US medical mission saves IDPs while govt officials waste funds in Abuja
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
A United States medical mission has helped save some lives at an internally displaced persons (IDP) camp in Makurdi, one of them a girl child who was knocked down by a motorcyclist who abandoned her on the roadside.
Below is a transcript of the encounter, as sent to TheNiche by humanitarian lawyer Emmanuel Ogebe of the Justice for Jos Project.
Speaker 1 (Carla)
Okay, so we were visiting an IDP camp, um, in Benue. Uh, we were just taking a look at what type of issues we were dealing with so we could figure out resources and ways to intervene.
And as we were walking around and passing the medical office, we saw the little girl on the ground. Uh, we first kind of walked past her, to be honest, but as we were walking back out, you know, at a closer glance we realized, Hey, she’s not being attended to by anybody.
Speaker 1 (Carla)
There was no one around her. And there was a swarm of flies. Until when we looked a little closer, uh, we saw various open wounds and inside the wounds, we saw that there were multiple flies attached to and kind of eating at the actual wounds.
Speaker 1 (Carla)
And we saw kind of her eyes like rolling. So we just sat, you know, spoke amongst ourselves and said, Hey, could we at least maybe dress these wounds? And we asked one of the nurses that was if she’s with somebody or is someone attending to us?
So that’s when they told us that they had found her and brought her into the camp.
They found her, I think on the street is what they said. Yeah. Hit by a bike. Oh, something. Yeah, and they just brought her in, but they hadn’t known where her parents were or any family. Um, I guess maybe she was assigned or a caretaker began to take care of her, but that caretaker wasn’t present.
Speaker 1 (Carla)
So we just took some of the, um, dressings that we had to clean the wounds and we gave her some oral rehydration solution that we had, we mixed with water provided by the camp.
Speaker 1 (Carla)
So, uh, we began to just give her the oral rehydration, clean the wound, and dress the wound so that Lisa wouldn’t be festering. It was infected, clearly, it was pus coming out.
Um, and so we just dressed and wrapped the wounds [which] were on both legs, but you could see that she had a number of wounds that had since healed, um, along her face, along her body.
Um, so, but those two were still open, so we just dressed those wounds, and hydrated her. And then someone else from the camp brought in, um, some food for her to eat. So after the hydration and the cleaning, she did sit up.
Speaker 1 (Carla)
She did begin to eat some fish. Um, and then we had her transported to a hospital. Um, thanks to these two gentlemen here. They had her transported to the nearest hospital for intervention. So we’re here kind of awaiting what the diagnosis was.
It was a little hard to tell because she wasn’t speaking much, and her eyes… she was lethargic. Yeah, very lethargic. Her eyes seem to be kind of rolling around. We’re not sure if that’s something congenital or that started since the accident. It’s hard to really know. Uh, and so we’re here just to check up on her and see how she’s doing.
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Second lady (Tanya)
Yeah. Um, she’s a lot more awake and light though.
Speaker 1 (Carla)
Yeah. Yeah. So, okay. Um, and so we’ll go from there and see.
Speaker 2 (Emmanuel Ogebe)
Yeah. Yeah. Thank you Nurse Scarla and, uh, Tanya for your help, you know, saving her life yesterday. I mean, from what I saw, if you hadn’t intervened, uh, she probably, we would’ve lost her.
Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. But right now, uh, Dr. William here has, uh, paid for her to come to this hospital and receive attention. However, her parents are unknown.
Um, apparently she was in an accident maybe a couple of weeks ago, and she was left at the scene of the accident and someone brought her to the IDP camp where we saw her yesterday.
Speaker 2 (Ogebe)
And, uh, her situation has stabilized, but it’s very important that this Jane Doe is identified. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>.
We don’t know her name, we don’t know her family. So if you’re watching this video, please share it. And let’s see if we can find the parents of this child’s name, unknown age, unknown address, and unknowns.
Speaker 2 (Ogebe)
So please help us, um, help us identify her, share this video widely, uh, so that her care can continue. We are a medical mission team from the US, and we’re leaving and will not be able to continue, you know, the process of caring for her.
But if we can reunite her with her family, hopefully, they can provide her the care she needs and the additional information required to help her. As the nurses have indicated that it looks like she has additional issues, without a medical history, she can’t be properly treated.
A girl with debilitating hernia discovered by American medical mission team in Makurdi IDP camp while Nigeria’s leaders in Abuja luxuriate in yacht and SUVs.
Speaker 2 (Ogebe)
So it’s critical that her family finds their daughter first. Because she’s [been] missing for two weeks. So if you know any, uh, family whose child is missing, this happened in North Bank of Makurdi, Benue State. Yeah. Thank you very much. Do you want to say anything?
Speaker 3 (Dr. Williams)
Yeah. Uh, we are going to post this on social media for this little girl. She’s approximately somewhere between eight years old and nine-10.
And we’re asking when you see the post. If you have any information, then please respond to us on the Facebook page, on Instagram on X Twitter, and let us know if you have any information about this little girl who was hit by a bike, a motorbike, and found on the side of the road, brought to the IDP camp, uh, with multiple injuries.
Speaker 3 (Williams)
So, uh, thank you, Jesus. She’s here at the hospital in, uh, Benue Federal Hospital in the Emergency division.
Speaker 2 (Ogebe)
Federal Medical Center. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (Williams)
In the emergency division. And so please contact, contact us through social media or, uh, any other way that you can reach out to the hospital here in Benue.
Speaker 2 (Ogebe)
So let me just add that she needs clothes, she needs supplies. If there are any, you know, kindhearted people who will help the medical team from the US.
The nurses brought these nice pants, uh, Jeans trousers for her, but she will need continuing assistance and support here. We’ve done our bit and we’re hoping that you guys can do yours.
Speaker 2 (Ogebe)
Yeah. My name is Emmanuel Ogebe. I’m a human rights lawyer, uh, based in Washington DC and we came to this hospital to bless this hospital because I had surgery here as a child many years ago where they extracted ganglion from my hand.
And it’s a privilege and joy for me to be able to come and help people, uh, in the community as well, who are going through a lot.
Thank you. God bless. You. Share the video. Let’s get her parents back to her.
Speaker 3 (Williams)
And we’re gonna pray for this little girl. Uh, we don’t even know her name. And if you have any further information besides social media, you can go to widows and orphans info, that’s widows, and orphans info. And leave us a message there.
Thank you. And God bless.
Speaker 2 (Ogebe)
I think that, you know, for right now until she’s identified, we will name her, Um, Carla. No, you <laugh> you better until they find the real name. No. No. ’cause that’s one of the nurses who saved. No, no rescue. I like the one of the little girl. What is it? Do do?
Oh, you want the name do? No, let’s not do that because that’s the local name. It will confuse the people who are trying to find a real identity. Nina. So for now, Nina, we give her a code name. Nina.
Thank you very much, Nina.
We thank our US and Nigerian supporters and teams for a successful multi-state medical mission.
Emmanuel Ogebe, Esq
Justice for Jos Project
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