Five years in Minawao as a refugee
How a Nigerian refugee in Cameroon is adapting to life away from home as insurgency continues to rage in North East Nigeria
Story by Glory Ndaka
It’s been five years since Marie Luca fled her village of Banki in North East Nigeria after it was attacked by insurgents. But the trauma remains fresh. “I still remember the day it happened like it was yesterday. The images of my house and little shop all up in flames,” says Marie.
With nothing apart from a few clothes, she fled across the border to Cameroon with her 8 children, including a six-months old baby girl. The Minawao camp in Cameroon’s Far North Region became her family’s refuge and home since.
“We had no food to eat on the journey to Cameroon. I felt sorry for my children because I couldn’t give them anything…I felt ashamed and cried every night because I could no longer afford something as basic as food for them, especially my little baby, she was malnourished,” explains the 40-year-old Marie.
Help in Minawao
Life improved, somewhat, for Marie and her family at the Minawao refugee camp. There was shelter and the family also received food and nutrition assistance provided by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and partners.
“Life has been much easier since I got here. Of course it’s difficult because we depend completely on the food we receive every month,” says Marie.
She has also found a sense of fulfillment since she joined the team of refugees trained to distribute food rations to other residents of the camp.
As part of efforts efforts to reinforce community participation in humanitarian activities initiated by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), WFP and its partner Public Concern (a Cameroonian non-governmental organisation) select 100 refugees (50 men and 50 women) who are trained to participate in monthly distributions by WFP’s partner in the camp Public Concern. Marie is one of them.
Sense of Fulfillment
On a hot day in late January, Marie and her colleagues are set to distribute to over 62,000 refugees. The number has increased from last year following a spate of attacks by armed insurgents that has forced more people to flee across the border from Nigeria into Cameroon.
The additional numbers do not scare Marie who is tasked to ensure that each family receives the appropriate quantity of vegetable oil that they are due.
“I love doing this. I just have to give everyone who comes by here their own oil ration according to their household size. With the pay I receive, I can buy other things for my family. There is no other way to make a living in this camp, so I appreciate this work.”
Marie hopes to one-day return to Nigeria. She says it is not safe yet, others have gone home and returned to the camp because armed groups are still there. She hopes to build a better life for her children in her home town of Banki when peace returns.
Thanks to Donors like the U.S Agency for International Development(USAID) WFP is able to assist refugees and the most food insecure in the Far North region of Cameroon.
