Remembering Leah Sharibu and others!

It was February the 18th in 2018. A day at first like any other but turned out to be unlike any other for  the families of the abducted girls. 

That fateful day, Leah Sharibu and her school mates were forcefully taken away from school. Some of the parents said "we sent them from home to school, now they are not in school neither are they at home".

School was supposed to be a safe place.

It was supposed to be a place where children are prepared for the bright future that awaits them.  A fortress nurturing their dreams and aspirations. It is this fortress of learning that the terrorists desecrated  as Boko Haram attacked.

In a locality like Dapchi, it is almost a luxury to have girls getting education up to Secondary School. Dapchi is in Northern Nigeria which accounts  for most of the out -of- school children. The gap between boys and girls in school is very wide.  Women and girls are not empowered with skills or education. Early marriage is common here.

The emergence of Boko Haram took the region many step backwards as the terrorists group  forbids schooling and sees it as a sign of westernization. It believes in the total islamist rule. At the initial stage of its insurgency, many of the followers tore their school certificates to show total alligience to the group's ideology. And many girls were forcefully taken in marriage by members of the group. As they gained grounds, many of the suicide bombers that were sent to markets, churches, mosques, hospitals and other public places were young girls and women.

It was a rude shock when in 2014 the Chibok girls were abducted. No one ever imagined a terror of such magnitude could happen. 276 girls were taken, 57 escaped enroute the destination. The Government negotiated the release of some of the girls (103) and up till now the remaining girls are still either in captivity or can not be accounted for. Organizations such as Bring Back Our Girls helped to draw the attention of the world and got the Government of the country negotiating the release of the 103 girls. 

About four years later the Dapchi tragedy happened. 110 girls were taken, five died, 104 girls released back to the school and Leah Sharibu  was kept back because she refused to denounce her Christian faith for Islam.

In Northern Nigeria, at fourteen years of age, many girls at this age which Leah was taken, would be hawking to help the fortunes of the family, or maybe ,betrothed and married off, or  out of school and still finding her voice. Many a girl around here is seen as a tool,to be married off to  some  rich man who would change the family's status. So the parents are skeptical to have their daughters get "spoilt" by teachers and boys in school.

The girls who get to go on with their schooling are the privileged ones. They are the ones who have escaped the limitations and barriers placed on them because they are girls. They are the future we look forward to. It is this very ones who have been attacked..

Leah Sharibu' s story is so heart wrenching because at fourteen, she showed such bravery. She was consious of her identity. She fearlessly withstood terror though costing her her freedom. After eight years in captivity, it is said, though with no evidence, that she was married off to one of the commanders of the terrorists and has birthed two children. It has not been heard from her since after her video that made rounds in August of 2018 asking the government to intervene on her matter.  No news of her of recent.

Calls for her release have reduced over time.

It is the dimming voices that have become so dreadful of recent as of May this year, we were reminded that Leah is eighteen years old.

Four years have passed by and she is still in captivity. For the Chibok girls, it is eight years now.  The parents of these girls have showed resilience and hope, but for how long? Girls who are children themselves have been forced under terrible conditions to become mothers and wives. No condition is ever condusive to make a child to become a mother. No human should be kept against his or her will.

We in World Pulse are women who are finding or have found our voices.  As we raise our voices, others find theirs. Can we lend our voices for these girls in captivity whose voices are unheard? Our voices will definitely get to where theirs can not get to. We can keep the hope of them being reunited with their families alive. We can not afford to let lawlessness and terror go by.

We can use the social media to amplify our voices so the Nigerian Government will arise to protect its citizens as it swore to do. In many cases of abduction of school children of recent, parents were left to pay ransome for their children and wards. Those who could not pay had their children killed. This is sad. 

Security must be put in place to  safeguard the lives of school children, students and staff. The safe school initiative must be revisited and made workable . Loopholes must be closed and holistic practices put in place to ensure prevention of attacks on students in school.

Insecurity poses a serious threat on educating women and girls. Terror impedes the emergence of the  girls who will be catalyst of change .  If any meaningful progress  must be made in economic development, women and girls will have to be educated, which Boko Haram is against. 

There is need to raise our voices  in solidarity for our girls in captivity.