Held by Boko Haram for Nine Years, Victim Seeks Help at Catholic Trauma Healing Center

The mother of 12 spoke to ACI Africa from the Trauma Healing Center of the Catholic Diocese of Maiduguri in Northern Nigeria where former captives of Islamist militants are given psychosocial accompaniment.

She recounted her kidnapping nine years ago in Kangarwa where she had settled to engage in farming, after leaving 10 of her children under the care of her mother.

“I brought only my daughter who was two years old to the island. I gave birth to my boy who is now seven years old while in captivity,” Susan said, adding that six out of her 12 children had died while she was in captivity. 

The native of Chad remembers one morning when armed men attacked them while they were in their farms, and started hacking all the men who refused to convert to Islam.

“I will never forget what I saw that morning. I saw many young men being slaughtered. People's husbands were slaughtered. Others were tied up and locked in houses where they were tortured for days and killed for completely refusing to convert to Islam,” she said.

The Boko Haram militants made the young women who converted to Islam their wives while the elderly ones were locked in houses for months. The militants also occupied their victim’s houses and placed soldiers on the island to guard it.

“We were beaten every day and asked to convert to Islam. We were given very little to eat and locked in houses. We tried to escape several times but each time they heard of our plans, they would torch down a house to teach us a lesson,” Susan told ACI Africa during the May 18 interview.

Surrounded by darkness in the room where she was locked, Susan sometimes heard gunshots on the island as the military engaged the militants. Oddly, the sound of gunshots raised her spirits.

“Whenever I heard the sound of guns, I was filled with hope that someone was coming to rescue us. But for nine years, no one came to our aid,” she recalls, and adds, “In that sound of gunshots, help was so near yet so far away.” 

In the bad blood between the Boko Haram and ISWAP fighters, Susan and dozens of other women saw an opportunity to escape, and they did, leaving behind thousands of other captives who were immediately moved to another island, deeper in the lake which is located west of Chad and the northeast of Nigeria. 

Lake Chad also extends to parts of Niger and Cameroon. Islands on the lake provide a safe haven for Islamist militants who terrorize Christian farming and fishing communities inhabiting the Islands. It is from here that the militants also coordinate their movements on land to northern Nigeria, Chad, Niger, and Cameroon to launch attacks on communities.

In Hajj Camp where Susan settled for 16 days before she was moved to a Christian-dominated facility, the 53-year-old was segregated by the administration of the camp.

“They first thought that I was a wife of the militia but were surprised when I didn’t stop eating during Ramadhan. That’s when they started denying me food to the point that I was starving,” she says.

Susan recently arrived at Polo IDP Camp, a facility run by the Catholic Diocese of Maiduguri, and is finally happy to reunite with other Christians at the camp.

“The longing I had to reunite with Christians is a feeling I lack words to describe. I dreamt of the day I would freely pray inside a church, and the dream came true,” she tells ACI Africa.

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She adds, “The camp doesn’t have much but the church is doing everything they can to see that we live with dignity. They ensure that we are well fed and our children are attending school,” she says.

Susan also started visiting a trauma healing center of the Diocese of Maiduguri where she hopes to process her pain.

Some day, maybe, she will try and forgive the Boko Haram militants for the pain they inflicted on her.

Asked about how she feels about her abductors, she tells ACI Africa, “I can never forgive the Boko Haram for what they did to me. My mother died while I was still held captive and I never knew of it. I am still trying to come to terms with my mother’s absence. I don’t even know what became of my children.”

Fr. Joseph Bature Fidelis, the Director of the trauma healing center has attended to numerous cases of Boko Haram victims who arrived at the center with feelings of unforgiveness.

“Former captives of militants manifest severe symptoms of trauma and come here harboring a lot of pain. It takes a lot for them to process their loss before they think about the possibility of forgiving their abductors,” Fr. Fidelis, who suffered traumatic experiences himself tells ACI Africa.

Depending on the symptoms they manifest, the victims undergo various stages of healing, including needs assessment, crisis management, therapy, and social re-integration.

Their physiological, health, and financial needs are assessed after which they are given dignity kits of food, clothing, and money. While undergoing trauma therapy to process their pain, loss, and grief, the victims are also equipped with skills such as shoemaking, and food processing, to help them back on their feet.

Christina James is a beneficiary of the Catholic Trauma Healing Centre where the 22-year-old has found a safe environment to pursue her studies after running from Boko Haram all her life.

In a May 18 interview with ACI Africa, Christina recalled being 16 when the armed militias invaded her village in Pulka, the epicenter of Boko Haram militant activities in Northeast Nigeria.

Christina comes from a family of 10 but she has not seen her parents and her seven siblings for four years now.

“When Boko Haram attacked us, we were forced to flee and we went in different directions. I walked for over a week, hiding in bushes until I arrived in Maiduguri,” Christina said.

Her mother was pregnant with her ninth child and was forced to give birth in the bushes. After staying in an IDP camp for years, she decided to go back home where she found a gaping house.

“They stole everything from our homes. They burnt so many houses. I saw my parents four years ago and they are living in abject poverty,” Christina who will be graduating from high school later this year narrated, adding that her plan is to pursue her studies, get a good job, and lift her parents out of their poverty.

Expressing her gratitude to the Catholic Diocese of Maiduguri for supporting IDPs in camps, Christina says, “I wouldn't be where I am, in a good school, almost completing my studies without the help of Fr. Fidelis and the entire Church here in Maiduguri. I spent many years, with other children in Pulka, unable to go to school because of attacks. And when I came here, I was 16 years old but I couldn't communicate well in English. But now I am performing very well in school knowing that everything I need is catered for by the Church.”

She also finds joy in attending Holy Mass every day. “Father Fidelis has taught us good morals and the importance of forgiveness. I am very happy to go to church and to pray. When meeting Boko Haram men on the road, I had to hide my rosary and to pray in my heart to avoid being killed.”