Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Everybody in the family has embraced the child, Zara told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a
telephone interview, asking that her location remain undisclosed. My uncle just bought him tins of
Cerelac (instant cereal) and milk.
Zara was aged 14 when Boko Haram militants fighting to establish an Islamist state raided her
village of Izge, in northeast Nigeria, in February 2014.
They razed homes in the village, slaughtered men, and loaded women, girls and children into trucks.
Two of Zara's brothers were out of town when the militants struck in one of a wave of hit-and-run
attacks on villages as well as suicide bombings on places of worship or markets.
Zara's mother fell off one of the overloaded trucks but tried to chase after the vehicle that was
ferrying away her only daughter and her four-year-old son but was unable to keep up as the truck
headed 22 km (14 miles) road journey to Bita.
At the time, Bita and other surrounding towns close to the Sambisa forest, were in Boko Haram
control.
As soon as we arrived, they told us that we were now their slaves, Zara recalled.
Her days were spent doing chores and learning the tenets of her new religion, Islam, until, two
months later, she was given away in marriage to Ali, a Boko Haram commander, and moved from a
shared house to his accommodation.
After I became a commander's wife, I had freedom. I slept anytime I wanted, I woke up anytime I
wanted, she said.
He bought me food and clothes and gave me everything that a woman needs from a man, adding
that he also gave her a mobile phone with his number plugged in and tattooed his name on her
stomach to mark her as a Boko Haram wife.
Ali assured her that the fight would soon be over and they would return to his home town of Baga
where he intended his new wife to join his fishing business.
He told her that he had abandoned his fisherman trade and joined the militant group after his father
and elder brother, both fishermen like himself, were killed by Nigerian soldiers.
business.
I want to do a business that is suitable for a woman, something that will not take me out of the
house, she said.
Reuters
* Use IOLs Facebook and Twitter pages to comment on our stories. See links below.
Get our free IOL newsletters - subscribe here...
IOL News on Facebook
IOL on Twitter
http://classic.iol.co.za/teen-hankers-after-boko-haram-captor-1.1980796