By Rakiétou Hassane Mossi
As I step out of the vehicle, I can see a group of man seated under the plastic shed. They were expecting us. Today, November 11, 2016, a team of CARE staffers, two field agents and I, went to the refugee camp of Tabaraye-Bareye, in the region of Tillabéry, located about 200km away from Niamey.
The purpose of our field trip was to make a donation to a beneficiary after UNHCR. The local NGO Dicko, in charge of protection on the camp, and Agence Pour le Bien-Être (APBE), the local NGO in charge of the camp management, had a meeting and ask an action to be taken regarding this particular situation.
On the night of the 10th to the 11th September 2016 the camp was attacked by armed groups. Civilians died and others got injured. Unfortunately, Aminata Youssef, a young mother of about 20 years old, lost her life while trying to flee the scene and shelter her three children, Mamoudou, 2 years, and the twins: Adam and Hawa, 6 months. The attack was unexpected. The camp is not well protected against stray bullets. When the attack started, everyone was fleeing for their life. Aminata was able to carry the children in their house and came back to grab Mamoudou. She reached the door of her house when she was shot in the heart. She leaves behind her two sons and daughter. The twins lost their mother at a young age and still need to be fed. They were weak and sick and this worried our partners on the camp. Dicko staffers were able to raise awareness and were helping with milk and food for the children. However, they worry this help will not last long. That is how UNHCR, APBE and Dicko asked CARE to help.
After the attack of the 10 - 11 September 2016 on the refugee camp of Tabareye Bareye, Gaichatou lost her daughter Aminata. She is left to take care of her three grandchildren under 2 years of age. (Photo: Rakiétou Hassane Mossi/CARE)
CARE decided to help Aissa Hamadikna also known as Gaichatou, 46 years old and mother of Aminata and 5 of her brothers, to have an income generating activity that will help her for the long run. CARE gave Aissa a table of 1m60/90, a bench of 2m30, one box of chocolate, one box of cream-cake, one box of candy, one bag of 50 kilograms of powdered milk, one bag of 100 kilograms of grinded cassava (commonly called gari), one can of 25 liters of peanut oil, 3 boxes of tea, one bag of 50 kilograms of dates, and one bag of 50 kilograms of powdered sugar. Now Gaichatou can start selling these goods within the community and continue to support her family.
Gaichatou has been living on the camp of Tabaraye-Bareye since 2012. They were the first Malian refugees that have been welcomed in Niger. She came to Niger as a widow and has been the head of the household since she was living in Mali. She would sustain her family with hats and jewelry she’d make and sale. When she came to Niger, she continued to produce hats and is now part of a women group in the camp. She is the president of the Group Aniya, which means Intentions in Zarma language. They were able to buy goats with the group activities’ revenues and she now owns two goats. She was living happily and peacefully until the attack happened. She is living with her niece, her three grandchildren, and two of her sons, having three others gone to Nigeria to find a better life. She lost her only daughter on that terrible night of the attack and she misses her terribly she says. She had stopped all her activities to take care of the grandchildren, hence the request to start a small IGA that will not ask much of her so she can take care of the grandchildren and have a means of earning her life.
For Gaichatou, this was unexpected. When she was headed her donation, she could not help but cry. She was speechless. Her words are still echoing in my head: “the only thing I can say is thank you. I never expected this to be able to help my family. I was trying to make ends meet with what we can and having three extra mouths to feed was too much, especially when they are young children that need so much attention and care. For me, I knew at some point that the help with milk for the kids will stop but when and what if it stopped and I couldn’t take care of the kids my only daughter gave me? God is good and always has ways to answer to our prayers. I’m really thankful to all the partners involved for helping me get an activity that will benefit not only me and my, family but the community as well.”
The calm is settling back on the camp but we can still say that the trauma is still there. Fear is still in the air. As we were still talking with Gaichatou, we were asked to leave the camp immediately for security reasons.