From where I stand: I fled my home, now I want to build a business
Date:
Bawa Gana Abba Kaw is a 42-year-old internally displaced person who fled her home in 2015 because of the actions of Non-State Armed Groups (NSAGs) in North East Nigeria. Gana is among the 300 women trained on Improved Parboiling Technology (IPT) with UN Women support.
One Monday evening, at around 4pm in 2015, everybody in our community was running away because NSAGs were coming to attack us. My eight children and I ran from Mafa to Maiduguri on foot and we have been staying in Farm camp since.
Thanks to UN Women, Government of Japan and Search for Common Ground, I was selected to be trained in a new and modern rice parboiling method. I was also trained on how to protect and empower myself and other women around me. Now I have trained a lot of women and will continue training more in my cooperative on this new method of parboiling rice.
My cooperative was also given a starter kit that we will use to expand our business of selling rice and we plan to make it a very successful one. We however want the government to assist us with loans, grants and other financial means to assist us sustain these new acquired skills.
Through its project: Protection, Empowerment and Resilience Building of women in North East Nigeria, funded by the Government of Japan, UN Women has been supporting and working closely with Search for Common Ground to empower IDP women improve their livelihoods in the camps