Bring Back Our Girls
April 15th. Northern Nigeria. Dozens of heavily armed terrorists raided a "sleepy little town's" girls' boarding school, waking the high school girls to the sound of gunfire. Several hundred terrified girls were herded into the terrorists' vehicles, and never seen nor heard of since.
Lead by the extremist Muslim group, Boko Haram, meaning "Western education is a sin" in Hausa language, the attackers sought to destroy the girls' hopes at receiving an education. The girls knew the risks of the task at hand - yet they wanted their education more than any fear could shake. Many of the girls were on track to become lawyers, teachers, doctors, and other professionals.
Now, it is reported that they are being auctioned off for $12 each to become the "wives" of militants. According to New York Times journalist Nicholas Kristof,
"About 50 girls escaped, but the police say that 276 are still missing - and the Nigerian government has done next to nothing to recover the girls."
Parents of the girls have started to ask for global intervention - a call that women and men alike from all corners of the globe should hear and to which they should respond. In fact, the parents of these high school girls are so determined to free their children that they approached the militants with AK-47s. Unfortunately, they had to turn back.
Secretary of State John Kerry said that it's "not just an act of terrorism. It's a massive human trafficking moment and grotesque."
In hopes to press the Nigerian government to free the girls, various social media sites have taken to the demand to "Bring Back Our Girls." This viral pressure, as these sites hope, will give the Nigerian more reasons to find and end the capture.
Malala Yousafzai is even calling for action, as she stated to Kristof, "These abducted school girls are my sisters, and I call on the international community and the government of Nigeria to take action and save my sisters. It should be our duty to speak up for our brothers and sisters in Nigeria who are in a very difficult situation."
Want to help? Click below for sites dedicated to Bringing Back Our Girls
Stay tuned on Her Culture for updates on the Nigerian school girl kidnapping.
Kate currently lives in New Jersey and is a senior in high school. She frequently drinks tea and occasionally drinks coffee with lots of sugar. Kate is a High School Ambassador for Her Campus, a Teen Blogger for Huffington Post Teen, and is also the Editor-in-Chief of both her school's newspaper and yearbook. She was recently selected for membership for the National Association of Professional Women and is on track to study Communications in college.
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