You’re asleep in a dormitory after a tired
day at school. You’ve drifted away after wondering about your lessons, and
after making plans about learning more through your own reading the next day.
Somewhere in the twilight spot between sleeping and waking, you slip into a
world of dreams where you see happiness everywhere. It is a silent night, but
for the gentle, rhythmic breathing of sleeping girls all around in the
dormitory.
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| Image from here |
All of a sudden, you hear a deafening roar:
gunfire. The cacophony reaches its crescendo as you hear screaming voices – one
of which is your own – and before you know it, you feel yourself being forcibly
pushed out of your bed and thrown into a vehicle. The ground under you judders
as the vehicle comes to life. You look around you to see the other girls from
your dormitory, all looking around with as much fear as there is in your own
eyes and in your own heart.
Interesting screenplay? A thrilling story?
You wish. This was reality
for around 300 girls in Chibok, Northern Nigeria, about three weeks ago.
The girls were kidnapped by an extremist
group called the Boko
Haram, which translates to mean “Western Education is a Sin” in Hausa. The
girls were aged from 15 until 18, and comprised those belonging to both of
Nigeria’s major religions: Christianity and Islam. Schools in and around the
area had closed down in March under the fear of terror attacks – but this one
school had reopened to allow the girls to write their final exams. These girls
each had dreams and ambitions to pursue: but casting each of these aside, these
girls are being
auctioned off at $12 each to be made into “wives of militants”. Fifty girls
have escaped, but 276 girls are still reported missing.
The abduction and auction of these girls is
another chip of the block of extremism poised against the education of girls. Here
is a presentation by Deborah Dauda, a girl born and brought up in Nigeria, on
the incidents in Nigeria.
It is time to #BringBackOurGirls.