Sep 27

Sep 27 Remembering the People of Borno, Nigeria

When I worked in Nigeria in 2010 and 2011, I travelled to Borno State, the area that has been terrorised by Boko Haram for the last several years. We have heard the horrible stories - of girls abducted out of their classrooms, entire villages razed, countless people murdered, and so many people displaced. Recently, this Foreign Policy story really got to me, vividly describing a desperate situation where children are dying for lack of basic medicine.

UN agencies like UNICEF need money to provide people urgently needed relief. There are a quarter of a million malnourished children, about a million people who can't be reached at all due to security, huge health needs for children and pregnant women, many children who can't go to school, and extreme pyschological trauma for communities that have seen family members murdered. In short, it's horrible. Polio has also returned to Borno, when all of us hoped Nigeria (and Africa) were polio-free.

I can personally vouch for Jean Gough, the head of UNICEF Nigeria (just recently departed after several years in the country). Jean made it her business to travel to Maiduguri, the capital of Borno, when security was at its worst. With energy and intelligence, she impressed me from the minute I met her. Her programming deserves our support.

Here, I want to show some images of the children and families I met in Borno state while I was there working on polio campaigns. I want to remind everyone that the people had normal lives just a few years ago. Children went to school, parents ran businesses, communities socialized and enjoyed being together. Before the resurgence of Boko Haram, they were like all of us. When I travelled to the villages, people were welcoming and kind. I think of these people often, and I wonder what has become of each of them. Some of them are dead. I'm certain of that. But I hope that most are still living. I know they'll need help, because so much of the state has been under attack for so many years.

So, please have a look and read about these people- the way they were - and think about giving to help their lives eventually return to something much closer to normal.

School girls in Maiduguri crowd around the gate to say hello - at that time, they probably didn't see many foreigners.

Kids were always happy to greet newcomers.

Here, kids crowd around a truck during a "polio rally". Performers sang as the truck drove around the streets of Maiduguri.

A couple ride a motorcycle beside the polio rally truck.

This man was a local chief. He was very supportive of the polio campaigns and helped to mobilise his community to come out for vaccine.

More school kids - I love the uniforms!

As the bell rings, the kids run back to their classrooms.

A health worker in resplendent fabric vaccinates a child against polio.

The health workers travelled door-to-door to vaccinate all kids under 5. When security got bad, they had to do "stealth" vaccinations when it was deemed to be safe.

I was always impressed by how diligently they worked. Here, a volunteer fills in data about the number of children she's helped vaccinate.

Kids - what a smile.

I remember these guys so well. They're picking through rubbish to find things they might use or sell. Not nice work for a kid, but they were quick to give me a grin. And that jacket!

More children.

This is that same village chief. Even then, his life had been threatened by marauders.

A polio vaccinator definitely knows her stuff, as she explains her work to my colleague Shahzad.

This was a school rally. Note the t-shirt .

The lovely health team I spent the day with.

Kids, kids, kids. That's me in the back. I never learned how to tie my head scarf properly.

Me and two of the health workers. Wonderful women.

Ok, this was in a "Boko Haram" area. At that time, it was challenging to enter these areas as people were suspicious. But, note the girl with the orange headscarf on the left.

She was about ten - and led us to her house. She was desperate for her siblings to get the polio vaccine, because her baby brother had polio, poor love.

Her older sister came out with this baby. This was hard, as the baby was really really sick. We offered some money so she could take the child to hospital. I don't know if the baby made it. The father in the house was a Boko Haram member, I learned later.

Mostly though it was no problem to vaccinate the kids.

Twins. As with every child in these images, I wonder what has happened to them.

The health workers in a typical Borno town. Tidy, treed streets.

And more kids - coming from school.

I'll never forget this sight of the red uniforms and the green trees in the sunshine.

I loved being in these crowds, seeing kids receive the vaccine that would help to protect their health.

Funny story - I bought these kids some biscuits from the local shop. They got so excited as the tall man handed them out, the whole lot of them heaved into a wall, and it broke quite badly. Whoops. No one was hurt. I paid to replace the wall.

Storm clouds.

The health workers come back to the health post after a day's work.

This was our van on that day. About 12 of us jumped in.

The maternity ward. There was no one there, but it was relatively tidy and airy.

The health team.

This was my second trip several months later. I travelled with the head of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency as he personally wanted to visit Borno, given that Boko Haram activities had started to heat up.

Here, we visit a family whose son was paralysed by polio. The men discuss the situation, and pray over the child.

Again, these were harder times, with Boko Haram attacks starting. Security was important.

We were driving up to a village on Lake Chad. There was a big convoy of us and people ran out to wave as we went by.

This is the road - in fact, we drove beside the road for much of the journey as the actual road was in such bad condition.

We pass cattle herders on the way.

We take a boat up a canal towards Lake Chad. These boys were gathered on the shore to say hello. I'm certain this area has been badly hit by Boko Haram.

The man in brown was the health minister at the time. Then, he became the Governor of Borno State. He was a really nice man.

More friendly greetings from the shore.

Our security guard on the boat. I often think of him, as he would have been on some of the front lines of any attacks.

After a good hour on the boat, we arrived at a village where the people greeted us warmly. The village had no school or health clinic.

More security - they were friendly with the kids I remember.

Children gather at the village well.

The men gathered around to discuss community needs, and the health minister promised them a health clinic.

As is tradition, they prayed before and after the meeting. We stayed just a short while as the sun was starting to set.

I'll never forget the light as we headed back to the boat.

And I'll never forget this - the whole village gathering to wave goodbye. I'm certain this place is now destroyed, and I don't know what happened to the people.

These boys. I don't know.

The view from our boat.

And more people, waving, waving.

The next day we travelled to Bama. This is the traditional leader of Bama in his "palace." He greeted us warmly and promised to do more to fight polio.