In April 2014 Boko Haram, one of the world’s deadliest terror groups, captured international attention when they abducted 276 schoolgirls from a school in Chibok, Nigeria.
Almost three years later, nearly 200 of those schoolgirls are still missing. And the threat of Boko Haram continues to grow, in the first week of April, 22 girls and women were kidnapped by the group in two separate raids in north- east Nigeria.
Patience Ibrahim, who was pregnant when captured from her home, has come forward to testify about her time held captive by the Boko Haram militants. It is clear that Patience has a strong will to survive, she had already be kidnapped once before by the militants and when taken a second time, she managed to convince a Boko Haram fighter to help her escape.
In her book, A Gift from Darkness, Patience recalls her time endured by her and her fellow prisoners. She talks about her life before her capture and explains that in her part of the world women were considered little more than property long before the militants showed up. She recounts hearing how pleased her father was that she was deemed worthy of a high price as he bartered and eventually sold her as a bride in exchange for cattle.
Andrea Hoffmann’s, a German journalist who co-wrote A Gift from Darkness, also shares her account of her time spent in Nigeria.
Together the women share important insight on what Patience and other women endured and tell a story that deserves reading.
