“I felt like it was the day that I born her into this world, I danced and danced and danced.”
These are the words of Ruth Markus, the mother of Saratu Markus who was one of 21 girls released early last week from Nigeria's militant Islamist group Boko Haram. This celebration comes after nearly 300 Nigerian girls were taken forcefully away from their families and friends in April of 2014 when a gunfire exchange took place with security guards at the Government Girls Secondary School in the town of Chibok. The school girls were abducted and were to be sold into sex slavery where each girl was given a currency value equivalent to $12 USD.
News quickly spread of the girls' abduction and justified outrage ensued. In the age of social media word spread quickly by way of a Twitter hashtag simply titled #BringBackOurGirls. There were reports that 20-30 girls had escaped but families were afraid to speak out in order to keep their daughters safe. Two years passed with little attention on the girls following the #BringBackOurGirls social media campaign. That was until Sunday, October, 16th, 2016.
By way of a negotiation through the Nigerian government, 21 girls were released from Boko Haram and reunited with their families and the stories poured out of them. "The girls, nearly all of them Christians, lived in grass huts and were forced to convert to Islam. At first they ate rice and maize. But then food became scarce. During their captivity in the forest, a few of them died," writes Chris Stein and Dionne Searcey of the New York Times. The rescued girls spoke of a lack of food, other girls dying from snake bites, and death from childbirth.
While the number of girls who were freed is small compared to the many who were taken it is still a celebration worth having. Just watching the video of the girls reuniting with their families is enough to make anyone smile. In light of the negativity stemming from this terrible event, as well as what is happening around the world, it is imperative that we, as outsiders, take a moment to feel joy at this news. While we are not directly involved, Chibok is nearly 6100 miles from East Lansing, it affects our worldview. We can sit idly by and briefly comment on these events without a thought. Or we can join in the celebration work to end slavery around the globe.
Where do we start then? We start by educating ourselves. Sex slavery and prostitution does exist in the United States, but it takes on many forms within our country and especially in countries around the world. There are many organizations that were formed based upon the issues of human trafficking around the world, including A21 and the END IT Movement. On top of that, there are many non-fiction books that help bring perspective to this global issue, one of which I highly recommend is "Half the Sky" by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn.
