IDP Diaries: ‘I Take Care Of My Six Siblings Alone In The Camp’
The insurgency in Northeast Nigeria has taken a lot from 22-year-old Kaltume and her six siblings. First their mother died, then their father went missing. Now, they just want to survive, one day at a time.
It was the Boko Haram crisis that drove us from our village, Molai, and brought us to this camp. They kept attacking our village. When it got too much, we ran for safety and came here. We made the journey on foot and just like that, we became displaced persons.
When we were running, my mother had a heart problem. She fell down and died. We had difficulties burying her but we did and continued the journey. My father has been missing since then.
I am 22 years old. My name is Kaltume Musa and I am here with my six younger brothers and sisters. You want to know how I am feeding them? We have been in this camp for two years and we have seen a lot of things.
There is a thumbprint in the camp before they can give us foodstuff but they do not give us on time. It has been two months now since we were last given. We are really suffering and often, we sleep without eating.
Sometimes, we get some assistance but it does not get to everyone. They bring cooking pots, gallons, buckets, and soap. We use the soap for washing, and the buckets and gallons to store water.
We see some of our aid materials on sale in markets. It is not from us. It is the people who take half of what they share to us, before they give us any, that sell these things. We need help.
(Additional reporting by Fatima Bukar and Yakura Kumshe)
Note: IDP Diaries is a first-person account by the subject themselves. The account has been translated for reading by HumAngle.
This is a multiple-part series; click here to read other IDP Diaries.
This report is a partnership between HumAngle Media and Premium Times Center for Investigative Journalism (PTCIJ) under the ‘Accountability Journalism & Investigative Reporting for Deepening Democracy and Development’ project.
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