ICC Note: Boko Haram abducted 279 young girls from a government school in Chibok, Nigeria in April 2014 and now nearly two years later, with more than 200 still missing, the girls’ parents and families are struggling to survive.
Chibok Local Government Area (LGA – Nigeria’s equivalent to counties), located in southern Borno state, is a low-income farming community that has already suffered extreme poverty, even without Boko Haram’s influence.
After the girls’ abduction, several parents suffer with heart-related medical conditions that create ongoing expenses for many, and this also removes them from the work force.
When International Christian Concern (ICC), spoke with one of the girl’s fathers in August 2015, he said his wife lacks motivation to carry out daily chores on the farm because of the ongoing trauma she endures knowing that her daughter remains missing.
By Carey Lodge, Nigeria(Christian Today) – The families of the schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram in Chibok, Nigeria, are struggling for survival as the two year anniversary of the abduction looms.
Eighteen parents of the kidnapped girls have died since the attack on 14 April, 2015, when 275 girls – mostly Christians – were taken from their school. Almost 50 managed to escape, but it is believed 228 remain in captivity.
According to persecution charity Open Doors, the families of those girls still missing are seriously struggling to support themselves, and many are suffering from severe health problems linked to their trauma.
“I am carrying my wife to the hospital and they said she has high blood pressure…” said the father of one of the abducted girls. “Sometimes they (the hospital staff) don’t see sickness, they will say, ‘It is the thinking within your family’.”
Pray for the return of the Chibok girl.
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