By Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye
Dr. Uvoh Onoriobe is Executive Director of Healing Hands Health Society, a non-profit organisation that is involved in addressing health issues among low-income families around the world. Onoriobe, who grew up in Warri and had degrees in Dentistry and Public Health from universities in Nigeria and the United States, currently resides in the US, where he coordinates relief efforts for victims of the flooding in Bayelsa and Delta.
In an interview with Saturday Sun, he decried what he described as the government’s insensitivity to the plight of the victims while commending the Nigerians’ philanthropic spirit. “This is the only thing that has kept us going in times of disaster and difficulties,” he said.
What are the most pitiable things that you have witnessed in the cause of doing your job, that made you cry?
It is the Kaduna attack. It was just too sad. It is about a woman that lost her three children. All the women in the community came together and helped to rebuild her house. When we needed wood, they went into the forest to fetch the wood that was used in the roofing. I mean, I was touched by their unity. How else do you console a woman that lost three children? It was terrible. I saw the remains of these children. There was also a blind woman that lost her husband. They burnt the man alive, you know, right there. That was difficult to see and the fact that the woman was blind made it a lot harder to process her pain. We built a house for her and she has continued to pray for us. I won’t say pitiable but you know, it brings tears to your eyes when you remember that some people are really going through a lot. But we can do just a little bit to get them out.
What exactly led to your intervention in Kaduna?
I heard that there was a community that was ravaged by the herdsmen-farmers crisis that led to the killings of children in Kaduna. I saw photographs of the children of the woman that lost her three children in one night. They were cut into pieces and set ablaze. Those pictures I saw drew us to Kaduna. When we got there, we noticed that it was not just one woman. There were about 30 houses that were burnt. That’s how we stayed there for three years trying to rebuild. We rebuilt about eight houses. Then from there, we went on to do water projects.
How much did it cost you to rebuild houses?
The houses were pretty customised. So we had a plan that was like N2 million per house. They were two-bedroom self-contained apartments.
How would you rate the government’s response to the crisis in the country, be it herders-farmers, flooding, kidnapping, etc?
I would say that they need to be a lot more proactive. I think that they are doing their best. But you know, in a country with a population of over 200 million people, their best may not be good enough. With the level of suffering going on, sometimes you wonder, without trying to sound politically correct, whether we have a government. Some people don’t feel the impact of the government in the country. It’s unfortunate but I guess that is where the civil society come in. I don’t think the government alone can do it. People are still suffering from flooding. There are areas help has not reached as I speak to you. I guess this is where those of us in the civil society should come in. When I talk about the government being proactive, I mean, what are the different areas of the government doing, in terms of urban planning, just planning our cities? If different houses are being built on our waterways, who is supposed to prevent that? It is because things are allowed to deteriorate, that all of a sudden, we’re blaming natural disasters. Are our waterways dredged to take the volume of water that comes in? Somebody was talking about the dam in the northern part of the country that could have been built. Why was it not built? You have many failures at many levels of government and, at the end of the day, it is the people who suffer from it.
How will you describe the philanthropic spirit of Nigerians and how can we conquer poverty?
Nigerians are doing so much. I’ve been impressed by their responses, especially those from the areas that were impacted by the flooding, that is people from the Niger Delta. They have contributed immensely. More than 90 per cent of all the funds we have received come from such Nigerians. Sincerely you can tell that people are touched and we’re able to go into these communities and show human suffering through photographs and short videos. I’m truly impressed that ordinary Nigerians have been giving from the little they have. But to combat poverty, as somebody said, you need to be self-sufficient. In the face of all kinds of disasters, however, it’s difficult to predict who is self-sufficient and who is not. This is because somebody who was self-sufficient, yesterday, can, all of a sudden become poor when a disaster occurs. If it occurs through flooding, he can lose his farm and his crops, etc. People are plunging more into abject poverty as a result of disasters. So there’s a need to make some funding available to get them back on their feet. Like, what do they eat? How do they go back to their farms? With a disaster like this, you need a lot more help from different groups to make sure that people are back on their feet. Once they can grow their own food or whatever, they have businesses of their own, they will not be poor.
During the Haiti earthquake, we saw a lot of organisations, even popular musicians mobilising support for victims. Why are we not having that here?
We and our partners have been in the Delta camps for more than three weeks, I didn’t see all those groups you’re talking about. Somebody once said that it’s not easy to give out, that people are used to collecting. Giving is a tough thing. But this is where you show love. I’ve seen many things on the field. But I guess we should all do our parts. People need to show kindness. Even in the press, we are not seeing the happenings and sufferings of people in the news compared to political news. That people are suffering in Nigeria doesn’t make news. But when something happens in Florida, the news is carried even by both local and international media like CNN and all the other news media, reporting people dying as a result of it. But that Nigerians are suffering doesn’t make news among many Nigerian newspapers. I guess we need to report it ourselves. That’s why I just put the videos out there so that people can see what I mean. A Nigerian life is worthy of being supported. It’s not in the news because they don’t think it’s a big deal. People have gotten used to suffering in Nigeria. Look at people in Bayelsa. They are living on top of the water right now. They’re still living in that same condition so it’s like it has become normal. I don’t know how to describe it.
How did you feel when the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs said that Bayelsa is not among the top 10 impacted states as far as this flooding is concerned?
I don’t believe that the officials in that ministry had been to those places. I have a partner organisation called ‘Love to Slum’, run by Dr. Mena. She has been going there. I have video clips of her visits. We have supported some feeding through her and she showed me pictures of the places that she goes to. I mean, I don’t know what else to call that if that is not suffering, that is a complete disaster. It is not being reported. I don’t think they have seen the amount of destruction that has gone on in all other places. I think they are a bit uninformed, I would say.
But how do you coordinate your work all the way from the United States?
I have a team on the ground. We have WhatsApp groups and with smart phones, we hold meetings regularly. We do have daily meetings where situation reports are deliberated upon. We work with the camp directors to know the total number of people in the camp. We set up a catering unit that cooks on a daily basis to augment what the government is giving. We also have a medical team that we sent in and a nutrition team. So we just hold daily meetings via WhatsApp. You know, it is said where your heart is, that’s where you are, really. My mind is right there. It’s very easy with technology in today’s world. I can do FaceTime, so I’m right there. I see where they are. I see the crowd. I see the queue. I’m right there. We have doctors and nurses out there who are volunteers. So the use of social media has kind of made the world a small place. I go on Facebook, Instagram and appeal to people. Social media is a small village and makes me more present in those places. Me, I operate the command centre, where we do all the raising of the funds and distribute the funds, while the people on the ground do their own portion of it.
How was your growing up like? Did suffering as a result of poverty inspire the things you are doing now?
I wouldn’t say that. I guess we’re what we call the middle class. I mean, we were pretty much okay. My dad was a lawyer and later became a high court judge. We’re a large family. We didn’t experience that kind of thing when we were growing up. We had everything that we needed. But you know, responding to the needs of the people is a calling. Back then I was trying to find out what my purpose on earth was. I asked myself: why am I here? It’s a question I needed an answer to. I was reading a book by Myles Munroe, The Pursuit of Purpose when I was in the university. By the time I read that book for like about a month I got up and found my purpose on earth. It is clearly written in Isaiah 58:6-12. That is the mantra. I find that my life’s goal is to clothe the naked, feed the hungry, etc. That is why I am here. It is to find and meet the needs of needy people. When I do that, that is where my light is. I think that’s what the gospel is about really.