Aisha and Hadiza at a Youth Empowerment Center session in Malkohi IDP camp, Nigeria
The resilience shown by many of the traumatized adolescent girls we serve is amazing. But their hopes and desires for renewal can be buried deep under the layers of physical and mental pain they are wrapped in. Peeling those layers away takes a lot of nurturing care and patient guidance – even when the girl or boy involved is already showing you how much they want to heal. Here are the stories of two such remarkable girls.
Aisha is a 13-year-old girl from Gwoza. She arrived at the Malkohi internally displaced persons (IDP) camp with her family when she was just 8 years old. Her family was heartbreakingly brutalized when Boko Haram attacked Aisha’s village, murdered her uncle and brother-in-law, and abducted her brothers. But the violence she witnessed and endured couldn’t crush Aisha’s curiosity and desire to learn. When her aunt came to ChildVoice class sessions, Aisha would frequently tag along, despite her being too young to participate. Undiscouraged, Aisha persisted until one of our staff members decided to allow her to attend classes unofficially. Her dedication was so remarkable that we officially enrolled her in 2020.
"Aisha is a very bright girl,” said Becky Malgwi, a ChildVoice Counselor. “She knows so much more than most of the girls in her group who are older than her. We know she can have a bright future ahead of her. With some discipline and skills, Aisha will become a successful woman!”
“I didn’t even know my alphabet when I joined ChildVoice. But now I can recite A to Z!” - Aisha
Hadiza is also just 13 years old. She has never known anything but abject poverty. Hadiza’s family was also terrorized by Boko Haram when she was very young. They came to Malkohi 5 years ago from a different IDP camp in the northeast after fleeing an attack on their village. Like Aisha, Hadiza is eager to learn, escape the bonds of poverty, and overcome the trauma of violent displacement. She is unable to attend school because her family is far too poor. But recently, she started tagging along with her older sisters as they went to ChildVoice group counseling and life skills sessions. Because Hadiza was so tenacious about learning, we enrolled her too! She’s very enthusiastic about learning basic literacy and arithmetic.
A year ago, we were in the midst of a spreading pandemic. The start of this year brought hope that we would soon move past the crisis. But the ongoing effects of COVID-19 continue to be especially hard on the refugees and IDPs we work with. Amid this crisis, Aisha and Hadiza have only just started their healing and learning journeys. Together, we can make a real difference in the lives of traumatized Ugandan, South Sudanese, Nigerian, and Congolese girls like them.