Have you ever seen over forty children fight over a pack of Cabin biscuits? Quite unlikely. This was one of the first sights to welcome ‘The Breakfast Parlour’ crew to The Destitutes’ Home, Oko-baba on Sunday morning.
The next shocker was the announcement of a death to the crew . It probably was not the news of the death of the woman itself that shocked us, but the casualness about the announcement and the fact that nothing seemed amiss initially. From that point however, it occurred to the crew that death lived among these people.
The Destitutes’ Home was built fourteen years ago by the Buba Marwa administration to house homeless people; but somehow – many things seem to have gone wrong. They are abandoned – even though, some of the leaders say the government send in food once in a while. (The home is divided into three sections with individual leaders– Blinds, Lepers and Cripples)
These people need more than food. They have no water, they do not have access to free or qualitative health, no drainages (faeces float on the toilet floor and outside while all the water they use in the compound stays in the compound), no counselors (to advise on family planning/hygiene, the importance of education/ the need for the abled bodied ones to earn a living etc) amongst so many other things.
