We have suffered a lot. We ran helter-skelter just to survive. As I’m talking to you now, there are people from our village, Kiriwari, who have been in the forest for about three to four days, suffering. We barely had the chance to make it here.
Boko Haram came with their guns and chased all of us away from our village. Not a single person remained. We had a population of about 1,000 people, and we were all forced to flee with our children. This incident happened exactly two months ago. Right now, we are in a critical condition due to the lack of proper accommodation. Some people fled but couldn’t reach Maiduguri; they are sleeping on farms, hiding among the trees. Because of this situation, if we could get help, we would want to be provided with foodstuffs. We left all our belongings behind and arrived here with nothing. Kind-hearted individuals gave some of us clothes, but that help is only available to those who were lucky enough to reach town. If you go to the area behind our village, you’ll see the level of suffering among our people — it would shock you.
Most of us have scattered to different places such as Kiriwari, Malabari, Borkawuri, Bulumdi, Kurumri, Sadiri, Abachari, Abchuri, Titiya, and other villages whose names I do not even know. All these communities have been displaced. We left our farms just as the crops were about to ripen – beans, maize, millet, and groundnuts – we left everything behind. Our farms are large and have been passed down from our parents and grandparents, but we abandoned them and ran for our lives.
I have lost a lot, and what I lost cannot be replaced by any individual—only the government can help. I personally lost about ₦8 million. Still, we have faith in God. If the government is willing to assist us, we would be grateful.
I have three wives and 28 children, and none of them are currently attending school. What I want most is for my people to have food to eat and a place to sleep. That is my primary concern. When we were in our village, we had no security issues. We were living peaceful lives until Boko Haram suddenly attacked us and displaced us.
This is not the first time we have been displaced. It has happened about three times before. But in the past, we were able to return and recover some of our belongings. This time, however, we are too afraid to go back. Boko Haram abducted around seven to eight people from our village, and up till now, we have not heard anything about them. We don’t know whether they are alive or dead.
As narrated by: Lawan Alaji Kaumi (Maiduguri, Nigeria).
This snippet is published as part of a series, The Day Boko Haram Attacked.
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