Our Response To COVID-19 in Adamawa State, Nigeria

Adamawa State situated in the North-East region, has been facing a humanitarian crisis caused by violent attacks from Boko Haram, the dreaded Islamist militant group for more than 8 years. The emergence of COVID-19 has worsened the already bad situation. More women, children and the elderly presently live in extreme poverty, and those who had been able to escape poverty have seen their resources dwindle in recent times. 

 

Poor communities have become more vulnerable to the issues of livelihood, hunger, housing and shelter. COVID-19 has had devastating effects on the health and economic situation of vulnerable women and children. Also, the scarcity of water in this region has made it practically impossible to maintain hygiene. 

The Save Our Needy team reached to the poorest households which have women as the breadwinners in Yola-South, Adamawa State, to provide them with care and hygiene packages consisting of food items, bottled water, menstrual pads, sanitizers, bath soaps, washing detergents and toilet rolls. We also launched an awareness campaign to raise more awareness on the prevention of COVID-19 in order to reduce the rate of infections in the communities.

URGENT APPEAL TO REHABILITATE VICTIMS OF BOKO HARAM

For more than 7 years, Boko Haram, a dreaded militant group, has terrorized Nigerians particularly Northern Nigeria. People in North East Nigeria live in constant fear, today.

  

Since 2009, Boko Haram's increasing radicalization has led to the displacement of 2.3 million people, mainly women and children. At least 250,000 people have fled Nigeria for neighbouring countries such as Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

Boko Haram killed more than 6,600 people in 2014. The terrorist group has carried out mass abductions, destroyed schools, houses, entire villages and separated countless families. In April 2014, more than 250 girls were abducted from their school in Chibok, Borno by Boko Haram because they oppose western education. They are against girls going to school and will do everything within their power to stop all those who go against their will. Public outcry gave rise to the ‘’Bring Back Our Girls’’ campaign. To date, only a handful of these unfortunate, innocent girls deprived of their basic rights are free because they were able to escape. The only one found is already a child mother.

It is not only in war-torn countries heart-wrenching images depicting very malnourished children with their ribs sticking out, can be seen. A visit to the IDP camp in Bama, which shares a border with Sambisa Forest will break your heart. Women and children who have been fortunate to be rescued from the claws of Boko Haram by the Nigerian Army are dying of starvation and lack medical supplies. Some of them are at the point of death. The Nigerian government cannot afford to take adequate care of the IDPs and unfortunately, people avoid those communities due to the high level of insecurity. 

Victims of Boko Haram attacks suffer from malnutrition due to extreme poverty

A malnourished mother breastfeeding her child

This child is in dire need of nourishing food and medical supplies

Your donation can save this innocent child from dying before he is five.

 The children particularly are extremely malnourished and many die preventable deaths.

Victims of Boko Haram attacks who have been rescued urgently need food and medical supplies, clothing and other basic necessities. They also need counseling to help ease their trauma before they are reunited with their families. Schools need to be built in the camp so children can prepare for the future. Women need to be empowered to become self-reliant. Save Our Needy wishes to boost the efforts of the Borno State government by rehabilitating victims.

A young girl looking up to the future

 Please support Save Our Needy as we embark on this noble cause to touch the lives of all those who have been deprived of their basic rights to live and get a better future.

Kindly visit our website to send in your donations: www.saveourneedy.org

You can also send in your donations to:

Save Our Needy Organisation

0168556004

Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank)

Nigeria.

Your contribution will make a HUGE difference.

THANK YOU!!!

Schools In North-East Nigeria Finally Reopen Despite Fear Of Boko Haram Attacks

Hundreds of schools in northeast Nigeria have reopened for the first time in a year and a half - but many teachers and pupils are reluctant to return because of persistent violence in the region.
Almost 450 schools have reopened in Borno state since October 2015, more than 18 months after education was halted in the wake of an attack by Boko Haram militants on a boarding school in neighbouring Yobe state in which they killed 59 students.

Some schools in Adamawa and Borno states are doubling the number of classes to provide education for people uprooted by the conflict as well as for local children, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
Displaced teachers across the region have volunteered to teach and many children who fled violence in remote rural areas have gone to school for the first time, the UN children's fund UNICEF said.
"Prioritising education is absolutely essential if we are to avoid losing the next generation to more poverty, hopelessness and the risk of radicalisation," said Toby Lanzer, UN humanitarian coordinator for the Sahel.

Nigerian children at UNICEF-supported learning center in Dalori camp in Maiduguri

Borno is the birthplace of the six-year insurgency waged by Islamist militant group Boko Haram, which kidnapped 276 girls from a secondary school in the village of Chibok in April 2014.
A regional offensive by Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon earlier this year drove Boko Haram from much of the territory it held in northern Nigeria. But the militants have since struck back with a renewed wave of deadly raids and suicide bombings.

More than 1200 schools have been attacked in northeast Nigeria and hundreds of teachers and pupils have been killed by bomb blasts, raising fears among communities about the safety of resuming education, according to UNICEF.
"Many parents are reluctant to send their children - especially girls - to school... even some teachers are afraid of going to work due to the targeted attacks, threats of attacks or general insecurity," said Eva Ahlen from UNICEF in Nigeria.

The United Nations is working with the Nigerian government to make schools safer, train teachers and offer basic education to those staying in camps and with host families, where nine in 10 of Nigeria's 2.2 million internally displaced people are living.
Even before the conflict in the northeast, Nigeria had the highest number of out-of-school children in the world, more than 10 million, according to OCHA.

Article by Kieran Guilbert (Thomson Reuters Foundation)

One of the main aims of Save Our Needy is to alleviate poverty through the promotion of education. We believe that through education, millions of people can be saved from poverty and despair. Help empower a girl today and contribute to bringing a whole community out of poverty. Support our girl-child initiatives. Visit our website to know more about our activities: www.saveourneedy.org
Your donations are highly welcome.