By Charly Agwam
The concept of climate change and its effect had never a held a meaning for Amina Mansur, a 35-year-old widow until last Thursday when a heavy downpour flooded her water source and washed away her farm, the only source of livelihood for her and her children since the death of her husband.
At Buskuri community of Katagum local government area, Bauchi State, the mother of six children told Vanguard how her children walk many miles to get drinking water after the community well was covered with dirty water following the flood that ravaged her community.
"We found out the next morning that our only community well where we got our drinking water from had been flooded. That very morning, you could not see where the well was located because the whole place was covered with dirty brown water.
"This has affected us badly because my children now walk many miles to get drinking water. Thankfully, today we saw some people treating the water. We hope that it will be safe for us to drink because we have gone through a lot already," she said.
Mrs. Mansur also narrated how she had invested all her resources with the hope of recuperating in few months when time for harvest comes only to be greeted by hopelessness that her farm now reflects.
Standing on what may now qualify for a sand bed, Amina pointed to the portions of her farm where she planted maize and rice. She wondered how she would feed her six orphaned children without her farm as the young mother fought back tears.
"This kind of calamity has never happened to me before. Since the death of my husband, I have managed to feed myself and my six children from the proceeds of the farm my husband left for us. I have never been confused as I am now.
"I don't know what to do. I look at my children and I fear that they may not have what to eat tomorrow and the day after and till God knows when," Amina said. "When the rain started, we were all happy that finally, our crops will grow well.
"But we were surprised when we woke up to find out last Thursday that our houses have collapsed, farmlands have been washed away, and our main source of water is no longer safe for drinking. This may affect my children's education as we now have to get drinkable water from a borehole very far away. We need help. Everyone should come to my aid. I can't bear this burden alone."
Meanwhile, UNICEF in collaboration with Bauchi State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) and Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (RUWASSA) is mobilizing water and sanitation hygiene experts to sanitize water sources and educate residents to prevent spread of diseases.
The UNICEF WASH Specialist in Bauchi Field Office, Mohammed Kamfut explained that his organization and some implementing partners have moved to the affected areas as part of immediate intervention to prevent the spread of diseases that can affect mothers and children.
"First, we conducted an assessment of the situation in collaboration with our implementing partners to assess the level of damage and decide on what to do, and that has been done. We have partners across the different thematic areas.
"What is ongoing in the field is what our Water Sanitation and Hygiene intervention team is doing based on the assessment. We are doing this as part of our core corporate commitment as an organization to intervene in the first 48 hours to make sure that we provide whatever support that we can to compliment government effort.
"The situation of water, sanitation and hygiene is very poor in that area and it is a very critical to their lives. This affects the vulnerable directly. What you saw in the field is what we call water purification using chlorine solution to purify the water. This is meant to be an immediate intervention before we provide additional support.
"We have to deploy the other sections to support. In addition to that, we want to provide temporary or emergency services that have broken down to take care of the women and children.
"The children who are in that situation are supposed to enjoy the same services as people who are not affected. We will work jointly with government," the UNICEF WASH expert stated. "We will provide technical guidance on the interventions, working closely with the government to these communities can be supported.
"Our interventions are life-saving. For now, the most critical is to prevent the transmission of diseases especially those that are transmitted through vectors like flies."
On his part, the Water Quality Officer from RUWASSA, Abubakar Abdullahi said his team were chlorinating water sources to prevent the spread of cholera and other water borne diseases which are usually the case after flooding in the area. He commended UNICEF for rising to the occasion by providing testing and treatment equipment for purifying water.
"What we have just done is to test for free residual chlorine to know if there's already chlorine in the water. Fortunately, we have been given kits by UNICEF to help us with our work. So after testing, we applied the chemical to purify the water and kill any harmful bacteria in the water.
"Apart from this community well, we are visiting every water source to carryout the same process to protect our children and mothers from falling sick. We've had experiences in the past where children died from cholera and diarrhea that's why we are taking proactive measures now to prevent such reoccurrence," he noted.
The Director of Relief and Rehabilitation, SEMA, Adamu Niola who was on ground to assess the level of damage in the community, said he is coordinating efforts to prevent outbreak of disease in the area.
"We are coordinating efforts of relevant bodies and working hand in hand with UNICEF to respond to the recent flood disaster and the diseases that can contaminate food and water," Niola said.
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