Naija And Yonder: April 2016

One of the 250 girls who were kidnapped by Boko Haram in 2014 is now a college student in the United States of America, she escaped along with a few other girls by jumping off the truck while it was in motion. Quite a number of the girls who were kidnapped are still missing and she prays for their safety. Due to security reasons she did not disclose her real name but uses the pen name Sa'a.

During an interview with 'All Things Considered' she shared her story:

Take us back to that night in 2014. Tell us briefly what happened.

On 14th of April 2014 the Boko Haram came to my school at Chibok when we were all sleeping at night and they were shooting guns and yelling. And we all woke up and came out of our rooms. We were wearing our pyjamas. When they came in, they kept asking questions that we didn't even know the answers to.

What kind of questions?

Where are the boys? The boys are day students, they come to school in the morning and go home after school. They asked where food is kept, they pointed out two girls out of all of us who pointed out where the food was and they put it in a truck. They move us from where we are staying to the class area and then they started burning everything — our clothes, our books, everything in our school.

They asked us to enter the trucks and if not they were going to shoot all of us. We were all scared so we entered the truck and they started moving with us in the forest. When we were driving in the forest I just had this feeling I should try and escape because I didn't know where I was going and my parents didn't know where I was going. I said to one of my friends that I was going to jump out of the truck. I would rather die and my parents will see my body and bury it than to go with the Boko Haram.

What happened next?

So she said, "OK," she's going to jump out with me. And I said, "OK." I jumped out first and she jumped after me and we hid in the forest while the cars pass. We were just in that forest that night without knowing what to do. It was dark. We didn't know where we were. My friend injured both of her legs, she couldn't walk we just sat under a tree until morning. She had been crying and said I should go home and let her die in forest and I said, "No. If we are going to die, we are going to die together. I won't leave you here."

So I went to look for help in forest. I was going around not far from where we slept and I found a shepherd. So I ask him for help and he said, "No," he can't help us. But I tried and convinced him. He helped us and took my friend on his bicycle and took us to Chibok and that's we found our help to go home.

What happened when you went home?

Before I got home in the morning, my parents heard what happened in my school and one of my brothers and friend went back to Chibok to find out what happened. And when I came home, my mom, my dad, my family, everyone was crying. Our neighbors came to the house, they were all happy and crying because I was home, and what about the other girls? There's a man and ... he was asking about his daughters as well. I told him we managed to escape but I don't know if his daughters will manage to escape the way we did. So I don't know what happened next after we jumped out of truck. Everyone was terrified because of what happened

What about your friend?

When she got home they took her to the hospital and she got treated and now she's feeling better. She's walking, She's fine now.

How did you come to the United States?

After we escaped one of the congressman went to Nigeria to find out what happened. Chris Smith from New Jersey. When he went to Nigeria they met my friend that escaped [with me]. And she told them her story, how she escaped. So when they came back to U.S., they said its not safe for her to stay there. So they said they will find a scholarship for her to study here [in the U.S.]

She told them if they are giving her a scholarship to come and study, she's not coming to school without me because I was the one that helped her. And I told her I'm not coming to school because I am so scared because of what happened. I feel like if we go to school again they are going to kidnap us wherever we are. My brothers and friends encouraged me that I should not let Boko Haram stop me from getting an education. I should be strong and come. I'm here today.

What are your plans?

I started college in January. I want to study medicine.

If you could talk to girls who are still with Boko Haram what would you tell them?
I wish I could do that. The only thing I would tell them is to hold onto their faith and let them trust in God. I want to tell them how much we miss them. We are praying for them. We are doing all we can to try our best and see that the government and someone will help and rescue those girls.