It has been one year since 200 Nigerian girls were kidnapped by Boko Haram, but UNICEF says there are 800,000 other children who have been displaced by conflict in the region. UNICEF has provided 60,000 of them in Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad with support but would do much more if it had more funding.
The agency has provided its own and local counselling for some of the children who have been traumatized. “The trauma that they have suffered is incredible,” says David Morley, head of UNICEF Canada. “The drawings that they draw are of horrible things—children with their throats slit, people being killed and thrown in rivers. It’s things that no child should have to look at or…live through.”
Listen
UNICEF has provided some temporary schooling spaces and worked with local schools so they could increase spaces to accommodate some of the Nigerian children. It is also providing treatment for some of the malnourished children.
Morley is hopeful that the outcome of the recent election in Nigeria will eventually bring about peace which, he says, is what the children really need. He is calling on Canada and other countries to promote peace in the region and provide more funding for the relief effort.
For reasons beyond our control, and for an undetermined period of time, our comment section is now closed. However, our social networks remain open to your contributions.