Uche Nnorom, Makurdi
The Maria Touch of Care Foundation (MTC Foundation) on Tuesday, brought together
over 105 women living in a displaced persons camp in Makurdi to mark International Women’s Day.
The event, held at the International Market Makeshift IDP Camp, also had in attendance
50 men and 5 camp officials.
It was organised with the dua themes of this year’s IWD which is Give to Gain, Rights, Justice, and Action For All Women and Girls.
Grace Udoo Tyowua, Executive Director, MTC Foundation said the event was a deliberate effort to make the women to appreciate themselves and their strength despite the the most acute challenges to women’s rights and dignity.
The event witnessed the screening of a short documentary film co-created with
IDP women at the camp. The film features IDP women speaking in their own voices about life in displacement, resilience, rights, and what genuine investment in women looks like from the inside.
According to the foundation, the film makes the displaced women visible by placing their faces and voices before a wider audience on a day when such women are rarely seen.
“International Women’s Day should not pass without these women being seen and heard. This film was co-created with them, not about them. Their voices, their faces, their words. That is the action this day demands.”
The event also featured a drama illustration performed by community members,
which depicted the consequences of investing in a male child while excluding female
children from education and opportunity.
The performance, rooted in a local tradition and metaphor involving a three-stone cooking fire, drew a strong response from the audience and reinforced the event’s core message: that when any member of a family or community is excluded from investment, the whole structure becomes unstable.
Attendees were invited to sign a Give to Gain Commitment Board, on which both men and women pledged to support women in displacement and to invest in women
and girls in their communities.
Signatures and thumbprints were accepted equally, with the board designed to remain at the camp beyond the day’s event for continued participation.
In the event’s most direct expression of the Give to Gain theme, MTC Foundation trained thirty women from households within the camp in soap making as part of a skills acquisition initiative.
The training, which the foundation positioned as an investment in the economic rights and agency of displaced women, equipped participants with practical income-generating skills and starter kits to kickstart the business.
“Rights and justice for women cannot remain words. They have to become action and for us, action means putting skills, resources, and opportunity directly in the hands of women who have been displaced from everything familiar. That is Give to Gain in practice for us at MTC. Maria Onah, Founder, Maria Touch of Care Foundation said.
The documentary film is available to view on MTC Foundation’s YouTube channel and LinkedIn page. The foundation has called on the public to watch and share the film as an act of solidarity with women in displacement, noting that visibility and affirmation are themselves forms of support that carry no financial cost.
It shoukd be noted Maria Touch of Care Foundation Maria Touch of Care Foundation (MTC Foundation) is a women-led community based organisation working to improve the lives of vulnerable populations, with a focus on women, children, and displaced communities.
The organisation works through advocacy, education and empowerment, gender and human rights, and community engagement.
