Boko Haram strapped suicide bombs to them. Somehow these teenage girls survived.
This article in the New York Times was fascinating and helped me to sympathize with these girls. The editorial was prominently featured with several full page photos taken of these girls, all with their faces covered to safeguard their identities. Boko Haram is a terrorist group, a rebel force, in Eastern Nigeria. Recently they have started using women and young girls as suicide bombers in their cause. The article gives gripping accounts of how these girls ended up with a literal ticking time bomb strapped to their waist. Most of the accounts are very similar. The girls were abducted and kept in camps, their captors tried to force arranged marriages on them or rape them, when the girls refused they were taken outside the camp to a target location. The explosive belt would then be strapped to them and they would be given directions of where to go to set it off.
All of these girls were brave enough to seek help, walking up to military or officials to plead for help. The government in Nigeria has launched a campaign against women suicide bombers, to warn civilians that they are likely to carry out attacks. The result has been an extreme fear of the female sex, with some women being shot out of sheer fear. It really challenges the idea that these girls were somehow terrorist sympathizers who wanted to kills masses of people. We need more articles like this one, showing the bravery of these girls and the reality that they victims, not terrorists.
Thanks for sharing and commenting on this. I understand that the US has a lot of issues as well, but I get so upset when people will focus on things that don't even compare to the horrible things that are done to women on a daily basis in the world, and yet, still this doesn't receive much press. So, thanks.
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