Stories from the Field

Danjuma Shakaru’s grave is still empty. Villagers had dug the 13-year-old boy’s final resting place after he was critically wounded during a Jan. 28, 2015 attack on their village. When they saw his mangled, lifeless body covered in blood, they fully expected him to die. But God had other plans. Three months after the attack, Danjuma’s face is marked by horrendous scars where his right eye was carved out … and by a beaming smile. Danjuma’s memories of the attack begin with the gunshots he heard at about 6 a.m. on a Wednesday morning. He remembers running for his life and then being confronted by some of the more than 1,000 Islamic insurgents who attacked his Christian village, burning homes and killing villagers who didn’t manage to escape. Although his memories of the attack are incomplete, one thing he’ll never forget is the pain caused by a machete slicing through the left side of his head. The rest of the attack, by God’s grace, he doesn’t recall. “Then I found myself in this situation,” he said. “I can’t remember how the story continues again.” Terrifying Brutality Danjuma can’t recall the attackers hacking at his left arm with a machete. He

Eight-year-old Nankpak Kumzwam watched his mother lie face down on the ground as a screaming Islamic rioter ran toward them. Her cheek was stained with dried blood from a gunshot wound, and she looked physically and emotionally drained. They had slept on the ground for the past two nights while fleeing marauding rioters. And they had just heard heartbreaking news — rioters had killed Nankpak’s father. When Nankpak saw his mother lie down out of fear and exhaustion, he did the same. The Muslim rioter running toward them knew they were Christians and that Nankpak’s father was a pastor, so he immediately attacked them with a machete. Assuming that he had killed Nankpak as well as his mother, brother and sister, the attacker finally walked away. But there was one survivor. The Young Survivor When Nankpak regained consciousness, he knew his mother, sister and brother were dead. Bleeding from machete wounds and the gunshot wound he had suffered the day before, Nankpak hiked through the bush to find help, eventually arriving at a friend’s house. After receiving treatment, Nankpak moved in with an uncle until he enrolled in a school in a safe area. VOM provided support to him, just

Naomi glanced at her daughter, Ruth. She was scared, exhausted and thought they were about to be killed. “Convert to Islam or you will die!” one of their kidnappers shouted at them. Masked men carrying assault weapons had abducted Naomi and Ruth from their home in the middle of the night. Judging by the brutality of their abductors, Naomi was sure they were members of Boko Haram, a militant Muslim group trying to take over territory in northern Nigeria and expel all Christians. Boko Haram wants to create a pure Islamic state based on ultra-strict principles. They have attacked government institutions and even mosques that they deemed too liberal. Many Nigerian Muslims don’t meet their standards. Naomi knew that Christians were a primary target of Boko Haram, and she’d heard repeated stories of how they had entered Christian villages and killed everyone. She was afraid that she and Ruth were next. The kidnappers had marched them for hours through the bush until they reached their camp. Then they had raped both Naomi and Ruth. Now their kidnappers were demanding that they convert to Islam. Naomi knew they were serious about killing them. When she and Ruth were taken, she saw