HBO Tells the Story of STOLEN DAUGHTERS: Kidnapped by Boko Haram

Jeri Jacquin

Currently on HBO is the stark and, at times, difficult story about the story that made

world wide headlines with director Gemma Atwal’s STOLEN DAUGHTERS: Kidnapped by Boko Haram.

In 2014, in the small village of Chibok in Northern Nigeria, there was a school attended by young girls seeking an education. One night, they will be awoken to the sounds of gun fire as men claiming to be soldiers tell the girls to get up and go outside. Believing they were soldiers sent to protect them, it quickly becomes all to clear that these are not in fact soldiers, nor are they going to protect the girls.

Instead, it turns out they are Boko Haram, an Islamic terrorist group that has been waging war in Nigeria for several years. There plans are to take the girls and through a series of videos, the families are told they will be sold. A scattered few of the girls manage to escape but the rest are taken deep in the Sambisa Forest where Boko Haram has a camp.

It would take world wide attention to the plight of the girls before people became involved. The Nigeria government was not swift in helping and it would be three years before an agreement is reached with Boko Haram and less than 150 girls are returned to their families. Now called the Chibok Girls, they are under the protection of the Nigerian government. Aisha Al-Hassan is the Nigerian Minister of Women's Affairs who visits the girls at the safe house and introduce the filmmakers to their living situation.

Hannutu is now 21 and she speaks about her anxiety and that staying at the safe house makes her feel better and keeps the thoughts of the Boko Haram away. Surrounded by the familiar, Al-Hasan explains that when the girls first came they were afraid of everything. The same government that is protecting them is the same government that controls the narrative about what the girls went through. Also explains to the girls that the documentary about their experience is being made yet they are not to answer questions about being in the Sambisa Forest because if they do, the girls that are still missing could be in jeopardy. Yet, a few of the girls manage to slip the documentary filmmakers their diaries of the time in captivity.

The Northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri is considered the place where Boko Haram began. Although the Nigerian military are in place, Boko Haram is also in place and not about to give up the city. The young girls from Chibok aren't the only girls being taken by the Boko Haram. Those that manage to get away from the Sambisa Forest run to Maidurguri and are called 'Forgotten Girls' like 18 year old Zahra.

Hasatu Allamim of the city's Women's Rights Activist believe there are as many as 2,000 women and girls that have been taken by Boko Haram. Unlike the Chibok girls, Zahra does not have the same fear talking about her experience explaining what was expected of her and other girls. She tells of her own participation in the abduction of other girls as a way of staying alive herself. Even so, she is haunted by one particular young girl.

In the capital city of Abuja at the government safe house, the girls wait for visits from their families. All of these girls have worries about what they have experienced, their emotional injuries and there obvious outward physical scars. Bringing in counselors, their goal is to help the girls with their transitions and finding that spot inside where they can become more than victims of Chibok.

Parents and family make the long trek to be reunited with their girls. The kidnapping of the Chibok girls has also affected family members because life went on while they were gone and some of it tragic. Yet, when they see the girls, there are smiles and love open for them. For some of them that is.

The Boko Haram have also taken over northern Nigeria and driven so many people out of their villages due to famine. That has brought them to the city of Maiduguri where the Boko Haram have infiltrated into neighborhoods were no one dare speak of them. That doesn’t mean the questions aren’t being asked about the other girls and their fate. The government insists that negotiations are still in play for the release of more girls.

What these girls have experiences is nothing short of miraculous in that they are discovering life again and making choices so that they can move forward. The next generation of children are caught up in the madness created by the Boko Haram as it is not just the girls they take. Young boys are trained to be soldiers and taken from their mother’s and families as well.

For the Chibok girls, the world is opening up for them as they are receiving help and an introduction back into the world. Education also awaits the girls back at a dormitory at AUN that now includes security. But the camps of fleeing villages form the Boko Haram are growing larger and counselors are trying to reach out for them as well listening to their stories of murder, missing family members and fear.

HBO has brought a riveting, informative and heart breaking documentary to us all. Of course many have heard the story in bits and pieces about what has been happening with the people of Nigeria and, for a brief time, about the girls of Chibok. As with most news cycles, it all eventually fades and we never truly know the story or the outcome.

Director Atwal pieces together the stories that these now young women tell, as much as they can or will tell, about their experiences. It is incredible that in their fear, they openly talk (as much as they can) about the day they were abducted and trying to find their way back into the world.

I am personally in awe of these young women as there is no way to ever put ourselves in their shoes. Their lives are forever changed, their families can only be relieved at the young women’s homecoming and the effects of the Boko Haram are far reaching and continues to be a destructive force in Nigeria.

This documentary is worthy of being watched by everyone for its grace in the beautiful eyes of those who haven’t given up on the world when it would have been so easy to do but instead want to help others. These young women now see futures that, yes is quite different than they had ever imagined, but they see a future and that’s everything.

Where are the others and when will they be safely returned – or can they ever be?