Dotun Roy
Young professionals in Abuja has kicked off “Support A Camp” Project. Support A Camp is a project aimed at supporting the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Nigeria, particularly the victims of Boko Haram attacks in the Northeastern Nigeria states.
Support A Camp Team which comprises upwardly mobile young professionals from various fields decided to visit one of the IDPs camps stationed in Abuja today, 15 February as a way to express their love and support for these people.
According to Phil Robert, SupportACamp Team Leader, said the living conditions at the Camp was quite shocking and disheartening. Current situation at this camp was precarious and nothing to write home about. It was one of such sad tales, where large number of people live in what looks like a God-forsaken forest in a reserved and secluded part of Abuja with no acess to potable drinking water, no basic sanitation and hygiene. These people live in shanties made out of cement bags and torn canopies. The surroundings of the camp was full dirts and squalor. We must do everything within our capacity to amplify the voices of these people because they are Nigerians like us, he added.
Support A camp Team took a bold step further by interacting as well as interviewing some of these IDPs which are being transported to Abuja, after they had lost everything in Boko Haram motivated attacks from Borno, Bauchi and Adamawa states.
“We are really suffering here, no clean water to drink, no proper toilet, everyone here defecate in the open with no standard roofs over our heads” said Victor Benson,an IDP from Maiduguri.
Another IDP who spoke to Support A Camp Team said our children have no access to education anymore. Some of them are currently on sickbed as a result diseases caught from unclean water from the stream. It is dry season now, we are unsure of our fate, if rain should start today, our houses will be swept away by flooding, he remarked.
Support A Camp also discovered that the major source of water at this camp, where they do their regular bathe among other things, is actually sewage water from the nearest Housing Estate flowing across the camp.
We want Nigerian government, corporate and local organisations, international organisation like World Health Organisation and UNICEF too, to come to our aid, said another young woman who had just given birth to twins named Peter and Paul.
More photos from the camp
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Support A Camp is a Non partisan initiative. It is currently supported by YouthWASH (Vote4WASH); S.A to the President on Social Development Matters & Special Duties; Dorothy Njamanze Foundation; Queen Esther [Diamond Ent]; Kalahari Nigeria; Montage Africa Ltd; Engage Media; Queen Rita [finest Girl in Nigeria]; Mirakon Events; Dotun Roy’s Blog and National Women And Youth Alliance (NAWAYA NIGERIA)
For more information 08092348319, 080348588005