A Chibok girl, Lydia
Joshua, one of the 276 kidnapped at Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok,
Borno state, on April 14, 2014, has opened up in a new story about her time in
captivity at the Boko haram camp and according to her, she only drank water
when it rained.
Joshua was among the
captives released through a negotiation with the Boko Haram sect in 2017. She
is now trying to adjust to life outside the strange environment. She narrated
her experience in bondage and the plight of those who are yet to be free.
The Cable reports that
though Lydia could not freely speak due to certain governmental restrictions,
her parents and loved ones were happy and enthusiastic to retell what she had
told them of the dark years.
“The girls suffered,
especially the ones who refused to marry Boko Haram. The Boko Haram people
would ask the girls to raise their hands if they wanted to marry any of the
men. The girls who did not express interest were starved,” said Butu who left
Borno for Lagos as a result of Boko Haram activities.
“When it rained, they would
be drenched and their clothes would dry up on their bodies. It is also when it
rains that they get to drink water. Lydia told her stories of sleeping beside
snakes, going several days without food and sewing clothes with what she
described as hand needles.
“They slept on flooded floors for three years.
It’s only God that kept Lydia alive and I am still shocked. Lydia told me they
ate leaves and when they gave them food, it was never enough until the
negotiations for their release started taking place and they started giving
them food.”
Butu also spoke about the
trauma of Lydia’s absence and the effect of insurgency on her family.
Although she is just 26
years old, five years older than her niece, Butu is a widow with three
children.
She narrated how the
insurgents killed her husband.
“Our village is empty.
Nobody is there, people have gone to different places. They also took our farms
so that we cannot feed any longer,” she said.
“They (Boko Haram) are leaving widows of
women. They will come to your house and kill your husband and leave you alone
to take care of the children. They killed my husband and I am left alone with
three children take care of.”
She disclosed that Lydia’s grandfather died
suddenly in 2014 because he was traumatised.
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