The life of a young refugee girl in Diffa, Niger

Martha looks like any other 17 year old girl, made up with her jewellary, sitting at the entrance to her family’s tent. Perhaps it’s her way of holding on to any form of normalcy but her life is not normal and has never really been so. As one of the few Christian girls in her community in Nigeria, she didn’t have many friends. This didn’t seem to worry her much as she had always been attached to her mother. 

“I even laughed to myself a little when I heard the gun fire...it wasn’t until we had to cross the river that I realized the situation was dire.”

Whether it was going to church or making doughnuts to sell, she had the one friend she’d ever need, her mother Mariama. Life was as normal as it would ever get and she was more than happy the way things were. Her father, James, a butcher, was doing well enough that her family was well taken care of. She was in school and loved computers. Her dream was to continue her Junior Secondary School (JSS) education and hopefully graduate to Senior Secondary School (SSS) where she could finally follow her dream, to study computer science. She was content with life and even on occasions happy, but all that came crashing down when they had to flee from their home in northern Nigeria.

Separated from her father, siblings and her best friend, her mother, Martha fled with their neighbors. It all seemed surreal to her and she still hadn’t gripped the gravity of the situation, “I even laughed to myself a little when I heard the gun fire,” she confessed, “it wasn’t until we had to cross the river that I realized the situation was dire. In that moment I started crying and looking for my family.”

After crossing she was still in despair, frantically looking for her family, incapable of controlling her tears.

Martha didn’t know how to swim but thankfully a man helped her across the river.

After crossing she was still in despair. She was frantically looking for her family, incapable of controlling her tears. Soldiers from the Nigerian army, seeing the panicked young girl, gave her something to eat and drink and pointed her towards Gagamari, a town where all those fleeing the conflict were assembling.

The young girl walked 73 km not knowing if she was ever going to see her family again, alone and frightened. Upon arriving she began to search for her family. After days on end, she finally found her family but something wasn’t right, her two younger siblings were nowhere to be seen. They had also been separated from the family in the chaos but they hadn’t turned up yet. Martha still holds out hope of being reunited with her brothers in the future. 

The young girl walked 73 km not knowing if she was ever going to see her family again, alone and frightened.

After being in the camp since November 2014, Martha began suffering from nightmares. “She would tremble and latch on to anything she could. When it first started I thought she was possessed because of how she would behave,” Mariama said, with the terrors of the memory evident in her face. “I would just lay hands on her and pray for her until she calmed down.”

All through this, life continues for Martha and her family. The days are mundane and difficult as they toil to survive another day. Things improved slightly when they received items such as buckets, mats and insecticide nets from World Vision. They are now able to cater for certain basic needs such as where to store water and where  to lie down at night, but even then it isn’t enough. Her family continues to struggle to make ends meet and to find food to eat. 

Things improved slightly when they received items such as buckets, mats and insecticide nets from World Vision.

In all this there’s only one thing Martha wants, “I just want things to return to normal. I want to go back home. I miss my brothers, my church, my classes and making doughnuts with my mother. There is nothing to do here, we just sit around and do nothing. We don’t even go to school. I just want to go home.”

Each day the family search for water and food and they search for things to preoccupy themselves with. Martha and every other child at the refugee camp are not living life in all its fullness. They have no schools, not safe water points, no immediate access to proper health facilities and they do not feel safe. They live in constant fear of the unknown, what the future holds.

No child should have to live like this.