Multiple tragedies

By Rose Ejembi and Scholastica Onyeka, Makurdi

Call it “multiple tragedies” and you will be right on point regarding the unfortunate fate of Pa Orhena Dam. His case is not different from many other Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) at Tse Yandev IDP Camp, Makurdi, Benue State.

The camp offers makeshift shelter to about 9000 internally displaced persons and about 4000 households, sacked from their respective communities and ancestral homes by the killer Fulani herdsmen.

For the displaced persons, life has been a long sorrowful walk.

Nothing seems to fall in line. Since their displacement years ago, they have suffered from the spikes of the weather. The sun bites them and the rain beats them at will. And only recently, a flood came in the middle of the night and washed away what was left of their already miserable lives.

One of the victims of the flood is Pa Dam. He hails from Mbalagh Council Ward in Makurdi Local Government. He left his home after the dreaded clan of herdsmen displaced them.

He arrived the camp with his two wives and 18 children. Few months after, his wives mysteriously went blind, one after another. He was left with the fate of caring for the wives and their children.

His fate was further devastated when some few weeks back, rain destroyed part of the camp and submerged their tents and left him desolate.

His tent was made of sticks, used cement bags and mosquito nets, but now everything is swept away. In fact, the only hall in the camp, which had served as a shade from the rains or scorching sun, had collapsed. He was left in pains an unfulfilled yearning for a better life that eluded him since the day the herdsmen looted and destroyed their homes.

This particular afternoon, he sat beside his submerged tent, gnashing his teeth, wondering about his misfortunes. He was not in the mood to talk. But pressed on, he reluctantly opened up to Daily Sun:

“I used to sleep in the only hall that was here. The hall collapsed a few weeks ago and I was forced to sleep in this tent. The tent has only nets and torn clothes around it. When the rain comes, it falls upon us and we have children. Sometimes I will cover them with clothes until the rain stops.

“I came here with my two wives. They were all hale and hearty when we arrived with hopes. Their eyes were open and normal and they had dreams about the future. But two of them became blind in this camp.

“When the first one started complaining of her eyes, I took her to the hospital and they said she had maggots in her body. Not long after, the second wife started scratching her eyes and became blind also.

“The condition in camp here is not conducive. I cannot take care of my two blind wives staying in this camp.”

He besieged the state and Federal government as well as to well meaning Nigerians to help them with food to eat, shelter over their heads and drugs to survive the harsh conditions of the camp.

He lamented that their present condition was hell on earth and wondered why life had selected them for this extreme hardship. He also sought help to enable him procure relevant treatment for his wives.

Kwaghkunda Tyokaa, a mother of eight, sat facing a small heap of corn cub, which was left in front of her tent. She was obviously down and depressed. The corn she had peeled the previous day with a view to grinding it into powder to feed her hungry children has just been washed away by the flood, same for the tent where she stayed.

In tears, she told Daily Sun: “My children and I sleep in this tent and the one behind. We usually go to the hall to sleep when the rain is falling, but the hall has collapsed. I don’t have money to buy nylon to cover my own tent. Any time it rains, it will fall on us, except we run to those who have nylon covers to allow us squat in a corner of their covers, until the downpour is over.

“For days now, I have been begging and feeding from hand to mouth. We are compelled to leave the sick ones to go out and beg for food.

“I am pleading with the state government and our brothers and sisters in Nigeria to come to our aid in the areas of food and shelter. We have children and staying in this waterlogged and misty place makes our children fall sick every time. We have been ravaged by malaria and pneumonia because of the cold.”

Eighty-year-old Paulina Gbei is the oldest person in the camp. She sat in front of her tent, mumbling to herself. Certainly she had seen better days.

She ran to the camp with her six children years ago, but since then, the story has not been easy. Hunger has been staring at her and children all these times, killing them gently as the years go by.

She said: “I sleep in this tiny tent with my three grandchildren and the rain beats us almost everyday. The ground is so wet. Anyhow, it is better than being killed by the herdsmen. We endure it. But I fear for these little ones because they fall sick always. We need help and urgently too.”

Chairman, Tse Yandev IDP Camp, Federal Housing, Makurdi, Gabriel Yiev, decried their misfortune: “We have been here for about two years now.

We have been subjected to so many problems especially in the area of food and shelter.

“A large number of the tents were submerged and about 211 households were dislodged. The hall we all used to take shelter in collapsed and that added to the difficulties earlier experienced.

“The submersion is not just once. Anytime there is much rain, the place will be submerged. We have children who are subjected to serious cold and other illnesses like malaria, pneumonia and skin infections.

“We need food. Most children here are malnourished because of poor feeding. Some families here cannot even afford a meal a day. It has been very difficult for us to cope.

“I am appealing to the Federal and state governments to turn their human eyes to us. We are also citizens of this country. We should be given a fair attention just like other IDPs in other parts of the country.”