The Unheard Daughters
in partnership with Al Fitra Academy
Unheard Daughters is providing social change, empowerment, and environmental action in Northeastern Nigeria
Unheard Daughters supports the manufacture and selling of non-toxic and environmentally friendly cleaning products and shampoo by women survivors of the Boko Haram terror group.
Unheard Daughters
Guardians Worldwide created a network of fifty women living in and around Maiduguri and Mubi. We aim to provide real means for women survivors of Boko Haram to find economic and social means for their reinsertion into civil society.
The fifty women in our collective currently live in remote villages and Internally Displaced peoples (IDP) camps, because they are not accepted in mainstream society having been abducted or coerced to live with Boko Haram fighters in Sambisa Forest.
Some of the women were forced to live with Boko Haram fighters when they were as young as 13 years old.
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TS
TS was a student at the College of Business and Management Studies in Konduga (Konduga Local Government Area of Borno State) when Boko Haram fighters attacked her school. While many lost their lives during the attack, she was able to escape to Maiduguri and was able to get a ride home to Chibok.
Sadly, Chibok was also under attack by Boko Haram when she returned. She was then captured by Boko Haram fighters and forced to trek towards their compound in Sambisa Forest. While in captivity, she and the other captives were raped. When some of their captives left, and the remaining captors fell asleep, she fled with the other captives. This time they successfully made it back to Chibok, only to find that Chibok school girls had been abducted—including her sister. She now lives alone in the Wulari IDP camp, following her sister’s abduction and her father’s death. Despite these horrific circumstances, she has hope that she, “will be someone, someday.” She has joined the Unheard Daughters Project to gain capital to start a business to empower herself.
RI
RI was born and raised in Gwoza town. She married a businessman, and she worked as a tailor and food grinder while they raised their children. She and her husband made a happy life for their family in Gwoza.
While her husband was away on business, Boko Haram attacked their town and placed it under Boko Haram’s interpretation of Islamic law. When RI tried to flee, she was arrested and kept in detention for two weeks while they pressured her to marry a fighter, which she refused. While her captors went on an operation, RI managed to escape to Madagal with her children.
A while later she returned to Gwoza to find her husband. She was unable to do so and heard rumours that he had either been killed or had joined the sect. She was recaptured and taken to one of their centres where she was again told to marry one of their members. While she initially refused, she was forced to marry one of the fighters to avoid further sexual abuse and beatings. She was moved to Boko Haram barracks in Maiduguri. She became sick and because of this was spared further abuse. She is currently living in Bakassi IDP camp with her mother, siblings, and two of her children. They are dependent on government agencies to survive, and she needs access to a sewing machine to support her family financially. She implores the readers of this page to come to the aid of those in need—saying, “Our voice needs to be heard by the world because we are suffering.”
Developing Green Clean and recovering local Hausa environmental traditions
The Unheard Daughters project assists the women in this group through soap-making workshops and by providing materials, facilities, and business enterprises that allow them to develop a livelihood and a valuable role in Maiduguri society.
Cleaning products used in this region are highly toxic, bearing chemicals that are damaging to the water, lands and the women who manufacture them. We need further support to ensure the women can continue to produce soaps to sell in local markets and to use to carry out cleaning services; while ensuring the soaps are made in a way that is safe for the women and the local environment.
These women have overcome war, terror and social instability, while simultaneously leading the way to provide green cleaning products and services in their communities. Their stories are incredibly inspiring.
VOLUNTEER
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