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Villagers Displaced by Floods, Elephants in Northern Cameroon Wait for Aid

Moki Edwin Kindzeka

   KAI-KAI, NORTHERN CAMEROON - Aid groups in Cameroon say thousands of
   people displaced last year from flooding and elephant attacks in the
   far north need help being resettled. Hundreds of the victims are living
   in the open after heavy rains and rampaging elephants destroyed their
   homes.

   Heavy winds blow over Kai-Kai district on Cameroon's northern border
   with Chad. The winds disrupt a ceremony in which 134 homeless civilians
   are receiving gifts from non-governmental organizations.

   Alim Wendi, 26, a farmer and single mother of three, is among the
   people running for nearby tents to escape the dust, grass and tree
   branches blown about by the strong winds.

   Wendi says after five difficult months, she has some basics like
   clothes, blankets and a mosquito net but that she still lacks some
   essentials.

   Wendi says many villagers have also received planks to put up temporary
   houses, but that they lack nails and zinc to roof the houses they will
   build. Wendi says villagers who received the gifts have asked her to
   tell the Cameroonian Red Cross that they do not have food to eat.
   Wendi is one of the 22,000 civilians along the Chadian border made
   homeless or displaced by floodwaters.

   When the floods started in August, the government and aid groups said
   they had deployed humanitarian workers to help those in need. Wendi
   said they only received food aid and medicine for 30 days.

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