Displacement is not a choice. Dignity can be regained for our displaced population.
This book brings you on a short journey to view the world through the eyes of people that have been forced to flee their homes as a result of armed conflict. It aims to educate and create awareness about the plight of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), who are victims of the BokoHaram Insurgency in North-East Nigeria.
It chronicles real-life stories of people displaced from Borno, Adamawa and Yobe States in 2014 who now live in the Area 1 IDP Camp, Durumi, Abuja.
Please read, share and leave a comment below.
BOOK EXCERPTS
“I left with my siblings and parents; we ran to the hills and stayed there hoping that the militants will retreat, but they did not – they had taken over our town. They killed our men, destroyed our property, farmlands and went away with valuable items. Living in the mountains, we ran out of food and water and survived by eating dry Guinea corn and Millet. It was not long before we realised that we would not survive much longer if we continued to stay, so we decided to leave the village. We had heard of people being killed as they tried to flee town, but we were left with no other choice.”
“It was hard to understand why this happened to us – we did not choose to be here. We were faced with our new reality which was hard to accept; everyone had lost someone or something they loved dearly in the violence, and many of us had lost the zeal to go on with life. Here we were, several miles away from home and expected to start all over again.”
“When I first arrived in the camp, I had nightmares about people that were killed…our town was destroyed and the women were left to bury the dead. Those images keep playing back in my mind.”
These are sad and touching stories. I had goosebumps and tears reading this. We need to put an end to this insurgency. There is a lot of work to do, there are so many people in need of help!
I agree with you. The underlying causes of the insurgency must be addressed.
Hmm…… Nothing is as pathetic as the underserved and distasteful plight of IDPs. This book brought me into the sad and disillusioned world of these ones. I sincerely hope and pray that a sustainable way-forward is provided to this unpleasantness soonest.
There’s something to be said about the haunting and harrowing nature of displacement by violence. The IDPs will forever live with the scars of those moments. That is not a premise to which we just throw our hands up and go “Oh, well .. nothing to do now”. We must help, salvage, rescue, uplift and Toluwalola captures that idea brilliantly. We might have been failed by our Country an unbearable amount of times, but to fail our brothers and sisters will be a national travesty like no other.