A story published by Daily Trust few days ago will leave everyone in doubt of whether humanity will forgive this generation of the suffering some few young ones are subjected to in a country where there are people that said they have conscience and a government.
According to Fatima Damagum, she wrote, “A few weeks ago, a neighbour knocked on my door with a request. Her almajiri, who helped with the sweeping of her compound in exchange for food, was having recurrent headaches and fever. When the boy did not show up for three days, she inquired from the other almajirai and heard that he was very ill. She wanted me to accompany her to the boy’s school to check up on him. I was apprehensive at first, but my curiosity got the better of me. I had never entered the traditional ‘tsangaya’ where Mallams teach almajirai boys.
“The Mallam was not at home when we arrived, so we sought the audience of his wife. He had three wives and 17 children. Each wife slept with her children in their respective rooms while the husband had a room to himself. When I asked where Mallam’s students slept, I was directed to an abandoned building opposite the house. None of the wives knew the particular almajiri we were looking for, so they appeared lost when my neighbour complained about him being ill.
“Hassan was lying in a pool of his vomit when we arrived at the uncompleted building. There was no roof and he lay on the barely cemented floor in his filthy clothes. He looked to be about six years old and was writhing in pain when we arrived. He had the characteristic patches of ring worm on his scalp and the rash of scabies on his hands and torso. Some of his friends sat beside him, looking helpless. They had bought Paracetamol from a nearby patent medicine store, which he had promptly thrown up. His tiny body shook from fever and his hands felt clammy and cold, his pulse weak. I knew immediately that he was in big trouble. I told my neighbour that I suspected he was in septic shock and that he needed to get to a hospital as soon as possible.
“Waiting for the Mallam, who was the boy’s rightful guardian was out of the question as we did not know when he would return, and asking for the wives’ support was an exercise in futility. My neighbour, a primary school teacher and mother of four, immediately took up his responsibility. We left a message for the Mallam and took the boy to the nearest general hospital.
“In the emergency department, I was able to convince them to start resuscitation immediately. Further examination and investigations revealed that he most likely had a perforated bowel due to typhoid fever, and so, would require surgery. Till this day, I marvel at the miracle those surgeons performed in the theatre. His intestines had perforated in up to six places and had been slowly leaking feaces into his abdominal cavity, causing an overwhelming infection (sepsis).
“The prognosis was not good and I cautioned my neighbour against getting too involved. In her bid to help, she would be implicated if anything happened to the child. Thankfully, she understood the magnitude of the situation and decided to return to the Mallam’s house at night.
“The next day, Hassan was still drowsy but appeared to be out of the woods. His fever was subsiding and his pulse was stronger.
“The Mallam had been informed and he promised to send word to Hassan’s parents, who lived in a village in Gombe. He (the Mallam) never showed up throughout Hassan’s hospital stay. My neighbour spent up to N100,000 in the two weeks that Hassan was on admission.
“Hassan’s mother eventually showed up six days after the surgery and her story was even more pitiful. I saw her thin frame, lines of poverty etched on her face, the brownish hue of her hair and immediately summarised the situation. She and Hassan’s father were divorced. She had remarried with other children and was in her fourth order of marriage after a series of divorce.
“Hassan’s father, who sold firewood for a living, had two wives and 13 other children. Six of his boys had been sent to Kano, Maiduguri and Bauchi for Almajiranci, Hassan being the last. His daughters helped their mothers by hawking groundnuts at traffic junctions, markets and motor parks. The father had sent message that he could not come because he had no money to pay for transportation. To say the situation was pathetic is a gross understatement.”
Today, we hear the story of the slave trade during the British colonization with deep temper wishing there could be a way to punish the perpetrators of such heinous crimes against fellow humans even after they are long dead.
It is going to be the same way the unborn generations will hear the stories of people like Hassan with dismay that what were the people living in those days doing to salvage the suffering of this young children who were roaming the streets suffering.
Efforts by the government has not solved even one percent of the problem of children roaming our streets.
People who are calling for protests against the government are not helping the situation either because protest only compound these children’s problems because when the streets which is their home become a war zone eventually there will be no where for them to run or hide as seen in the last protest where many of these minors were arrested as protesters.
Government cannot say there is nothing that can be done when there is a lot that can be done. We only need to take the step to find a lasting and final solution to a problem that has bedevilled our nation for so many years especially the Northern Nigeria.
We need to start talking about the way out of the menace so that we will not stand the trial of the coming generation after we are long gone.
femiores@katsinamirror.ng