Dam Dam Pauline : “I Returned Home Only To Discover My House In Water”

“Some time in September 2024, I travelled to visit my sick mother in her village. Not long after, I received a distress phone call from my children one late afternoon, saying flood water was about to submerge our neighbourhood. And everyone was busy trying to salvage their belongings before the flood arrived. My children added that the situation was more serious than what we experienced two years ago. 

Ourou Dabang Camp
“Unfortunately, I could not rush back home to help in saving our belongings - though it would have been too late,’ recounts Dam Dam Pauline, 44, a married woman. As she manages a smile - despite the sadness of the incident - while her hair is braided in front of her new home. Pauline and family have since sought refuge in Ourou Dabang Displaced People’s Camp set up by the local authorities for hundreds displaced by the recent floods. The resettlement camp is located 7km on the outskirts of Yagoua, the headquarters of Mayo Danay Division in Cameroon’s Far North Region. On the Yagoua-Kaele-Maroua highway.

Lost Almost Everything 
“We lived near a little stream which was overflooded. We lost almost everything, just like our tenants. Our belongings were carried off by flood water. I only returned home four days after to find our house flooded. The latrine was destroyed, children lost their books and documents. 

New Life, New Site
“Ever since, the authorities resettled us in Ourou Dabang camp that was set up for victim of floods in Mayo Danay. With my husband, in-laws and other relatives, we are a family of about 30 lodged in the resettlement camp. Our tent hosts 8 other families. The displaced have already spent two months in the resettlement camp,” Dam Dam Pauline narrated. 

Unprecedented Disaster 
People in the Far North Region of Cameroon continue to be severely affected by floods. According to the Far North Regional Delegation of Public Health, 68,285 households, approximately 409,710 people, including 139,651 children under five and 29,428 pregnant women, were affected by floods as of 11 October 2024. Some 68,285 households, 139,651 children under five and 29,428 pregnant women were affected by floods in the region as at October 11, 2024. 

UNICEF Steps In
In the meantime, the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF’s health response has seen 130,015 people vaccinated against cholera, including 22,500 children aged 1 to 4 years in Yagoua, Vélé and Maga in Mayo-Danay Division. Some 99.57 per cent of the targeted 130,572 people were reached by UNICEF during the preventive campaign. Cholera management kits were prepositioned, one in the Far North Region and the other in the North Region, to anticipate a potential outbreak of the disease. 

Healthcare Services Offered
A total of 12,353 patients...