A kidnapped Chibok schoolgirl who escaped her Boko Haram captors said that hope should not be lost and efforts should not be abandoned for getting back the rest of the girls.
ChristianToday.com reports that Sa’a recalled the night of her kidnapping on April 14, 2014 while testifying during a congressional hearing in Washington, D.C.
Sa'a said that the militants stormed into her school while she and her classmates were sleeping and ordered them out of bed and into classrooms, all the while shouting “Allahu Akbar.”
"Next, they started burning everything – our clothes, our books, our classrooms – everything in our school," she said.
The militants then forced the girls to get into trucks. If they refused, they would be shot. Sa’a and one of her classmates managed to escape by jumping out of the truck while the terrorists drove away from the school.
Sa’a is now going to school in the U.S. through the Education Must Continue Initiative, which is a charity set up for victims of Boko Haram’s violence.
She also is an advocate for her friends and classmates who are still in captivity, and for her fellow Nigerians. Sa’a hopes to be able to use her education to help her people.
More than 200 Chibok schoolgirls captured on the night of April 14, 2014 are thought to remain in captivity.
Boko Haram (whose name means “Western education is a sin”) often targets schools. More than 910 schools have been targeted and at least 611 teachers have been killed, while 19,000 more have been forced to flee. In addition, 1,500 schools have been destroyed.
Boko Haram rivals the Islamic State for the violence it perpetrates.
Former U.S. Representative and distinguished senior fellow at the 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative, Frank Wolf, noted, "The challenges that face Nigeria are great. However, it is my firm belief that the United States and other Western nations have a vested interest in confronting one of the worst crises of our current day. Nigeria has been fractured and forgotten and it is my hope that this hearing may light the spark that is needed to elevate this crisis to the place it deserves."
Publication date: May 12, 2016
