{"id":33635,"date":"2019-03-14T08:53:40","date_gmt":"2019-03-14T08:53:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.acnmalta.org\/?p=33635"},"modified":"2019-03-14T08:53:40","modified_gmt":"2019-03-14T08:53:40","slug":"watching-him-butchered-will-haunt-me-forever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2019\/03\/14\/watching-him-butchered-will-haunt-me-forever\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018WATCHING HIM BUTCHERED WILL HAUNT ME FOREVER\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<style type=\"text\/css\"><\/style><p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>Catherine Ibrahim lives in a camp for displaced persons run by the Catholic Diocese of Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria. Here, she describes the murder of her husband and abduction of her children \u2013 both at the hands of Boko Haram \u2013 and her eventual captivity. She told her story to Aid to the Church in Need:<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>\u201c<\/em>The first time Boko Haram came to our village, we were lucky. Just as we settled in for dinner, we heard their gunshots and ran to the mountains.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cFor the two days we were there, our fear of death kept us alive. We returned to burned houses and churches, which led to a crisis between Christians and Muslims that was only stopped by military intervention.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cLess than a week later, Boko Haram returned with on a deadly mission. A million thoughts flooded my mind, but none overshadowed the thought of my children \u2013 Daniel and Salome \u2013 and getting them to safety.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cBut they beat me to it. When I reached where my children were hiding, I saw the insurgents holding them by their shoulders as they struggled helplessly. They were about five and seven years old then. The insurgents looked triumphant. My knees buckled, and my eyes filled with tears. I was afraid of what might happen to them, especially to my daughter.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cThen, one of the insurgents savagely dragged me to the front, so that I could witness my husband\u2019s death.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cThey butchered my husband mercilessly, and they made sure that I saw it all. I can\u2019t forget the fear in his eyes. I don\u2019t want to say more than this, my sister. I hate to remember.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cMeanwhile, my children were taken away. My maternal instincts were charged. They had taken away my husband; I would not let them take the fruits of our love, too. I\u2019d be dead without them.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cBut the journey was too risky to make then, and I ended up in Yola, the state capital, [of Adamawa State, in northeastern Nigeria] for six months, with haunting visions of my children\u2019s struggles.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cAround May of 2014, I heard that the soldiers had recaptured Gworza. I left to find my children, but I couldn\u2019t get a vehicle to take me to Ngoshe, where I was told they were. So I trekked for a day. On the way, I saw soldiers and Boko Haram clash, which was no worse than what I\u2019d already seen.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cI was captured when I reached Ngoshe. The capture pleased me, because I felt closer to my children. My mother-in-law was the first person I saw. As she excitedly yelled out, my children showed up from behind her. I don\u2019t think I can describe the joy I felt. Only God knows the depth of my gratitude.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>\u201cThis was the first time I consciously recognized God\u2019s presence. But now, as we speak, I realize that He was always there.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cI was happy that my mother-in-law didn\u2019t ask me about her son. I don\u2019t know how I would have told her about what happened. My children, while in captivity, were Islamized: Daniel became Musa; Salome became Yagana.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cAfter three days of planning, my attempt to escape failed. My children were taken away, and I was brought to a detention camp within the larger compound. For two weeks, my hands were bound behind my neck, and my feet were tied together.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>\u201cI was tortured with all sorts of objects, and they didn\u2019t stop until they drew blood. They beat me badly, but I kept my faith. When my detention mate died, I prayed fearfully in my language.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cIt turned out that a guard spoke that same language; he was from my tribe; eventually, at his urging, I was freed after three months from the detention camp and let back into the larger camp.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cMy mother-in-law nursed me back to health. It\u2019s been four years since my release, and I still don\u2019t have the full use of my hands. Since I came here, the Church has helped me in my treatment. I was transferred to St. Patrick\u2019s Cathedral from Maiduguri Specialist Hospital, and a cathedral administrator took me to a private hospital, where I underwent physiotherapy for six months.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cThree years later, on March 2, 2017, I was reunited with my children in Maiduguri. After a clash with Boko Haram in Ngoshe, soldiers had rescued them.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cNow that I am back with my children and mother-in-law, my joy knows no bounds. But my husband\u2019s death \u2013 having to watch it \u2013 will haunt me forever.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>Vanessa Adie Offiong<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Catherine Ibrahim lives in a camp for displaced persons run by the Catholic Diocese of Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria. Here, she describes the murder of her husband and abduction of her children \u2013 both at the hands of Boko Haram \u2013 and her eventual captivity. She told her story to Aid to the Church in&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33637,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-e-newsletters"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>\u2018WATCHING HIM BUTCHERED WILL HAUNT ME FOREVER\u2019 - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2019\/03\/14\/watching-him-butchered-will-haunt-me-forever\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018WATCHING HIM BUTCHERED WILL HAUNT ME FOREVER\u2019 - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Catherine Ibrahim lives in a camp for displaced persons run by the Catholic Diocese of Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria. 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