Boko Haram attacks separate children from parents

World Today

By some accounts, Boko Haram has displaced over one million Nigerians. Many families have been torn apart, with many children losing their parents. Over the border in Chad, there’s still hope for some of the abandoned children. CCTV’s Clementine Logan reported the story from Baga Sola, Chad.

Children suffer the worst from the Boko Haram insurgency. Fanni, just 10-years-old, is among the youngest victims of this insurgency.

After her mother died, she went to stay with her father in Baga. Just a day later, Boko Haram militants stormed the town. Hundreds were killed, including Fanni’s father.

Nigerian refugee Hawa Amadou found Fanni alone by the shores of Lake Chad, and took her on the long and difficult journey across the water to the refugee camps.

“When I found her, she had already been drinking water from the lake and was sick, so when we arrived at the camp, I took her to the hospital and she got better. Then we got her some new clothes and came here,” Amadou said.

However, Fanni’s not the only one to find herself in a strange place without her family. It’s believed that there are 100 or more unaccompanied and separated children across the various camps. Aid agencies think that by moving people to the main camp in Baga Sola, there’s a better chance of reuniting them with their families.

“We’ve barely been here a week but the movement of people from the other camps to here is underway and so I’m optimistic this will provide the right conditions to begin finding family members,” Guy Nanhousngue, head of unaccompanied children at Baga Sola camp said.

Fanni will never find her parents, but she has been taken in by Hawa, and at the very least, they feel safe.


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