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A Family on the Run

Saratu Nehemiah lost almost everything. In 2014, she and her family lost their home and possessions when the Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram attacked their small village in northern Nigeria. The terrorists threw everything the family owned out of their home and burned it.

Although Saratu and her husband managed to get their four children to safety in a nearby village, they had to flee again the following year when Boko Haram attacked once more. Later that same year, when Saratu and her husband heard distant gunshots, they knew they had to escape yet a third attack. This time they set out for the nearby country of Cameroon.

As the family walked toward the Cameroon border, Saratu’s husband decided to go ahead of her and their children to scout the road. Roads in northern Nigeria are often dangerous, as terrorists and robbers take further advantage of those who have already been victimized by the internal strife. Saratu never saw her husband alive again; he was killed as he walked the road alone.

Heartbroken, Saratu had little choice but to continue walking. And after arriving in Cameroon, she felt like an outcast, even though she knew it was a safer place for her children. She could not speak the language and they had no place to stay, so they slept under a tree for 11 months. When she learned that the military had recaptured the Nigerian village where she once lived, she gathered her children and returned home.

Learn What Happened to Saratu