The fact that the gender that bears and brings forth humanity
Is often treated with unveiled disdain and repugnant brutality
Truly, is an irreconcilable absurdity of the human existence.
Save our girls!
YemilBenjoy ©
The fact that the gender that bears and brings forth humanity
Is often treated with unveiled disdain and repugnant brutality
Truly, is an irreconcilable absurdity of the human existence.
Save our girls!
YemilBenjoy ©
Filed under Life
Is an inalienable right of every human being.
Not simply because it is reinforced in documents
Or exalted by the pedestal of conscience and morality.
No, the right exists for all humanity, every one.
Even if it is not committed to writing.
And contained within the essence of that right,
Is indeed the right to pursue one’s dreams
To the magnitude of their possibilities
Irrespective of one’s gender, and this right
Extends to all, including all young girls
Innocently pursing their dreams amid
The seemingly innocent halls of their school.
Save our girls.
YemilBenjoy ©
Thus, all girls like the rest of humanity
Are entitled to live their lives
And to pursue their own dreams
Without
Filed under Life
Although this is a fictional narrative, sadly it is to convey what an abducted girl in captivity may write:
Mr. President,
I had to abruptly stop writing the other day because I heard one of the captors coming and if they had found me writing they would have beaten me mercilessly to the point of death like my best friend. I miss her, my sister and everyone I love. I try to remember their faces so that I never forget them. I can only write this letter because I had a notebook and pen with me when we were abducted. We take turn hiding the items so that they are not found.
This letter gives us a dim flicker of hope that you will send troops to rescue us from this quagmire. It seems that we will never be rescued. The captors laugh at us. They laugh at our nakedness, tell us we are worthless and will be sold as sex slaves. It is just so awful to hear and contemplate. They tell us that our government does not care about us and will not rescue us, and that even if the government tried, they will not be able to rescue us. Is this true? For if it is, that is nothing but damnation for us. For we are damned by the acts of the foreseeable abduction, that was not prevented, and the failure to rescue us, to a wretched existence of shame, torture, ridicule, bondage and repeated violation. If you will not or cannot rescue us, have you asked other countries that can rescue us to save us from this cursed forest.
Words cannot adequately describe the depth of my despair nor convey the feeling of helplessness at being violently uprooted from the foundation of my life. It is a state of complete desperation. I am deathly afraid. I have not seen my mother’s smile nor heard my father’s voice in weeks, let alone the streets of my community or the sunset over my home. Why? I know that my grandmother wears her black garment of lamentation to mourn for me. Yet I am not dead. Alas, the pathetic irony is that I may be alive, yet I am not living. How could this happen to me, all because I am girl who went to school in Chibok. I miss my life.
It is another forsaken day in captivity. It is raining again and there is minimal shelter. We sit huddled together and dare not express our real feelings or we will feel the cold ends of the guns against our heads. We wait silently for the sun to come out to dry our skin and our clothes. I no longer like the sound of rain. I tried to cry but no tears came. I tried to console another girl who does not speak any more but no words came forth, so I hold her hand and it is very cold. When will this suffering end? Will it ever end?
I wonder, is it right that some men because they have power over vulnerable school girls, can change the course of our lives, sending us to premature deaths and selling us into slavery. Why are we the scapegoats and sacrificial lambs at the altar of anarchy and depravity? They boast. They say that they are more powerful than ever. They plan more bombings and kidnappings.
I must stop again. Save us please.
Fictional story to be continued – Chibox and now Dapchi Girls
YemilBenjoy ©
Filed under Life
Although this is a fictional narrative, sadly it is to convey what an abducted girl in captivity may write:
Mr. President,
Do you know that my sister and I were among some of the girls kidnapped from our beds at our school in Chibok and now Dapchi, Nigeria? I now live in a constant state of terror, not knowing what will happen to me next. I am completely devastated that my life as I knew it is over and live in horror that I may never see my family again. I detest what my life has become. I am helpless and unable to protect myself or my fellow captives. My younger sister was also taken that ill-fated day and I have not seen her since then. As her older sister, I shudder to think that she is also going through what I am suffering. I weep for her. I weep for myself. I weep for all the captives. I weep for my parents and over the abhorrent situation that we have been thrust into. I am worried about my parents. Have you spoken to them?
My best friend was killed on the first day of our abduction. They caught her as she was trying to run back to freedom. She died from the beating. I still hear her screaming. Since she died, I have been very scared to run away because I don’t want to die trying to escape but I don’t want to live as a slave. Which is the viable abyss? The two options are hell on earth.
I once had a dream to become a doctor so that I could help my community deal with diseases and take care of the sick. Did I dream in vain because I am Nigerian girl living in Chibok? Will that dream ever be revived? In captivity, we know no peace. We have no privacy, little to eat or drink. We no longer sleep in beds. There are no bathrooms, we have no soap and are no longer able to bath daily. Guns are pointed at our faces and at our heads. We are constantly threatened with death and bodily harm. We have forgotten the sound of laughter and they make us do the most unspeakable things. Please save us from this insanity.
At school, in one of my classes we read the Oath of Office of the Nigerian President. I recall that it includes the following:
“ I do solemnly swear and affirm … that in all circumstances, I will do right to all manner of people, according to law, without fear or favour, … and that I will devote myself to the service and well-being of the people of Nigeria. So help me God”.
If that is the case, why am I here? Why have we not been rescued after several weeks? Why was my school not protected? Why have we been raped? Why are we being sold like valueless commodities on the ignominious market square of slave trade. Will we ever be rescued? We are powerless and exist at the mercy of our captors and slave masters and need to be rescued. Please do not forget us.
I must stop now because I hear someone coming…
Fictional story to be continued.
YemilBenjoy ©
Filed under Life
Please world, kindly do NOT forget…
That the girls abducted from their beds
In their school dormitories while they slept
At night in Nigeria, taken from their dreams and hopes
Cast into a jungle of despair
Have not yet been returned to their families.
Please do not forget them.
Thank you for caring.
YemilBenjoy ©
Filed under Life