04/03/2019 Nigeria (International Christian Concern) – The insurgency of the Islamic terrorist group, Boko Haram, has been accountable for up to 20,000 deaths. However, death is not the only trauma they have brought to the people of Nigeria. Abductions are also commonplace; women and children are sometimes taken away during a raid and forcefully converted to Islam and married off to an extremist.
Charity is a woman who is being helped by Open Doors UK in the aftermath of her abduction by Boko Haram. In a raid on her village, her husband managed to escape, but she was kidnapped. In captivity she was married off to one of the extremists. Within her three years there, she became pregnant and gave birth to a girl named Rahila.
The Nigerian military was able to free her eventually and she tried to return home to her husband. He rejected the child and beat her for her unfaithfulness.
The rejection forced her to move on to an internally displaced person camp. Unfortunately, the people there also refused her because of her background. They made fun of her situation and she began to lose hope.
However, she was able to receive counseling and study the Bible. Her husband has also started to open up his heart again and is on the path of forgiveness. He is even beginning to care for Rahila, even though she is the child of another man.
Boko Haram leaves more behind in its wake than just the dead. The living like Charity are abducted, raped, tortured, and left to bear the grief of their loss. When you read the statistics of those who are dying, also remember the living.
By www.persecution.org
