THE TALE OF FATIMA #BRINGBACKOURGIRLS!!!!

9:45 PM LIGHTS OUT!!!!! Like it is in all boarding schools, we were instructed to go to bed. Aminat and I stood up sluggishly and dragged our tired feet to the hostel.

10:15 PM Lights out, but not totally, because Maria, the Christian girl from Ashigashiya the neighbouring village, who is now schooling in Chibok in other to write her exams, is still cooking; a practice she says is a norm in her school. I had a wary smile on my face, not because she was cooking, but because my Literature teacher gave me her word that I will recite my poem, composed by myself, in front of the class. Haaa, tomorrow is just by the corner, and it promises to be a very
good day, I can't wait to show the world, my classmates I mean, how intelligent and creative I am. With this on my mind, regarldless of the heat produced by Maria’s cooking I slept off.

11:30 PM Now in dreamland, I and my mum are seated and smiling together, she touches my hair in a manner so loving, and she tells me how beautiful I am, how intelligent I am and how priviledged I am to go to school. Not just any school, but the prestigious Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok. A place where visions are realized. She swears that it is the gods of her fathers that made that possible. I started to laugh because she always says that. Well, considering our very poor status, I couldn’t agree more.
‘What do you want to be in future?” Mama asked. Without hesitating I responded, "I want to be a Communicator, I want to be highly educated and influential. I want to be the best writer in the world, Mama, I want to travel far and wide, I want to help you and papa and my fourteen other siblings out of poverty. I want to be a shinning star, I Fatima, wants to fulfill destiny!” “ Ooh Fatima my daughter, you make glad my heart with your words. That is why you are my favourite child. I live, struggle and suffer because I want you to get to heights I couldn’t get to…”
Fatima, Fatima, Fatimaaaaa! - "Mama, someone is calling so desperately, I need to go, I love you Mama, I love you". “ I love you too” Mama says. As they make to embrace, a hand drags Fatima into the solid world of reality. It turns to be the hands and voice of Alimat.

11:45 PM Alimat screams "Wake up! Wake up! In the name of Allah, wake up. Immediately, I arose, but not to my familiar surrounding, because my once quiet familiar surrounding is in a state of pandemonium, and that makes it unfamiliar.
From afar, we could hear the gunmen saying, “escape into the truck, run, I say run. This is the Nigerian Military! We are here to save you. If you are not running, you are wroong! In a spilt of seconds, I was fully alert and I ran, just like everyone else. Two hundred and seventy-two of us ran for our lives. Into the truck we entered, without even thinking, we all needed to survive, we were so scared and even till date, we are still scared. We are scared because it was all a lie. The supposed military men were members of the Boko Haram sect! They deceived us, lured us away from our future and kidnapped us into the harsh life of the sect.

It is exactly 365 days. The world has failed us, the government has failed us, security agencies have betrayed us, my brothers and sisters have stopped fighting for me. My dreams are crashing! All hope is lost! Like a sounding cymbal, I cry all night! Alimat has been sold away. I miss my mother. With a tattered hope and a weary heart, I say to all and sundry forget not to do all you can to deliver us from the claws of death. I have a vision,I have a future, please don't let it die! #BringBackOurGirls #BringBackOurGirls #BringBackOurGirls

BAMILOSHIN ESTHER on behalf of TWG HUB sympathize with the families of these girls. Your toil over them will not be in vain.