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Now23:12Mental health help needed for girls kidnapped by Boko Haram
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The struggle for abducted Nigerian women and girls does not stop when they escape, said Dr. Fatima Akilu. The trauma took a toll on her, and she says it’s important she receives the mental health support she so desperately needs.
“They are returning to a system where we are only beginning to understand the effects of trauma. And also in a country that does not have many practitioners working in mental health,” Akilu, executive director of the Neem Foundation in Nigeria, told Matt Galloway in Now.
“One of the main issues, when you’re dealing with nutrition and other health needs, is trauma, especially post-traumatic stress. And what we’re finding now is that we’re witnessing intergenerational trauma.”
In 2014, the Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram kidnapped 276 girls from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok town in Borno State, Nigeria. And while the incident sparked a global response, the number of women taken was even higher.
Amnesty International thinks that about 2,000 women and girls were kidnapped by the group between 2014 and 2015. And kidnappings it still happens in the country, at least in 2021.
Some of the girls have been releasedbut the transition back to society can be difficult, said Akilu.
“When they return from captivity, the life they know is completely different. They return to communities that no longer exist, and most people live in refugee camps or with host families,” he explained.
Sometimes, many women who were only girls when they were abducted or sold to militant groups return with children born in captivity.
“[They are] it is very difficult to reintegrate into society, adjust in school, and have a normal child,” said Akilu.
Scar together
Canadian journalist Mellissa Fung said she heard of the abduction, his first thought always goes to the shot.
Fung kidnapped by gunmen in Afghanistan in 2008 while working as a reporter for the CBC National. He was detained for 28 days before being released.
And while she says the girls captured by Boko Haram have been through more, they can still relate.
“We share scars,” Fung said. “One of the girls was stabbed in the same place as me, by her captor.”
The scars are more than just skin deep, according to Fung. Because of that, he tells the stories of former Boko Haram prisoners in his new book Between Good and Bad, Girls Stolen by Boko Haram.
Fung said that when she interviewed the girls for her book, she was able to talk about her own experiences in a way she never had before.
“While sharing my story and learning how to deal with the aftermath, I also learned a lot about trauma and its long trail,” Fung said.
WATCH | Mellissa Fung returns to Afghanistan, 5 years after abduction:
Mellissa Fung completes a story that began five years ago in Afghanistan that was interrupted by a kidnapping. (In collaboration with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.)
But, he says, there is a major difference to his story and hers. After captivity, Fung had access to some of the best trauma therapists. Despite this, he still struggles with the trauma of the incident.
Meanwhile these girls do not have the same access to help.
“I wanted to learn how to deal with trauma without all the help I had,” Fung said.
Better help
For the past two years, Akilu and the Neem Foundation have been helping kidnapped women, and anyone affected by the conflict in Nigeria.
The Foundation has trained hundreds of people to care for their mental health needs in Nigeria, although he added that more work needed to be done.
There is still a stigma around mental health issues in the country, she explained. When the foundation goes into the community to help, it spends up to four weeks educating people about the importance of mental health care. Once people understand the importance of dealing with trauma and receive the help of the group, they are more likely to offer such mental health support.
“In a community, no matter how big it is, no one is rejected. Each person is assessed individually,” said Akilu.
After the incident, he was given four weeks of intensive psychotherapy and expressive therapy. Then the foundation came back two months later to see how people were doing. The Neem Foundation has been doing this for two years.
Fung has seen the benefits of this therapy, and talks to women who have gone through it.
“They will say that they have come a long way. Those who have been able to access the therapy offered by Dr. Akilu, who helped them process what happened and gave them a reason to look forward, hope. ” he said.
WATCH | Kidnappers free hundreds of Nigerian schoolchildren:
A group of 279 Nigerian schoolchildren who were kidnapped at gunpoint have been released. But mass kidnappings for ransom are on the rise, and the government is under increasing pressure to stop them.
Having said that, Fung noted that there are still many people who need such help beyond what the Neem Foundation has reached.
“The need is so great. We don’t really know how many people are … traumatized, who need this, because nobody knows the numbers.”
For that to happen, Akilu says the key is investing in training for more mental health practitioners.
“I think my job is to build the capacity of the next generation of mental health practitioners,” Akilu said.
“We don’t have time for people to go to school for years, but we have to deal with this problem. So how do we do it safely, in a way that we can do. good, quality, effective mental health?”
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