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Spending two days walking into the bush, Tiswan saw so much - and went through so much herself - that she doesn’t always want to talk about it. But she and other survivors of kidnapping bravely shared stories of rape, starvation, violence, and terror during a webinar on 27 April.
Emerging from their stories was their a sense of resilience and hope that things can possibly change for the better.
The webinar, entitled “Resiliency of Rural Indigenous Nigerian Girls & Women: Surviving Kidnapping & Gender-Based Violence,” highlighted the scourge of gender-based violence but also the sense of hope and resiliency survivors are sharing with the world as a catalyst for change. The event was co-organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC), Peacemaking in Africa, Christian Council of Nigeria, International Center for Interfaith, Peace and Harmony in Kaduna, and Baptist Conference of Kaduna.
Clara Jeremiah, one of 121 schoolchildren kidnapped from the Bethel Baptist High School in Nigeria, described how the children worked together to ensure the kidnappers released the most frail among them first.
“Some were not even able to walk by themselves,” she said. At times, she added, “they just called us all together and just picked at random who they would free.”
Pastor Nasamu Nasri Mainasara, described how he and his wife were kidnapped at night. “They took my wife through the window and also took me through the window,” he said. “Some were with me, some were with her, but there were about 20 of them.”
As participants listened to these stories, they were profoundly moved. During a moment of silence, participant Monica Willard commented: “Please know that this silence provided me the opportunity to pray for you and pray that these stories STOP because something shifts. I only wish I knew what that ‘something’ could be to prevent these crimes.”
Rev. Dr Ibrahim Wushishi Yusef, WCC programme executive for peacebuilding in the African region, described how he was able to meet with survivors of kidnapping while on a WCC fact-finding mission. “We shared their experiences,” he said. “The meeting today is to provide this opportunity to share this encounter, learn from the experiences of the survivors of kidnapping, which will inform the necessity of the importance of how we can devise means to accompany them in various ways as we pass through challenges.”
Yusef added: “We do hope and pray that today’s encounter will help our understanding of the complexity of the situation and the urgency that is required from the individuals, organizations, and all stakeholders to support and pray for the victims to overcome the traumatic situations in which they found themselves.”
Donna Bolllinger, who accompanied Yusef on the fact-finding mission, expressed her gratitude to the speakers. “We are bringing to you the voices of those in Nigeria firsthand so you and the international community can have a better understanding of what is happening throughout the country in Nigeria and, today, with a particular focus on the area of Kaduna,” she said.
