ICC Note:
The following stems from a speech given by Florence Ozor of Nigeria the Global Livingston Institute’s Women’s Leadership Institute in Lake Buyonyi, Uganda. On April 14, more than 300 schoolgirls were mass-abducted from the government girls secondary school in Chibok, Nigeria. Of those identified, more than 90% are professed Christians. For months, they have been forced to suffer captivity in the depths of the Sambisa forest. Seperated from friends, family, school, their communities and their churches for months, some have even been forced into lifetimes of sexual and domestic slavery as child brides. As Ozor says so eloquently, we’ve thought, we’ve spoken, but now we must act to #BringBackOurGirls. Learn everything you need to know about Boko Haram’s heinous schoolgirl abduction, here. Click the banner above to donate.
09/19/2014 Nigeria (Newsweek) – In recent weeks, Boko Haram has widened its strategy from terrorist attacks to actually seizing territory in my country. They have taken several Nigerian towns close to the Cameroonian border and will likely take more. They have also started to incorporate young girls in their attacks. I shudder to think: Have our girls been turned in suicide bombers? Are they falling victim to Stockholm Syndrome? Are they being brainwashed and drugged?
All these girls dared to do was go to school.
In the past five months, we’ve gotten our government and world leaders to listen and to think, but it is now time to act. Continuing to demand action is the only way to compel our world leaders to rescue our girls. It is our collective responsibility as one human to another. It is a moral obligation; it is the responsible thing to do; It is the right thing to do!
It calls on our shared humanity to respond to girls who bravely dared to get education in spite of apparent dangers. It speaks to girls everywhere in the world whose existence is hanging in the balance because of their choice to be educated. It speaks on the survival, legitimacy and right of education for girls around the world.
We cannot forget them. We cannot fail them. Bring back our girls—now and alive!
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