Sani has been living in an IDP camp with his mum and two sisters for 6 months, after their village was attacked by gunmen and he lost his dad and his home got destroyed in the fire, hence they had to move to the camp . Life in the camp is very different from what he was used to, meals are always rationed and most utilities are shared among hundreds other person’s. He fetches water daily from the public tap to fill up the drums before he heads to school, On the weekends he helps his mum on their apportioned farm land where they grow cassava, maize and tomatoes after which he fetches wood for the family’s cooking. Despite the numerous losses Sani has encountered, and the turnaround from his normal childhood, he still nurtures the dream to be a doctor and save lives like Dr Nnamdi does at the camp.
Dr Nnamdi attends to the injured men and women brought into the camp comforting the kids and teaching the women to take better care of themselves despite the situation, he is always available to listen to the problems of every one and has the solution to most of them, he is a very dedicated doctor and he works diligently to make sure his patients receive the best care. His personality makes him beloved among the people and Sani aims to be the same.
Internally displaced persons are members of a community who have survived a tragedy or lost the rights to their homes as a result of tragedy which is sometimes flood, erosion, land slides, bandits attack, raids, unrest. In north-east Nigeria, there are currently about 1.9 million people displaced from their homes. An estimated Sixty percent of them are children, with 1 in 4 under the age of five.
Globally, an estimated 19 million children – more than ever before, according to UNICEF – were living in displacement within their own countries due to conflict and violence in 2019 – some of them for years.
Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement states that, internally displaced persons (also known as “IDPs”) are “persons or groups of persons who have been forced to flee or to leave their homes or places of residence, as a result of the effects of armed disagreements, situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights or natural or man-made disasters, and who have not crossed any recognized border.
People forced to flee or leave their homes – for reasons of violence – are generally subject to increased vulnerability in areas. Higher rates of mortality than the general population, They are at high risk of physical attack, sexual assault and abduction, and frequent deprivation of adequate shelter, food and health services.
The overwhelming majority of internally displaced persons are women and children who are especially at risk of abuse of their basic rights. More often than refugees, the internally displaced tend to remain close to or become trapped in zones of conflict, caught in the cross-fire and at risk of being used as pawns, targets or human shields by the belligerents. These people still live in constant fear of losing their temporary home and attacks from armed bandits. It is an unsafe world for them, and they live with this truama all their lives.
IDPs camps are government owned, but most of their care facilities are provided by NGOs, these NGOs donate clothing items, food stuffs, beddings, sanitary towels and drinking cans, and medical services, and offer mental and moral support to most of the women and children.