From Pain to Gain
Fatima’s Journey through Abduction and Recovery
Fatima Modu (an alias) smiles the easy smile of a happy teenager. The smile, deceptive, hides an immeasurable sadness, which casts an equally swift shadow across her playful face, etching deep lines of trauma, that refuse to leave.
Getting the 18-year-old to talk was not easy. Her voice dips dramatically as she recalls her horrific experiences as a survivor of protracted armed conflict in northeast Nigeria.
Abducted and forced into marriage and servitude at 11 years of age, Fatima’s story is typical of the horrors that children and adolescents affected by armed conflict in northeast Nigeria face.
Fatima experienced the excruciating trauma of stillbirth at the tender age of 15, a memory that still haunts her to this day. It was heartbreaking, watching an adolescent narrate such horrors, with such little emotion. You could tell a part of her still relives that ordeal every single day.
We were seated in the premises of a child-friendly centre managed by the Borno State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development at the GSSS IDP Camp in Bama, northeast Nigeria. Young boys and girls ran about playfully, surrounding us with laughter and games. One of them threw a ball close to where we sat, ran towards us to retrieve it, and then ducked when Fatima threw the ball back at him.
She smiled again, fleetingly.
This sacred space, the child-friendly centre is where Fatima reactivates her childhood and finds joy in the simple things. Managed by the Government and supported by UNICEF, the centre runs diverse psychosocial, vocational and reintegration activities in support of children and adolescents who have survived the horrors of armed conflict.
I was abducted with my family and neighbours when our town, Walasa was raided seven years ago. I was 11 years old. My brother was killed during the attack, and my other brother has been missing since. There was no escape for anyone. It was mostly alright if you obeyed the captors but even at that I endured beatings and worked on the farm before I was married off to one of the commanders.
Her road to recovery here started with intensive psychosocial sessions. She also enrolled at the soap production and was supported to procure start up kits to start her own business in Walasa.
Daily, it is a beehive of activities – young girls knitting caps under a shade or playing hide and seek in the wide courtyards. There are also sections for vocational training on hairdressing, tailoring as well as soap production at the centre. On an average day, children play, unfettered, unrestricted, chatting loudly while chasing a football.
With support from the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund (PBF), UNICEF is providing Fatima and several young survivors like with life-skills to help ensure, re-engage, and gain the confidence to move forward with their lives, once more.
As a broader goal, the PBF is complimenting efforts by the local Government to restore sustainable peace and support for survivors of armed conflict. Its objectives include ensuring that impacted women and children are supported to restore their lives, with the aim to achieve sustainable peace in Nigeria’s northeast region.
“I will soon return permanently to Walasa to fully commence my business. There are two girls who have expressed interest in joining my business as apprentices. I am happy to start something meaningful,’’ she said.
Fatima’s story may not be unique to this state, but it sadly mirrors the life story of hundreds among these gentle faces at this centre.
Fatima was handed over to the Borno State Government, when she was rescued by the military, which in turn signed her up at this child-friendly centre.
For this young 15-year-old, the tide is slowly turning and she is transitioning back to normalcy. She now dreams of empowering other girls to become self-reliant, unafraid of the future, and this centre, supported by UNICEF, in Northeast Nigeria, is proud to be a part of her survivor journey.
