Displaying items by tag: five years

Five years ago, 230 girls were abducted in Chibok by Boko Haram. Parents whose daughters have not yet returned say it still feels like a ‘fresh wound’ but refuse to give up hope. Boko Haram set classrooms ablaze and told the girls they were under attack while they pretended to protect them. They herded them into trucks, drove into the forest and subjected them to rape, pregnancy, violence, and death. Those who did not obey militants or refused to renounce their Christian faith were punished severely; there are suggestions that some of them were forced to become Boko Haram fighters and commit murders for the group. 165 of the girls belonged to the Nigerian Church of the Brethren. Pray for parents like Yana, whose daughter has not returned. ‘Any time I speak about Rifkatu, I feel so much pain in my heart’, she said. ‘When she was kidnapped, laughter ceased in my house.’