From Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) at the Guma Shelter Camp situated along Ukpam road in Guma Local Government Area of Benue State, the fear of death pervades on each passing day, after fleeing their ancestral homes far away from rampaging Fulani herdsmen.
Since February this year, a strange disease is said to have ravaged their temporary abode. At the last count, no fewer than two children were confirmed dead and five others in critical conditions. Reprieve has not come their way at the moment, as the disease reportedly spreads.
On a recent visit to the camp, it was observed that most of the children appeared malnourished with yellow eyes, swollen foot and cheeks; skinny hands, legs, and unusual pot bellies. They also had some spots on their bodies.
Our correspondent gathered that the camp built by Bengonet, a network of non- governmental organizations in the state, with support from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), was allocated to families who had been displaced from their villages in attacks by suspected Fulani herdsmen in the last three years. Many of them are said to have moved from one IDP camp to another, afraid of returning to their native homes for fear of fresh attacks.
When our correspondent visited the Guma sheltering over 1000 IDPs, some of the affected children who had been discharged from hospital were seen playing. But the case of a three-year old girl, Msendoo Ajiber, said to be worst hit, is pathetic.
At just 11 months old, she started experiencing hardship after being left in the custody of an impoverished stepmother. Before then, her mother drowned in a river following an attack of epilepsy, a situation that threw her prematurely into a weaning process in an environment where people lacked food.
According to Msendoo’s stepmother, Celina, who has six biological children, it has been difficult providing her with the special diet she required, and the little girl had never enjoyed good health and a robust physique. She remained malnourished, long before becoming an IPD.
Her father has 10 other children from four different women, and he is helpless, having been rendered homeless for three years by Fulani marauders. He is unable to return to his ancestral home at the moment, not even to engage in farming to put food on the table for his large family.
However, there seemed a flicker of hope for Msendoo, courtesy of Bengonet, which rushed her to the Federal Medical Centre, FMC, Makurdi, the state capital. Bengonet chairperson, Rachael Ityozunghul, said the toddler gradually bounced back to life after 12 days of intensive care at the hospital.
“We were told her mother died of epilepsy and got drowned in one of her attacks. She was 11 months when her mother died. And because the mother is not there, there is nobody that would care for her. Her step mum had to use the little food she has for her own children, leaving Msendoo at the mercy of people. Her step mum has six children with four other children, two from Msendoo’s mum and two from two other women.
At the time the mother died, the child didn’t get nourishing diet and was just eating whatever was available,” said Ityozungul, a retired nurse.