A typical day for Deborah
includes classes on a manicured
university campus and exercise in the
evening - basketball, volleyball or
aerobics. On weekends, she studies,
swims or just relaxes.
But the teenager's life now is one that
was unimaginable 12 months ago.
On April 14 last year, she was in a
packed dormitory at the Government
Girls Secondary School in Chibok,
northeastern Nigeria, seeking a night's
sleep before writing end-of-term exams.
Boko Haram fighters stormed the school
after sundown, kidnapping 276 girls.
The mass abduction provoked global
outrage and brought unprecedented
attention to an insurgency that has
devastated northern Nigeria since 2009.
Deborah was one of 57 girls who
escaped within hours of the attack. Her
life has changed but for the other 219
hostages still being held and for families
desperate for news, the nightmare
continues.
Despite promises from the government
and military that the release or rescue of
the hostages was at hand, there has
been no credible information
concerning their whereabouts in
months.
Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau
vowed to sell the girls as "slaves" and
later said they had been "married off".
Experts say both are possible and they
are unlikely to still be all together.
'Blessing in disguise'
Deborah and 20 other girls from Chibok
who escaped Boko Haram captivity are
now studying at the American
University of Nigeria (AUN) in the
northeastern city of Yola.
The privately-funded AUN does not look
like other Nigerian universities and
certainly bears little resemblance to
Chibok, which even before the Islamist
uprising began was a deeply
impoverished town with poor roads
and limited electricity supply.
Spread across a vast stretch of land on
the outskirts of Yola, the campus
includes an immaculate hotel, with a
restaurant overlooking a pool that
serves burgers and pizza, where faculty,
including visiting Western professors,
share sodas with their students.
"It is a beautiful environment," Deborah
told AFP via university staff in an email
exchange.
The Chibok girls at AUN are studying a
curriculum aimed at preparing them to
start a four-year undergraduate
programme next year.
Deborah said her dream is to work at
the United Nations "to help my
community in Chibok, Nigeria and the
world".
Others talk of becoming doctors or
lawyers. All stress the importance of
education. With degrees from the well-
regarded AUN those dreams may come
true.
But among the 21, the prospects feel
bittersweet, as international attention
returns to the plight of those still being
held one year on.
Thoughts of their missing classmates
are never far away and in their prayers
daily, they said.
"We feel sad with the advantages we
have now because so many from our
hometown do not have these
advantages," they added.
They also acknowledged they would
almost certainly not be studying at the
university had they not been kidnapped.
Mary put this conflict in starker terms:
"When the insurgency struck, I was
devastated but little did I know it was
going to be a blessing in disguise."
'A horrible journey'
The Chibok girls at AUN felt united in a
common goal to ensure that some good
must come from last year's tragedy.
"It has been a horrible journey yet we
believe that coming to AUN is for a
purpose, which is to be an instrument
of positive change in our hometown,"
Sarah said.
"We have not been broken by the attack.
We see ourselves as the people who
have been chosen to make positive
future changes not just in Chibok, but in
our country and the world," she added.
President Goodluck Jonathan's handling
of the hostage crisis was heavily
criticised, especially over his
administration's failure to immediately
recognise the severity of the attack and
to swiftly launch a major rescue effort.
Jonathan's defeat in last month's
general election to challenger
Muhammadu Buhari may have partly
been caused by his inability to contain
the Islamist violence.
Boko Haram, whose name loosely
translates from the Hausa language
widely spoken in northern Nigeria as
"Western education is forbidden", had
already been suspected of committing
crimes against humanity before the
Chibok mass abduction focused global
outrage.
But the girls studying at AUN suggested
the Islamist foot-soldiers who carried
out the kidnappings ultimately deserve
mercy.
Northeastern Nigeria provides few
opportunities and little hope of
employment for young men, making
them vulnerable to radicalisation, they
said.
"I forgive Boko Haram for what they
have done and I pray God forgives them
too," Blessing said.
Source:news24.com