It was a
dark cold night; the girls were sound asleep on their warm comfortable beds in
their boarding school rooms. They had had a long tough day filled with tests
and new subjects to learn and talk about. They never complained about school,
though, because they knew that studying was precious and it could change not
only their future, but also the future of their families and communities, as
they liked to call their tribes. The place was a small city in Nigeria called
Chibok, a poor African city, unknown to the Western world or even other
countries in Africa.
On this night, the night of April 14th
something was about to happen that would change their lives forever, not only
theirs, but their families and communities also. How were they to know that as
of this night the world would hear of this city?
Lights were out after prayers, some girls giggled
before falling asleep while others immediately fell asleep as soon as their
heads hit the pillow. Some of them felt very uneasy that night especially Adisa
(whose name meant the lucid one), Akachi ( whose name meant God´s hand) and
Chidike ( whose name meant the strength of God).
These three friends had studied together ever since
they were little and now at twelve they felt even more like sisters. They would
always sit next to each other during their classes and their beds were close to
each other´s in the dorm. All of them wanted to become doctors in order to help
their families and communities. They felt very privileged that they could go to
that school, especially because of what was happening in their country. It had
become a very dangerous place to live in.
There was a
group of terrorists called Boko Haram, meaning the Western education is sinful,
that was terrorizing the country by abducting young girls, setting off bombs or
just shooting at people; Christians , Western Tourists or anyone who was not
Islamic. Hideous actions had been taking place since 2009 but had not made the
headline news only the local news and small reports in some famous papers.
As Adisa,
Akachi and Chidike tried to fall asleep they talked about their future plans
and how they would come back after medical school and set up a clinic in their
community. Adisa wanted to become an obstetrician because she knew that a lot
of women died giving birth. Akachi wanted to become a pediatrician because many
babies died before reaching their first birthday. And Chidike wanted to become
a GP. She believed that they would benefit more from this practice than any
other and then later on she would pursue her studies. These plans comforted
them as they fell asleep, besides helping their community, they would be
together.
All of a sudden, they were startled by noises coming
from the outside. They heard cars, trucks and motorcycles. They heard gun shots
and doors being broken down. They also heard the other girls screaming. Their
bodies started to tremble as fear overcame them. They knew what was going on
for they had read similar stories in their History class. They looked at each
other and decided that by being quiet they would probably be unnoticed for deep
inside they knew what was happening. It was the Boko Haram.
They had heard about the Boko Haram many times before
and they prayed that they´d be spared. They also talked about this group on
several occasions trying to make heads or tails out of it. But unfortunately, it was happening at their
school and to them. This group of terrorists would abduct girls from schools
declaring that God asked them to do so and sell some of the girls as slaves
because they believed that Western education must be stopped. Some of the girls
were sold but others were rapped 15 times a day. The virgins would be
deflowered by the head of the group and then sold or rapped or killed. The
girls couldn´t understand how God had asked this group to do such horrible
things. The girls could read and write and knew what was written in the scriptures
and it was far from what this group was declaring.
The three friends were huddled together under one of
the beds gasping for their lives when the door to their dorm came tumbling
down. They did not make a sound as not to be found, but to no avail.
Men dressed like soldiers carrying huge guns; and to
their horror young boys not older than 12 also barged into their room forcing
all the girls to get out and go outside. The three friends prayed silently but
were found by one of the smallest boys who looked under the bed and saw them.
They screamed and started to cry. The soldiers hit them with their guns forcing
them out from under the bed.
The soldiers dragged them across the room and down the
stairs by pulling on their hair and poking them with their guns all the way
outside to where the trucks, cars and motorcycles were parked. Luckily the
three friends were thrown onto the same truck; which happened to be one of the
last trucks to leave the school. Luckily because they had talked about this
before and they had agreed that if they were captured one day, they would try
to run away together. It would be better to die trying to run for freedom in
the wild than to be rapped or sold as a slave and die anyway in the hands of
these men.
So, as soon as the truck drove off of the school
grounds, the three friends jumped off and rolled to the bushes, encouraging
some of the other girls to do the same. They got up from the hard rocky ground
as quickly as they could and started running. No one looked back. They kept on
running as fast as they could; being scratched by the trees and bushes.
Gunshots were heard but none of the three friends were hit. Other girls also
jumped off but when the sun came out the next day the only girls to be seen in
the trees were Adisa, Akachi and Chidike, so they figured that the other girls
had been hit by the bullets or recaptured. Local authorities spotted the three
friends and rescued them bringing them back to their families.
Back at home, they still do not feel safe. Their
family members do not sleep indoors as to not facilitate another attack. They
feel for their 276 schoolmates who are missing and for their family members who
are in so much pain and suffering. A worldwide plea to bring the girls back is
underway. Hopefully there will be a stop
to this finally now that it has hit the media.
May 12, 2014-
After having read the story about what is happening in Nigeria, I came up with
this short story. I feel for these girls and their situation has touched me. All
persons in this story are fictional and any resemblance is a coincidence. Although
some girls managed to escape; this story is totally my idea of how it all
happened. Nonetheless, it happened in a governmental
secondary school when the students were called to take their physics exams,
according to the news.
Todos os direitos reservados a Meire Marion.
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Bibliography (These were a few of the articles I have
read. I also watched the CNN news reports on TV)
Belly Ballot (African Baby Names) available at: http://babynames.net/all/african accessed on May 11, 2014
Buzz Feed World available at: http://www.buzzfeed.com/jinamoore/nigerias-bring-back-our-girls-movement-marks-one-month-anniv accessed
on May 11, 2014
BBC News available at: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-27360712 accessed
on May 11, 2014
Boko Haram, Wikipedia available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boko_Haram
accessed on May 12,2014
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