BENIN CITY- Nigeria. On August 15 and 29, 2016, via our Hearts of Hope Project, Pathfinders provided varying services to the ICCF Missions IDP Camp in Benin City which is hosting 2,500 survivors of the Boko Haram insurgency (internally displaced persons). In addition to providing UNFPA type dignity kits (basic hygiene items) for the women and girls, we also initiated #ProjectHOPE, a project which strives to provide a fundamental human right, i.e., legal identity, to the 1,000+ children at the camp.
The reality is that many of these children suffered the worst atrocities as they fled Boko Haram before being rescued with just the clothes on their backs. #ProjectHOPE strives to formally register these children with the Nigerian government, to provide them with birth certificates and identity cards and to create a national reunification database, whereby they can safely be reunited with family members. Without legal identity, these children, in addition to millions of other internally displaced children and child refugees, will remain vulnerable to human trafficking, child abuse and violence– the specific issues that PJI fights against.
A HUGE thank you to the Pathfinders’ team for making it happen. We are grateful for each and every one of you! If you would like to join us for #ProjectHOPE which is ongoing, please email info@pathfindersji.org.
