Danjuma Michael, Katsina
Save the Children International (SCI) has facilitated the rescue of a 10-year-old girl who was subjected to various forms of abuse for seven years by her caregiver in Rigasa, Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
The incident was made known during a three-day workshop and community projects tour organised by SCI for selected reporters from Katsina and Adamawa states, in the Kaduna state capital weekend.
Handed over to her caregiver, one Fatima Mamud, when she was just three-years-old, the girl was said to have suffered physical assault, starvation, and emotional trauma for the seven-year period.
Originally from Wuna Zhide community, in Agaei Local Government Area of Niger State, the girl who could not bear the abuse any longer ran away from her caregiver’s house and began wandering on the streets.
She was later discovered by a SCI team while they were carrying out routine child protection monitoring in the Ungwan Makama area of Rigasa, under the organisation’s Education Cannot Wait (ECW) campaign.
Speaking to newsmen, a SCI Case worker, Zainab Abdulkarim said “the girl fled her caregiver’s home after enduring another round of beating and hunger,” adding, “She was found wandering and in distress before being taken into protective custody by the Mai Ungwa.”
Confirming the incident, the Mai Ungwan Hayin Torotoro, Ungwan Makama, Lawal Abdul, said the community had witnessed similar cases in the past, even as he described the incident as worrisome.
“We have seen several similar cases in this community. When this particular girl was brought to me, she insisted she did not want to return to her caregiver. I immediately requested that her biological father should come personally to take her home,” he said
Abdul, who commended the SCI team for their efforts in rescuing and reuniting children who are victims of abuse or neglect, said such intervention has helped reunite many children with their families over the years in the area.
The tradtional leader, however, called for greater vigilance among parents and neighbours to to forestall such incidents, even as he card on them to report suspected cases of abuse or neglect.
Also speaking, the girl’s father, Danladi Usman, lamented over the situation in which he had found his daughter, adding that he had trusted the caregiver to give some level of care to his daughter even thigh she was not her biological mother.
“I thought I was helping my daughter by sending her to the city. I never imagined she was going through such suffering. I thank Save the Children and the ECW campaign for saving her life and reuniting us,” he added.
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