Nigeria: On the move and unable to move because of conflict
Nigeria: On the move and unable to move because of conflict
MSF, 07 Jul 2017
URL: http://www.msf.org/en/article/nigeria-move-and-unable-move-because-conflict
Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced by the conflict between Boko Haram and the Nigerian armed forces in the northeast of the country. Some of them have already lived for years in temporary homes. Others are on the move from one place to another. All of them recount a life full of hardships in search of a glimmer of hope. These are some of their stories in the towns of Pulka and Banisheikh, Borno state, Nigeria.
“By the time we left, we had suffered a lot; we were very scared. It took us two days to get here by foot, after we slept overnight in the bush. Some of the people we travelled with passed away on the journey. Some of our children died of thirst as we didn’t have any water.” Falmata is a 35 year-old woman from Shetimari, in the northeastern Nigerian state of Borno. She recalls the beginning of the trip that took her away from her village. That was four years ago, in the midst of a conflict between the Nigerian armed forces and Boko Haram, which today has left nearly two million people displaced across the country and several hundred thousand refugees settled in neighbouring countries around the Lake Chad region, including Niger, Cameroon and Chad.
Falmata is one of those who has lost almost everything. The journey brought her to the town of Banisheikh, about 90 minutes by car to the west of the state’s capital, Maiduguri. “We settled here because we thought it was a safer place.” A lot of people were killed in her village, including three of her relatives. Boko Haram members would come on motorbikes and rob their belongings; some women were subjected to forced marriages, and other girls disappeared. “We don’t think it is safe enough to go back there yet.”
Falmata has moved from one camp to another in Banisheikh with her husband and seven children. The displaced community has grown and most now live in five settlements, sheltered only by flimsy plastic sheeting, supported with pieces of wood and stalk. These tiny spaces, in which they cook, sleep and spend most of their time, become terribly hot during Borno’s summer; when it rains, the plastic shelter leaks, and strong winds can rip holes in it. Sometimes the timber becomes infested with termites, damaging the frames, and causing the shelter to collapse.
“By the time we left, we had suffered a lot; we were very scared. It took us two days to get here by foot, after we slept overnight in the bush. Some of the people we travelled with passed away on the journey. Some of our children died of thirst as we didn’t have any water.” Falmata is a 35 year-old woman from Shetimari, in the northeastern Nigerian state of Borno. She recalls the beginning of the trip that took her away from her village. That was four years ago, in the midst of a conflict between the Nigerian armed forces and Boko Haram, which today has left nearly two million people displaced across the country and several hundred thousand refugees settled in neighbouring countries around the Lake Chad region, including Niger, Cameroon and Chad.
Falmata is one of those who has lost almost everything. The journey brought her to the town of Banisheikh, about 90 minutes by car to the west of the state’s capital, Maiduguri. “We settled here because we thought it was a safer place.” A lot of people were killed in her village, including three of her relatives. Boko Haram members would come on motorbikes and rob their belongings; some women were subjected to forced marriages, and other girls disappeared. “We don’t think it is safe enough to go back there yet.”
Falmata has moved from one camp to another in Banisheikh with her husband and seven children. The displaced community has grown and most now live in five settlements, sheltered only by flimsy plastic sheeting, supported with pieces of wood and stalk. These tiny spaces, in which they cook, sleep and spend most of their time, become terribly hot during Borno’s summer; when it rains, the plastic shelter leaks, and strong winds can rip holes in it. Sometimes the timber becomes infested with termites, damaging the frames, and causing the shelter to collapse.