Boko Haram (Posted in May, 2016 originally)

Picture by Aliyeh Jamous.

This Thursday will mark the second anniversary of the abduction of 276 female students from their boarding school in Chibok in northern Nigeria by the terror group. Some of the girls were able to escape their captors but the whereabouts of 219 remains unknown despite a worldwide social media campaign, #bringbackourgirls, to put pressure on the Nigerian military to act. (Independent.com)

Two years. Two years the girls have been in captivity. Two years of missing family, missing growing, missing playing, missing rites of passage.  In those two years I have cried often, for myself. But I have stopped thinking about the girls. No tears have been shed for them. I am sorry, beautiful Chibok girls. I am thinking of you today. I will cry for you today. I will pray for you today. My thoughts and prayers will be that you are released, that your families are there to greet you, that you get the comfort and support you need to heal from your experience, and that you know there were many people who fought to get you free. I apologize that I was not one. I apologize for forgetting. I promise to keep you in my heart, mind, and soul until you are set free.

Here is the poem I wrote around the time the girls were taken. It seems even more fitting now.

Boko Haram takes the girls,

I am worried about my weight,

Boko Haram takes the girls,

My money problems never seem to abate.

The girls are missing and parents cry,

I am concerned for my son's first broken-heart.

The girls are missing and parents cry,

The grass is tall, why won’t the mower start?

The girls scream in pain and fear,

I am frustrated at how slow my computer runs.

The girls scream in pain and fear.

I worked hard, I really do deserve some fun.

The girls, the girls, oh God, the girls...

I’ll read about them when I have some time to pass

The girls, the girls, oh God, the girls...

Something hurts deep in my chest, it's probably just gas.