Five months ago, over 250 young girls were
abducted from the Chibok boarding school in Nigeria. Although 53
successfully escaped, the other 223 left behind … along
with scores of others (including young boys and men) have been added to this
number.
In an article posted by Charlotte
Alfred in the Huffington Post’s The WorldPost segment, Alfred describes
in detail an 8-point fact brief on what has happened since then. To read that entire article, CLICK HERE.
Why should we care? There’s
something very disturbing about the attention span of our society when we can
skip from crisis to crisis like changing clothes one day to the next. Whatever is the “hot spot” item on the news becomes our “hot spot” attention-getter.
Here’s why we need to be
concerned. Of the additional scores of kidnapped persons in Nigeria, it is
reported that several of the young boys and men have been rescued. Well,
what about our girls? None have been rescued.
There have been numerous attempts
and global interceding on the part of France, Canada, Israel, the UK and the U.S.
– all of which still have not proved successful. Sightings mean nothing
without rescue. Negotiations that stop short of release are
meaningless. Are we indeed saying, “The foreign collective has no ability
to stop mindless thugs like Boko Haram…”?
As a community of people
committed to the welfare, freedom, and human dignity of our fellow sisters and
brothers of humanity, we have got to keep the pressure high. We need to
continue to write our governmental leaders, press our global partners, and urge
the Nigerian government to resolve this tragic problem or see their power be
disintegrated by the power of the voting pen at election time! In every
society, we have got to stand firm, acknowledging that our daughters are
equally as valuable as our young boys and men!
Anything less, is simply
unacceptable and inexcusable!
Keep hashtag #BringBackOurGirls
flowing on your media web pages. Accept nothing less!
Sis. Lynda Holiday Lawrence
Trinity UCC, Africa Ministry
