Were it not for an unexpected stroke of luck, a set of twins would, by
now, have been hanged to death in Kaida Village, Gwagwalada, on the
outskirts of Abuja.
However, the arrival of humanitarian workers
24 hours before their scheduled death left them a survival window that
their mother bravely explored.
According to Nkwasi Obim Nebo, a
maternal health advocate and humanitarian worker who led a team of
PeachAid Medical Initiative medical doctors to the village, the mother
of the twins walked up to her seeking help.
Narrating the
experience on Facebook, she wrote: “As soon as we arrived the community,
this woman immediately handed us her newly-born twin babies, asking us
to take them away; they were only 2days old.
“I asked her why she
was giving up on her kids, she replied and said they will be killed in
few days from today if still with her. She heard we were coming and came
out just to give us the babies!
“This is her 4th pregnancy, and
her 4th set of twins also! Oh yes! You heard me right! Twins are
considered as evil in this community since time immemorial, and are
killed (hanged) on the third day after delivery.”
In an earlier
post, the Peach Aid CEO had narrated how the Initiative, comprising
medical doctors from Garki Hospital, Abuja, and other medical personnel,
distributed contraceptives to the villagers.
More photos
“During
our health intervention at Kaida Village, Gwagwalada, FCT, we made sure
every woman got their choice of contraceptives which will last for
5years, and that the men present also got condoms as many as they
wanted,” she wrote.
“We distributed clean delivery kits to
prevent infection and bleeding at child birth; we checked their sugar
level, and their blood pressure; we administered Vitamin A supplements
for all the children between the age of six months to five years.”
Since
Mary Slessor stopped the practice of infanticide of twins among the
Ibibio in the 19th century, numerous individuals and groups have
followed suit with nationwide campaigns on the rights of twins to life.
Still, the practice persists — particularly in villages far flung form major towns and cities, such as Kaida.
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