Tagged: Boko Haram

A long aerial view of Banki

Hope beneath the rubble in Banki, northeast Nigeria

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The view from the helicopter gave me the first inkling of how conflict and violence had impacted the town I was moving to. I saw destroyed and abandoned buildings and homes, I saw a huge camp for displaced people in the middle of a forest. The town is Banki, in northeast Nigeria, 2.5km from the Cameroonian border and 135km from… Read more →←
A pair of hands, fingertips together, against a background of blue and white clothing

I have witnessed terrible things

Children in emergencies

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The following is an interview with 17 year old ‘Aminata’ (not her real name). She was taken by Boko Haram against her will two years ago and forced to marry an insurgent. Aminata had no choice but to live with the insurgents for two years, until she finally managed to escape. Aminata is now an internally displaced person (IDP) living… Read more →←
A young woman washing a girl

Khadija’s forced journey in Chad

Children in emergencies

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Story also available in: العربية Français
Coming home from holidays, you’ll probably tell your family and friends all about the places you may have visited this summer, and share your photos on social networks. Not all teenagers are so lucky however, and the only “travel” experienced by more than 1.4 million children in the Lake Chad region is caused by violence or… Read more →←
A child walks between rows of tent shelters in the UNICEF-supported Dalori camp for internally displaced people, in the north-eastern city of Maiduguri, Nigeria.

Children’s stories of horror and hope in northeast Nigeria

Children in emergencies

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Story also available in: العربية Français
”Of course there is hope”, says Gerida, a UNICEF public health specialists in Nigeria. “One day all of this will be over and in the meantime it’s our job to keep these girls alive and make sure they are prepared for life when peace sets in”, she continues determined. I’m in Maiduguri, Boko Haram’s hometown in Nigeria. There… Read more →←
A teacher walks home from a temporary learning space at the end of the school day, in the Dar es Salam camp.

Finding a new family in a refugee camp in Chad

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Story also available in: العربية Français
Dar es Salam camp in Chad is home to more than 7,000 refugees from Nigeria. Each person here has fled horror and violence in their home country. Recently, I met two residents of the camp: 10-year-old Ibrahim and 38-year-old Adamu Yahaya, whose courage and resilience exemplifies that of so many of the people here. In Nigeria, Ibrahim has… Read more →←
Grace in her classroom at the Government Secondary School in Maiduguri, Northeast Nigeria.

Nigeria: responding to the education needs of displaced children

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Sixteen-year-old Grace fled her home in March this year after witnessing the brutal beheading of her father by the armed group Boko Haram, in Baga, Northeast Nigeria. “When my father was killed, we had to leave our town,” she recalls. “I thought that was the end of the road for me.” But it wasn’t. I met Grace in May at a camp… Read more →←
Ruth, the nurse, is holding Fatima, the baby girl she just helped to deliver in the clinic supported by UNICEF and the government of Japan

Born in a displacement camp in north-east Nigeria

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Story also available in: Español
It has been ten hours since Halima* went into labour. Her contractions are regular, and increasing. She is in so much pain – but she doesn’t utter a sound; only her face shows the extent of the suffering she is going through. Her husband was shot dead when the armed group known as ‘Boko Haram’ attacked her hometown.… Read more →←
Peter and Mohammed play a game of football in the afternoon.

Escaping Boko Haram: a journey from Nigeria to Chad

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Dar es Salaam Camp, Baga Sola, Chad: It is 4:00 in the afternoon, on a day in March. That means it is time for football. As the debilitating heat of the desert sun starts to ease, boys of all ages gather to lose themselves in the intoxication of the beautiful game. For a couple of hours, all is almost forgotten, as the black and white… Read more →←

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