Providing opportunities and hope

Nigeria | 2024 | CBPF

Nigeria, Borno. When 19-year-old Lydia Enoch lost her left leg in a devastating house fire, her life changed forever.

Learning to walk again was very difficult, but it was the social stigma that proved harder to deal with.

“I was excluded from a lot of social interactions, and I felt alone and hopeless,” Lydia shared. Lydia and her family are also living in displacement, having fled violence in their home village.

Fifteen years on, the crisis in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe (BAY states) in north-east Nigeria continues unabated. It is characterized by conflict, insecurity and widespread population displacement, driven in large part by the Boko Haram insurgency.

The conflict has destroyed critical infrastructure, disrupted agricultural livelihoods – the mainstay of the region – and hindered access to assistance and basic services in some areas, generating an acute protection crisis.

Households with disabled members like Lydia are also vulnerable, with a 20 per cent higher chance of resorting to begging for food and a 31 per cent higher likelihood of child marriage as a survival strategy.

The Future Resilience and Development (FRAD) Foundation, a local organization which gets funding from the Nigeria Humanitarian Fund (NHF), led community awareness sessions on disability inclusion, human rights and gender-based violence in the Molai community where Lydia lives.

For Lydia and her family it has made a difference.

"I am no longer alone. I can now interact freely with members of my community,” Lydia said with a smile.

Since May last year, FRAD has conducted approximately 32 awareness sessions in the Molai, Jere Local Government Area. These efforts have reached nearly 1,000 people, including about 120 persons with disabilities creating an inclusive and supportive environment for individuals.

Lydia also attended classes in pasta making – a skill she will use to earn a living.

But perhaps even more important, after nearly a lifetime out of school, she has returned to classes, attending a Catholic School close to home where she is learning alongside the primary students.

Furthermore, FRAD connected her to the Learning Through Skills Acquisition Initiative (LETSAI), a partner NGO for specialised orthopaedic services that would ease her mobility.

Through targeted allocations, the Nigeria Humanitarian Fund is supporting vulnerable communities to support disabled people to earn a living, attend school, and play a full part in society.

Posted May 2025.

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