Visionary Reports

 BHeT organisation in partnership with Reach Out NGO was there on Sunday January 26 to assess their needs in order to make their predicaments known

An estimated over six hundred Internally Displaced Persons IDPs in Bonabome – Bonaberi have called on the national and the International humanitarian community to come to their assistance as they are in dire need of education, toilets, health facility, potable drinking water just to name a few. They made the call last Sunday January 26 in Bonabome when Reach Out NGO in collaboration with Bringing Hearts Together- BHeT Organization paid a visit to the suffering population. The visit was to assess the needs of the people so as to know what form of support package to prepare for them.

While talking to some of the IDPs, they disclosed that they have never received any major support though some philanthropists have been offering them help from time to time.  Most of the children suffer from skin rashes and fall sick often while others suffer from frequent convulsion.  During the interviews, it was also discovered that  most of the children and some adults do sleep on the floor in overcrowded homes and bed rooms. They lack portable drinking water as they drink directly from their shallowly dug wells.

Most of the women complained that they suffer from vaginal itches and discharges owing to the fact that they used latrines that are full to the brim. One of the IDPs narrated their ordeal in relation to toilet availability, that they dug holes behind their makeshift homes and use bed sheets as blinds. “Most of our latrines are full and make us to always have itches” she narrated.

Meanwhile, the IDPs also complained of threats from locals of Bonabome.  “At times they asked us to leave their land. They sometimes call us “Ambazonians”. With all these we are not comfortable, we want the war to come to an end so that we can return to our original habitat”, recounted some of the IDPs. 

The Executive Director of Reach Out NGO, Madam Omam Esther Njomo, saw the need to carry out an assessment within the IDP community so as to put a finger on what they need. “We came here to assess the needs of our brothers and sisters who have been internally displaced and to understand the life they live in their current host community. This is so that we can have actual data on the need situation, so that we can make their plight known to international and national humanitarian actors. Humanitarian actors are not aware of the fact that a good number of IDPs are in such a locality. We discovered that there are a lot of school children who are not going to school.  The rate at which children fall sick is high. We hope that their needs will be addressed”. She concluded. The Executive Director of Reach Out NGO, used the opportunity to offer some tablet soap materials to the IDPs.

By Gina Esong