#BringBackOurGirls

www.telegraph.co.uk

When I first learned that over 200 girls were abducted from a school in Nigeria, it wasn’t from CNN; it was actually from a post on Instagram.  Throughout the day more people posted on Instagram as well as other social networks, giving a brief story about what happened. People were asked to use hashtags #BringBackOurDaughters and #BringBackOurGirls to attract media attention and to get our governments involved. If you’re anything like me, I hopped on google to search for the full story.

On April 14, 2014, Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram, which means “Western education is forbidden” abducted close to 300 girls from Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Nigeria. The militants were dressed in military uniforms and told the girls they were taking them to a safe place. They took the girls out of their beds at night and put them in trucks and on motorcycles. The current total number of missing girls is 276 (ABC News). According to a France news source Agence France-Passe, the girls may have been sold as brides in Chad and Cameroon for as little as $12. The militants are also said to have conducted mass marriages and shared the girls as wives among themselves (Washington Post).

Since 2010, terrorist group Boko Haram has been responsible for more than 2,300 deaths. This year alone, they have killed 1,500 people (Washington Post). Boko Haram is “targeting Christians, senior Islamic figures against the group’s beliefs and groups engaged in “un-Islamic behavior” (CNN). This year in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, they killed 71 people in bus bombings (ABC News).

In 2012, the U.S. gave $20 million dollars to Nigeria to help fight terrorism in their country (Sahara Reporters). If this is indeed true, people are confused as to why the Nigerian government is having such a hard time locating the school girls. What has the government done with these funds? “The free movement of the kidnappers in huge convoys with their captives for two weeks without being tracked by the military, which claims to be working diligently to free the girls, is unbelievable,” Village leader Bitrus told the BBC. President Goodluck Jonathan claims that parents are not cooperating and giving full descriptions of their missing child. This may be true because parents are afraid that their child may be punished by militants if they find out their cooperating with authorities (Washington Post).

So what is really being done to help locate the girls who have been missing for 3 weeks? There have been demonstrations across the world. Families in Nigeria are conducting their own searches (Washington Post). There have been rallies across Nigeria to bring attention to this horrible situation. The Nigerian president said he has asked for help from Great Britain, China, France and the U.S. (ABC News). The U.S. wasn’t asked to send military forces, but they will be sharing intelligence to help locate the girls and plan a rescue mission (CNN). For us at home continue to use hashtags #BringBackOurGirls and #BringBackOurDaughters. Look out for rallies in your area to bring media attention and put pressure on the Nigerian government and governments across the world to help: BRING BACK OUR GIRLS!

Also take a look at this video by Stella Damasus on more information about what happened, Boko Haram, the Nigerian government and what we can do to help!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14aIPhZUytA