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#BringBackOurGirls: Society Can't Just 'Move On'

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ABUJA, Nigeria -- A humanitarian crisis is unfolding in West Africa as Nigeria attempts to retake territory held by Islamic radicals.

Thousands of soldiers are battling the African terror group Boko Haram. But the military offensive plus the ongoing Islamic insurgency have displaced more than a million people, many of them Christians.

A Place of Refuge

Sunday service at St. Theresa is anything but ordinary. For that matter, nothing at the church or in this town has been ordinary for some time.

St. Theresa is in Yola, Nigeria, where people fleeing the Islamic terror group Boko Haram now outnumber residents of the city.

Three-thousand of them are taking shelter at St. Theresa, including many girls like Abigail John, who were held captive by Boko Haram for weeks. John was held for a month before she escaped.

"They said we would be married off as soon as we got well and that they would marry us to their members who were single," John said, while covering her face to protect her identity. "We never thought we would regain our freedom."

St. Theresa houses more internally displaced people, or IDPs, than any other church in Adawama state. And now this place of worship-turned-refugee center has become a safe haven for survivors to tell their stories.

"For some of them it's very painful for them to go through this process of even telling what happened to them," said Father Maurice Kwairango, head priest at St. Theresa. "But gradually, they are able to open up and to talk freely, to feel accepted and to feel that the world has not turned its back on them."

Twenty-year-old Dorcas Aiden was another of those caught by Boko Haram. She, along with 50 other Christian girls, were kidnapped and forced to study Koranic verses and say daily Muslim prayers.

"They showed us videos on laptops every day, and they are showing us the way they are killing people, killing soldiers," Aiden said. "They say if they catch you ladies, they will marry the ladies, and if they catch a man, they will kill the man."

Aiden's family knows how fortunate they are to have their daughter back.

"I had no hope that I would get Dorcas back - that was my fear," Aiden's father, Wasinya, said.

Bring Back Our Girls

Today, that father's prayer and that of many at the church are for the Chibok girls. A year ago next month, Boko Haram fighters kidnapped 276 girls, mostly Christian, from a school in Chibok. Fifty-seven escaped, but 219 are still being held.

"We cannot be a society that would move on when 219 young women that went to acquire knowledge are nowhere to be found," Oby Ezekwesili, leader of the Bring Back Our Girls campaign, told CBN News.

The girls' abduction drew global protests and launched the Twitter hash tag campaign #BringBackOurGirls. But since then, the plight of those girls has been largely forgotten, but not by Oby Ezekweili and her group.

Since the kidnapping, she and family members of the girls have met every day in a park in the capital city Abuja to pray and demand that the Nigerian government make bringing back the girls alive a top priority.

"If the world moves on without seeing that the utmost effort is made to rescue these girls, the whole world sends a wrong signal to every child in school," Ezekwesili said.

Hostages to Suicide Bombers?

And it's not just the Chibok girls. Today, Boko Haram has been venturing into neighboring countries like Cameroon and Niger and kidnapping additional men and women.

It continues to show the brazenness of this group as they attempt to turn Nigeria, Africa's most populated country, into an Islamic emirate.

Now the concern is that Boko Haram could turn the Chibok girls into suicide bombers.

Weeks after they were kidnapped, Boko Haram deployed their first-ever female suicide bomber. Since then, several girls, including a 7-year-old, were used in suicide attacks, killing hundreds of people.

"Those whom they captured who are Christians, they literally forced them to accept their teaching and get converted, and they did that and if you failed, and if you refused to accept, they kill you instantly," John Kalma told CBN News from his office in Abuja. Kalma oversees CBN's Disaster Relief work in Nigeria.

'City of Islam'

In October 2014, Boko Haram fighters overran Kalma's hometown in Mubi, less than 100 miles from Yola, kidnapping and killing scores of Christians.

"They wanted to wipe out and cleanse the whole society so that Islam will be the only religion that would be dominant," Kalma said.

The terror group promptly raised their black Islamic flag and renamed his town City of Islam.

Several Christian girls were kidnapped and sold into sexual slavery. Young Christian boys were taken to fields and given military training. Drinking alcohol and smoking were banned. And it didn't stop there.

"They made sure that they burned down every single church in the whole town," Kalma told CBN News.

Mubi has since been retaken by Nigerian forces and residents are slowly returning. CBN News obtained exclusive pictures showing Christians worshipping in their destroyed churches.

"To be a Christian in the northeast is very dangerous - you are just risking your life, but the Christian brethren there they are strong in their faith; they still hold on to Jesus Christ!" Kalma said.

Nigeria and four neighboring countries have launched a military offensive across the northeast to recapture territory held by Boko Haram.

Meanwhile, back at St. Theresa's church, worship fills the compound as survivors can only hope and pray for the safe return of captives and for an end to the radical Islamic warfare against the people of Nigeria.

***You can follow George Thomas on Facebook and on Instagram.

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About The Author

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George
Thomas

Born in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and of Indian descent, CBN News’ Senior International Correspondent and Co-Anchor, George Thomas, has been traveling the globe for more than 20 years, finding the stories of people, conflicts, and issues that must be told. He has reported from more than 100 countries and has had a front-row seat to numerous global events of our day. George’s stories of faith, struggle, and hope combine the expertise of a seasoned journalist with the inspiration of a deep calling to tell the stories of the people behind the news. “I’ve always liked discovering & exploring new