40-something Agnes, from Benue state in Nigeria’s Middle Belt region,
was married to university lecturer John while still young; the couple
had nine children.
One morning in 2008 Agnes rose to hear “Allah u Akbar! Allah u Akbar!”
“When you hear that, you know something [terrible] is going to happen,” Agnes told WWM.
Extremist Muslims surrounded her neighborhood. The couple joined others
as they tried to flee, but they suddenly found themselves deep in the
heart of a Muslim-dominated area.
A man forced Agnes and the younger children into a building; John and
their two eldest sons remained outside. Before entering, Agnes saw John
and one son being stabbed to death.
“They hit my husband on the head and stabbed him in the side. I
witnessed it. As soon as they stabbed them, I closed my eyes and called
on Jesus. I couldn’t help myself.”
Agnes’ story is a familiar one to Rebecca Dali, wife of the President
of the Ekklesiyar Yan'uwa a Nigeria (EYN), to which most of the
kidnapped Chibok girls belonged. She runs the Centre for Caring,
Empowerment and Peace Initiatives, CCEPI, which serves mainly widows and
orphans. She told World Watch Monitor “Widows are particularly
vulnerable in NE Nigeria, the area most affected by the Boko Haram
insurgency. For many, the loss of their husband is the beginning of
hardship for them and their children, who may not then be able to get an
education.
“It’s a big loss, because in most cases, the late husband’s relatives
will pack everything up of his to take it away - leaving her alone with
her children. If militants have not burned down everything, some
families will quickly move her out of the family compound, so she may
lose her home as well as her husband.
“The late husband’s relatives will also take the farm land, a crucial
element of survival in NE Nigeria, a semi-arid region where living
conditions are very hard. Food production is dependent on the rainy
season which lasts 4-5 months per year.
“During our relief distribution, we’ve found some dead men’s relatives
collected relief materials on behalf of a widow, but later discovered
they never reached her.
“Added to all this, it’s difficult for a widow to re-marry; even if
they are very young, no-one will want to marry them. So they remain
alone with their children; some have to send them to beg in the streets
to get food.
“It’s a really terrible situation. We have recorded cases of some
widows dying with hyper-tension and other related diseases. We recently
found four cases of women showing severe signs of trauma. One of them
became dumb and blind. The other three went completely mad, and their
children - who try to look after them - even have to resort to chaining
them up.
“There are real abuses against women, particularly in the NE where the
literacy rate is very low. Even in the Church, widows suffer lots of
segregations. It’s a combination of cultural and religious beliefs
reinforced by widespread poverty”.
Mass wedding
It’s against this backdrop that Christian widows feel even more
unfairly treated when they see a state-sponsored mass-wedding programme
for Muslim women at government expense. In July, in the northern state
of Kano, which has the highest divorce rate in Nigeria, more than 10,000
women registered to be provided with a husband.
This match-making programme began in 2012; Kano state said that it
spent an average of about 250,000 Naira (about £600) per couple - to buy
furniture, textiles, food and other essential items, as well as to
provide grants for the brides.
This scheme, says Rebecca Dali, is a reminder of the persistent discrimination faced by Christians in Northern Nigeria.
“I am originally from Borno State. Even when I was young, if you
graduated with Muslim classmates, they would easily get hired - while
Christian graduates would end up unemployed.
‘‘So there’s nothing new. I really feel bad because they are using
public funds to promote their own religion. Here in CCEPI we used to
write letters to denounce such discrimination. But our plight is not
going away, and some people even threaten to kill us if we do not keep
quiet”.
Agnes was eventually able to attend a workshop on healing from trauma,
organized by Open Doors International, a charity which supports
Christians under pressure for their faith. This paved the way for her
healing process….she also received vocational training, and a microloan.
Open Doors is also funding the school fees for her youngest child.
However, a few years after her husband’s death, another extremist
attack hit her town. This time everything she had in her small store was
destroyed.
“‘Why would they do such a thing to you?’ people asked her. She was
able to respond ‘I thank God that I have something that people can
steal. I am grateful to Him, that He will not leave me.’’’
Photo courtesy: World Watch Monitor
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