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VSF distributes toys, grinding machines to Borno IDPs

By Njadvara Musa, Maiduguri
26 November 2015   |   12:20 am
The Victims Support Fund (VSF) Monday distributed several units and cartons of children’s toys, grinding machines and drugs to over 6, 000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from the destroyed Bama town and its environs to meet their basic and recreational needs. Bama is 78 kilometres south-east of Maiduguri the state capital and had been severally…
IDPS

File Photo

The Victims Support Fund (VSF) Monday distributed several units and cartons of children’s toys, grinding machines and drugs to over 6, 000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from the destroyed Bama town and its environs to meet their basic and recreational needs.
Bama is 78 kilometres south-east of Maiduguri the state capital and had been severally attacked.

The displaced women, according to camp authorities, have been using grinding stones for their corn meals.

At the Bama camp Monday, the Executive Director of VSF, Prof. Sunday Ochoche, said that the presentation of relief materials will provide succour to women who have the responsibility of managing the cooking and other basic needs of life in the camp.
He said the distribution of children’s toys, grinding machines and drugs, could significantly make a difference to the quality of lives of children and women in the camp.

His words: “Today’s function of Victims Support Fund is small but symbolic and very important in our view. Bama is probably the worst affected town of Boko Haram attacks. It is virtually an empty town razed down completely by the insurgents. “We came here; did our little survey and realized that they were here. The military under the able leadership of Brigade Commander, Brig-Gen. Musa Aliyu and one or two other agencies have been providing the best they can to support this camp here in Bama.”
Prof. Ochoche, however, noted that there are some critical issues that need urgent intervention.

Such interventions, according to him, include the health needs of displaced persons and the recreational facilities for the 2,140 children below the age of five. “The military had been almost exclusively providing the medical requirements for the camp in an environment with so many children and women, you can appreciate what that is,”

He added: “They have used their human and material resources to provide medical support for the camp. We also realized that a number of the items needed for the camp to function effectively, especially the women, was lacking. The grinding machines they had here had broken down. When we came, we saw women literary having to grind all their grains and vegetables on the stone.”

On recreational needs of children, he said: “We also noticed that with the number here and considering that children and women are primary areas of focus of VSF, we thought that there was a need for us to respond to their basic needs. The partnership with UNICEF to provide drugs is to enable the military to provide the medical support to the IDPs.

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