Mission to Africa: A Nigerian-born MBPD detective, with help from a colleague, hopes to bring running water to his home village
A trip to Africa by two MB police officers connects communities across the world by Mark McDermott One day in 1995, a 13-year-old girl named Nneka walked from her family’s home in the Nigerian village of Amuyi to a nearby body of water that was part pond, part muddy ditch. She and her 11-year-old brother Emeka were fetching water for their family. Amuyi was one of a network of 10 villages collectively known as the town of Nsude that relied on this dingy brown, man-made water reservoir for their drinking and washing needs. None of the villages had running water. All they had was this dank, standing water, which built up during the rainy season, reaching roughly 30 feet deep. Nneka and Emeka were going back and forth, tag-team style, bringing buckets of water for their home. But at one point, as he circled back to the water, Emeka realized something was wrong. His sister’s bucket was floating in the water. She was nowhere in sight. He began screaming. “People came out, and those who knew how to swim jumped in,” said Joseph Udeoji, Nneka’s younger brother, who was 8 years old at the time. “I remember seeing my mama standing on the edge of the water screaming, just helpless. People…
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