By Ogboji Glory

During the Celebration of International women’s Day on the 8th day of March, 2023. The Aid to the church in Need (ACN)invited to Italy two Nigeria Christian girls ,Maria Joseph (19) and Janada Marcus ( 22) who fled from Boko haram’s captivity after years of excruciating torture .                            

Pope Francis recently wrote a book preface in which he condemned violence against women.“We must find the cure to heal this plague and not leave women alone,” the pope said.

In the framework of the “March 8 listen also to their cries “ the two girls met with Pope Francis after his general audience, the Papal  welcome and blessed the two girls.

Maria said she “couldn’t imagine this happening to us.” Janada called it an “out of this world” experience and said that when the Pope said he’d pray for her, she “felt different.” Using an expression of her native Hausa language, Janada said her heart was “wide and full of joy.” The Pope gave a rosary to both visitors and Maria expressed a desire to lean the prayer.

Maria Joseph, narrated her experience in the hands of Boko Haram; “Right before my eyes, they took one of my siblings and killed him. They cut off his head, then his hands, legs, and stomach,” she said in a report published by Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).

After escaping the Boko Haram, Maria and Janada both received treatment at the Trauma Centre  at Maiduguri in northeastern Nigeria, a center built with the assistance of ACN.

Janada Marcus, flee from Boko Haram with her family twice before the terrorists attacked them again in the city of Maiduguri. In this attack, Janada’ father was told to either rape her or be killed.she narrates ,

“With a machete pointed at my father’s forehead, he looked at my mother and at me, but i avoided eye contact because  i was ashamed to look him in the face, ashamed of what the men had suggested — it was an abomination!” Janada told ACN. “My father put his head down in submission to be killed and answered: ‘I cannot sleep with my own flesh and blood, my own daughter, i would rather die than commit this abomination” Her father was beheaded, and Janada continued to suffer at the hands of the Islamic terrorists. Janada shared that the six months that she spent at the trauma center were months of “healing, prayers, and counseling.”

Thousands are believed to be held captive by the group which forces people to convert to Islam. The conflict has spilled over to Nigeria’s neighbouring contries like; Cameroon, Niger and Chad.