HumAngle

“We are not civil servants. We are not businessmen. During the rainy season, you would not see us here. We will all be cultivating on our farms. But this is our only option once the dry season comes.”

“We were treated like animals, even lower than animals because at least animals can roam about in freedom… It would be good for them to stop that beating. They stopped it for a few years, but shortly before we were released, they resumed it.”

“My three sons and my six grandchildren were all taken away, and we don’t know why. We are all innocent, but they carried all our men, leaving us with nothing.”

“I decided to leave Boko Haram when I heard the governor’s lecture on the radio urging us to repent. He promised to forgive us, stating that violence was not the solution and that we needed to stop and repent. He also promised to provide us with the means to earn a livelihood, including vocational training, startup capital, and reintegration support.”

“I vowed to kill her. And I did. Now you can do whatever it is that you want to do. I have dug her grave. You can bury her by 9 a.m. tomorrow,” Yakaka remembers Awana saying to her before exiting the place.

“The agent has sold me to another trafficker who appears a bit caring and more considerate, but I want to return to Nigeria. I’m tired of suffering here.”

“Everything is just traumatising. Sometimes, after considering what it takes to get to class–the steps, the stony pathways, and being ignored by others–I would rather not go.”