Speaking truth to power
Orpha Ibrahim and Cleto Kunda, spoke truth to power at a crucial United Nations (UN) meeting on internally displaced people. Orpha is from a Displacement camp in Nigeria, and Cleto was forced from him home by conflict South Sudan in 2016. Orpha and Cleto are both working within their communities to speak out for the needs of those who have been displaced from their homes.
There are more than 40 million people across the world who’ve been forced from their homes but remain within their countries’ borders. They are overlooked by the international community. Orpha and Cleto have first hand experience of this — which is why it’s vital for their stories to be heard at the UN meeting. We hope the meeting makes at least some progress towards ensuring better protections and assistance for millions of displaced people worldwide.
Orpha’s story: The Mandara Mountain Survivor
Orpha Ibrahim, 33, is from Amuda town in Gworza, Borno State, Nigeria. A state that is at the centre of an ongoing conflict which began in 2009. Over 20,000 people have died and almost 2 million forced from their homes.
Before the conflict, Orpha and her husband Atumga Dawa earned their living through cultivating maize, beans and millet.
“We were satisfied with our livelihood and lived a normal life. The stories of incessant attacks increased daily but we constantly hoped Gworza would remain safe.”
But in 2014, the insurgents found their way into Gworza and took the villages one at a time. Orpha and her family escaped to the top of Mandara mountain for safety, (the Mandara mountains extend about 190km along northern part of the Nigeria-Cameroon border).
“My first daughter was just about four years old then; I was also nursing my second daughter who was just few months old. The mountain is a home to the Zalidva tribe; they accommodated us and gave us maize and vegetables from their stock to feed on.”
Eventually, Orpha and her children and found themselves in a displacement camp run by the Christian Association of Nigeria in Wulari, Maiduguri in which she has stayed since 2015. Her family is dependent on humanitarian aid for survival.
“The reason that I am alive now is because of support from humanitarian organisations such as Christian Aid and the UN.”
Orpha attended the UN meetings to represent the views of her community, and speak up for the rights of internally displaced people across the world. She called on the international community to do more to support all displaced people such as herself and address the root causes of the issue.
“I’m very happy to have been able to speak in front of the Human Rights Council and Humanitarian bodies as a representative of all nations, not just Africa, and as a representative of my people. I hope that what I’m saying will be given due consideration and put it into action in order for my people also to be happy and know that they too are human beings and they have the right to survive.”.
Cleto’s story
“My hope for the future is that the mediating parties to the resolution of conflict in South Sudan should exert more efforts to bring the everlasting peace to the people of South Sudan so that they go back to their homes and start their normal life.”
Cleto Kunda works for the Hope Agency for Relief and Development (HARD), a local NGO in Wau in South Sudan, which has been supporting communities dealing with conflict since 1995.
His family fled to Uganda after the conflict in Wau in 2016 and became refugees there.
Cleto decided to remain in South Sudan to support his community and has been separated from his family since.
Despite peace now being restored in Wau, 50,000 people remain without a home, living in camps in South Sudan. HARD works in the camps to understand people’s needs and work with NGOs to help address these needs in a way that is practical and culturally appropriate for the communities.
Through this, HARD has found that provisions are patchy, un-coordinated and don’t always address people’s needs. Another key concern for the community is a lack of safety and security. Many of the people displaced in South Sudan are vulnerable women, children, elderly and disabled people with inadequate protections.
Cleto attended the UN meetings in Geneva to raise awareness about the issues that people forced from home in South Sudan face and what durable solutions can be found for them. He hopes to share with decision makers information about the challenges which people are facing in the camps, and their immediate needs and how they think their lives can be improved.
At Christian Aid, we believe that rights should be guaranteed for all people on the move and stand together with people like Orpha and Cleto.
The UN will be hosting another meeting this September, and we are calling on our Prime Minister to speak up for displaced people worldwide.
