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Fatima* - Northeast Nigeria
Fatima* (not her real name to protect her identity) photographed on assignment for Street Child UK.
Fatima is 16. Her father was slaughtered in front of her by Boko Haram. She and her sister were then held captive for 5 years.
“They flogged me every day. All over my body. If I said I wanted to go home it see my parents, they would flog us. Flog us, flog us, and flog us. Once a day we would get a meal of boiled sorghum mixed with sand.”
“We stayed with Boko Haram for 5 years. We were many and they locked us all in a room. I was so afraid. There was not a day I did not cry.”
Fatima lifted her scarf away from her neck to reveal scars up to her jaw. At one point recounting her story, she became visibly upset again, but she defiantly wiped away her tears and insisted we continue.
“When I came back home I was so sick. I heard the TLC was going to open, but I was so sick I didn’t know what to do. It took me months to recover.”
It is here that the role of psychosocial support is so key. For Fatima, she had to deal with stigma from her own family members, and attempted suicide twice. The conversation around mental health is relatively new in Nigeria, but in treating these children, in giving them back their minds and their community tools to understand their behaviour, it is invaluable.
“The counselling sessions have helped me readjust to life after my experience with Boko Haram. It helped me settle down, to face the reality of my life, to focus, to look forward. I’m so grateful. Now I know A, I know B, I know C. Every day I am happy, I am smiling, I am free, I am jovial! With my education it has helped me move on. It has helped me pick up my life. Street Child are so good. They help people, especially to children who are vulnerable... One day, I am going to be a doctor so I can help people too”.
Fatima* s story was told with her consent and supervised by a Child Protection Officer.
© Chris Parkes
Fatima is 16. Her father was slaughtered in front of her by Boko Haram. She and her sister were then held captive for 5 years.
“They flogged me every day. All over my body. If I said I wanted to go home it see my parents, they would flog us. Flog us, flog us, and flog us. Once a day we would get a meal of boiled sorghum mixed with sand.”
“We stayed with Boko Haram for 5 years. We were many and they locked us all in a room. I was so afraid. There was not a day I did not cry.”
Fatima lifted her scarf away from her neck to reveal scars up to her jaw. At one point recounting her story, she became visibly upset again, but she defiantly wiped away her tears and insisted we continue.
“When I came back home I was so sick. I heard the TLC was going to open, but I was so sick I didn’t know what to do. It took me months to recover.”
It is here that the role of psychosocial support is so key. For Fatima, she had to deal with stigma from her own family members, and attempted suicide twice. The conversation around mental health is relatively new in Nigeria, but in treating these children, in giving them back their minds and their community tools to understand their behaviour, it is invaluable.
“The counselling sessions have helped me readjust to life after my experience with Boko Haram. It helped me settle down, to face the reality of my life, to focus, to look forward. I’m so grateful. Now I know A, I know B, I know C. Every day I am happy, I am smiling, I am free, I am jovial! With my education it has helped me move on. It has helped me pick up my life. Street Child are so good. They help people, especially to children who are vulnerable... One day, I am going to be a doctor so I can help people too”.
Fatima* s story was told with her consent and supervised by a Child Protection Officer.
© Chris Parkes
