‘Lack of basic amenity affects children, women more in communities’

A research by a nongovernmental body, Help Initiative for Social Justice and Humanitarian Development (HI), has revealed that in communities where basic amenities are lacking, women and children suffer more and are more vulnerable.

According to the organisation, “one glance around our typical society and one can tell. Our findings show that women are more susceptible to the negative impacts of socio-economic, cultural and political maladjustments, and several factors are responsible for this.

Upon childbearing, the bodies of many women are not the same, which is already tough enough but made tougher with unfavourable living conditions and inconsiderate societal planning. I keep saying that no community is hard to reach, except the government does not want to reach them. Then they fail to create access to them hence they become artificially “hard-to-reach.” Many women suffer undiagnosed post-partum depression.

“Worse still, they are made to feel terrible by a deeply unempathetic society that questions their maternal suitability. I doubt if there is anyone in this terrain who has not heard comments about a woman being a “bad mother” and so forth. In Yoruba parlance, a woman would be accused of not being an “Abiyamo”. Apart from the ridiculous ignorance underlining such statements, it also shows how our patriarchal society cares less about the mental state and wellness of women or the place of agency and choice, but is rather fixated on the idea of a “perfect” woman- the one who can be a great mother, great wife, great daughter, great employer or employee, great sister, great friend, great cook, great laundry woman and ultimately a great sexual partner. The point is that she must score 100% in each of these functions. It is ridiculous.”

It added that, it stands against reason that in this age and time, maternal healthcare facilities are still at level zero. I was speaking with a colleague and friend a while ago who narrated a post-partum ordeal that she had to go through without any institutional support. That was someone in the metropolis and it was that bad. You can therefore imagine the plights of women in the grassroots.

“These same hardships cut across facets of existence and have been proven scientifically. Where there is no access to or affordability of clean water, people stand the risk of water-borne diseases, especially vulnerable groups such as children. When the children fall sick and suffer infections such as cholera, diarrhea, typhoid, cryptosporidiosis, hepatitis A, among other fungal and parasitic infections. Their mothers are again burdened with additional specialised care work through these avoidable infections. The same is true where basic amenities required for day-to-day qualitative life are nonexistent,” it said.

Speaking on why policies made by the government seem not to have an effect on people at the grassroots, the founder of Help Initiative for Social Justice and Humanitarian Development (HI), Aderonke Ige stated that, “ my experiences in the grassroots continue to open my eyes to the sad reality of lack of access, and impossible affordability, even when the access is eventually sparsely given. Recently, our team had to rise up to action in some communities of Ona-Ara local government. Prior to our visit to Badeku, My attention had been drawn to the dire situation in three adjoining communities namely where the lack of water had driven the people into untoward hardship. We do not believe in taking over the responsibility of government, there is a reason the state is the state and citizens pay taxes to it. So the state should indeed care for its own, and its own included every person in its domain, regardless of class, gender or any other social status. However, while prevailing on the state to rise to action through service deliveries, policies and frameworks, it became crucial for us to mitigate the hardships of these real people as much as we can while engaging the system. One of the ways we do this is to amplify the plights of the communities through the instrument of the media. Every time we spotlight the concerns of a grassroots community, we give a lift to their voice, hoping that it reaches the appropriate quarters and the right actions are taken sustainably.”

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