwan Mesisi, Passakori, Tudun Wada, Bakin-Kogi and Goska in Kaninkon Chiefdom, and then now the attacks have been extended to Kagoro, Atakar and Atyap Chiefdom among other places in Southern Kaduna.
“And now IDPs have moved into Kafanchan because their houses and sources of livelihood were burnt, they couldn’t go for harvest, or do anything to help themselves.
“They are here in Kafanchan not because they have relatives here, but they feel that it’s relatively peaceful for them,” he explained.
The clergyman attested to the fact that the camp has survived mainly on the the goodwill of individuals, families and religious groups as government has continued to be in denial of the attacks and its effects on the people.
“We have continued to emphasize to government that the unprovoked attacks on communities have always been carried by yet to be identified gunmen and those are the narratives that made the government not to give attention to the plight of IDPs in the state especially in Southern part,” he added.
He posited that some of the children have been integrated into government schools to enable them have access to basic education as some parents cannot afford school fees.
The founder of Nehemiah IDP Camp Kafanchan, further said that there is urgent need for food and school fees with a view to providing the children with good education and other services to improve their wellbeing and that of their parents.
“Taking care of this people, first we started from my little income and is still ongoing, also, the church has been of great help from the offerings, through which we figure out the need of the IDPs,” he said.
Pastor Mutum acknowledged that of recent, individuals and groups have responded to their calls for help.
“Recently, we’ve had here people like Dr. Manzo who came with his family and provided food for them, also Joyce Mathew came from Lagos and supported with rappers and food items, and also churches have donated and now Raymond Akor Foundation and Wadi Ben-Hirki Foundation are here,we are appreciative of that,” he explained.
In his remarks, the Council Chairman of Jema’a Local Government Area, Mr. Yunana Markus Barde, while receiving the groups at the local government secretariat in Kafanchan, commended them for providing humanitarian services to the people.
He also prayed that God guides and provides for them, as he called on wealthy and public spirited individuals to emulate the gesture.
