Nigeria: ‘I Was Very Scared’ – Aisha’s Journey Through a Devastating Flood

Maiduguri, Borno State: On the night of 9 September, the Alau Dam collapsed, leading to massive flooding in Maiduguri, the main town in Borno State north-east Nigeria. The floods damaged shelters, crops, infrastructure and displaced nearly 400,000 people in the Maiduguri Metropolitan Council (MMC), Jere and Konduga Local Government Areas (LGAs).

Among those displaced was 24-year-old Aisha, an expectant mother who lost contact with her family when the floods struck. She soon found refuge at the Teachers Village, one of the temporary shelters for those affected by the disaster.

“I was worried about my family whom I had not seen or heard from since the floods began,” Aisha who is married, with a two-year-old son said.

A medical emergency

Five days after fleeing her home, Aisha began to experience severe pain due to trauma and hunger, raising fears of pre-term labour. She was quickly rushed to the Integrated Sexual and Reproductive Health facility managed the by Royal Heritage and Health Foundation (RHHF) in the Sulumari area, in MMC, where she received immediate medical attention, stabilising her condition and ensuring her unborn baby’s safety.

“I was very scared and thought I was going to lose my baby, but the doctors saved us,” Aisha shared. Upon discharge, she was provided with a dignity kit (comprising sanitary items, a carry-all bag, a torchlight and a hijab) and reunited with her family.

RHHF is a local non-governmental organisation providing integrated medical services to vulnerable women and girls in Borno State. With funding from the Nigeria Humanitarian Fund (NHF), it has been able to offer emergency health services to flood-affected people in Maiduguri.

Amid disasters such as floods, women like Aisha face heightened risks of genderbased violence (GBV). To address this, RHHF is providing both sexual reproductive health services and GBV-related services, including clinical management of rape, psychosocial support, and safe spaces for flood-affected people.

“When Aisha arrived here, she was in severe distress with epigastric pain and extreme hunger and what was later diagnosed as false labour,” said Ifeoluwa Oyewoga, a midwife at the RHHF facility, adding; “Our team closely monitored her and her baby’s condition, ensuring their safety. We are happy that she is now stable.”

Aisha also received psychosocial counselling to help her overcome the trauma of sudden displacement.

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“The NHF funding has enabled us to expand our services so that vulnerable women and girls can receive comprehensive medical attention that addresses both their physical and psychological health, particularly during these hard times,” Adewunmi Soyege, the RHHF Programme Manager said.

Recent floods have exacerbated the humanitarian crisis in Borno State, the epicentre of a conflict involving various non-state armed groups that has persisted for 15 years in north-east Nigeria. In addition to conflict, the floods struck at the height of the lean season with millions of people facing a severe food and nutrition crisis in the State.

To address this escalating crisis, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria announced the allocation of US $6 million from NHF. This was followed by an additional $5 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) allocation from the acting UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Joyce Msuya to assist 280,000 affected people in Bauchi, Borno and Sokoto states. With this funding, humanitarian partners in Borno State will be able to scale up their emergency response efforts by providing food, shelter, clean water, sanitation and healthcare services to prevent cholera and other waterborne diseases. This has been made possible by the generous contributions from NHF and CERF donors including Germany, Norway, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Belgium, Canada, Switzerland, Ireland and Luxembourg.

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