Some women are in the
business of living on the corn chaff in Maiduguri after they have no
choice as a result of the attack of Boko Haram which left them in a
pathetic situation, Michael Olugbode reports
Where there is war, there is poverty and
starvation. There is so much poverty on the streets of Maiduguri where
majority of people currently quartered within the ancient city have been
traumatised by the Boko Haram insurgency that has pervaded Borno State
for six years.
Over half of the present residents of the town, before
the insurgency, were living outside Maiduguri, but as the insurgents
took their war from the streets of Maiduguri to rural communities of the
state, the people that had no wherewithal to live in an urban setting
had to flee to a town with all the characteristics of hardship. This
left them with little option for survival other than begging, which is
dehumanising, or taking up menial jobs in order to keep the stomach
filled even if it cannot keep them properly sheltered.
One does not need special training to
discover poverty in Maiduguri as people living in affluence are just
little in number, everywhere you walk in the troubled town the sight of
beggars embarrasses you; it is never too far from the truth that the
beggars in the town are more than those they are begging from. But as
alms are less in circulation, many, mostly women have resorted to the
business of separating grains from the chaff to get meals on the table
for their family.
They leave their homes in the morning to
congregate at a market around Customs area in Maiduguri to work all
through the day at grains mills, the wage is small and sometimes do not
pay their daily feeding expenses; they therefore do not have savings and
need to work in the rain and under the sun in order not to only feed
themselves but sometimes even their “lazy” husbands.
Most times they complement their wages
with chaff collected, which they often have to sell to those raising
livestock. In many cases they do have to pick corn that fell in the
market to feed their family at home. It is unfortunate that these women
who are mostly thrown into this pitiable condition are victims of Boko
Haram who invaded their homes and threw them into what seems an unending
cycle of poverty.
The sight of the women cannot but draw
pity from any normal soul as they are adorned in poverty, they looked so
much unkempt and sometimes stink as it seems they do not have the money
to buy detergent to wash their clothes and soap to have a decent bath.
The money they work for is nothing to write home about, as a group of
about six women work for as little as hundred Naira on a task that might
take 20 minutes.
Some of the women narratives were sad and
show the human wickedness to fellow human, which is the story of Boko
Haram insurgency.
Zara Mallum, a woman who is 45 years old
and currently living in Budum, said she has spent three weeks in the
market working daily to make between fifty and two hundred Naira, she
has nine children, and a husband Mallum Zarami, who is over 50.
She said the husband was working in Dikwa
but had to flee because of Boko Haram invasion. She narrated that:
“When we came to Maiduguri, we were suffering and never had house to
stay, we were (still) staying in a thatched house in Budum, where we are
taking refuge.”
She lamented that: “When it is raining we
are washed in the rain as the roof links.” But added enthusiastically
that: “My son gave us a promise that if he was able to make enough from
the wheel barrow that he pushes, he will be able to raise some money for
us to buy iron roofing sheets.”
She said that she resorted to working at
the market when she and her family were about dying from starvation as
they had nothing to eat. She however said her husband “is at home with
the other children, he does not have anything doing. He had another wife
that does not have any other thing doing. She has six children.”
Zara said though the job does not pay
well, “I feel there is honour in working for your sustenance, I cannot
beg like some others because it is dangerous and it does not give you
respect. Since I am able and I believe I should not beg but work hard to
make something for myself.”
She said though she earns between
N50-N200 daily but sometimes she comes around the market without making
anything at which time she and her family have to depend on whatever her
son made from pushing wheel barrow.
To Aisha Mohammed, a 38 years old mother
of five children, married to Umaru Mohammed who is 60 years old, a
farmer in Mafa their hometown before the invasion of Boko Haram. When
they were in Mafa, she was selling mangoes and onions but lost
everything to the insurgents. Now Malari, a suburb of Maiduguri, she has
been coming to the maize mills for a year now and makes between
N50-N200 daily which she uses to feed herself and family.
Aisha who was doing nothing while they
were at Mafa, said the responsibility of feeding the family solely has
fallen on her, lamenting that: “Most times my husband is never concerned
about what we eat at home.”
Another woman at the market, Bilikisu
Mohammed, who is 35 years old, now lives in Jenta-Kawu, an outskirts of
Maiduguri and had been working at the market for two years. She was a
farmer before fleeing to Maiduguri. She narrated that “my village was
burnt by the Boko Haram insurgents and our livestock taken away leaving
us with nothing.”
Bilikisu, a mother of five decried that
“my husband, Bukar Mohammed who was 50 years old is now late, he died as
a result of cardiac arrest due to Boko Haram crisis.” ‘We were fleeing
from insurgent when he suffered a heart attack which led to his death.”
She said her family had a meal a day
which costs N150 to prepare, lamenting that: “If I do not make enough
then I may not eat for the day. I stay in a thatched hut in Simari
Borehole.” She insisted that: “I do not take to begging because it
leaves you without respect.”
Fatima Mohammed, a woman who is 48 years
old with two children, and married to Tijjani, a man of 55 years, had
been in the market for three years. She said: “My husband was working
with government but had partial blindness and was doing nothing. I took
it upon myself to work so that the rest of us can feed. They started
giving him pension recently.”
She added that: “The pension is very
little and cannot even feed all of us. Sometimes I made nothing here but
most times I make between N50-N200.”
On how she had been surviving with such
little amount, she said, “Sometimes we drink only Gari, and sometimes I
buy corn. The insurgency has affected me as my father had to be brought
from Damasak because of the trouble there. I am not enjoying this work I
am doing but I’m in it just to make ends meets. I would have loved to
be a housemaid or cleaner. But now I am appealing to government to
assist me with some capital to trade with.”
Another woman, Binta Abba, who stays
around Kasuwan Shanu area of Maiduguri, who is 55 years old and had
spent three years at the market has sad tales to tell as the insurgency
made her to lose her stock of vegetables which she was selling at
Kasuwan Gamboru. “The crisis made people to flee the market and there
was no more business there, she said”
Abba while lamenting that she only makes
an average of N200 daily and had to cater for her ailing husband,
Mustapha Abba and four children, who they fled Muna village together
during the attack by Boko Haram.
To these women and others in their
unenviable shoes, there is need for urgent assistance or otherwise they
may die soon from the web of poverty and huge responsibilities which
have encircled them.
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