My father, my older sister, and I were in our house watching tv; my sick mother was inside her room sleeping. Suddenly, we heard some noise outside and I went to look out the window to see what was happening. The place was filled with military people – well-armed. As I turned to tell my father, people started kicking our door in. I immediately ran into my parents’ room where my mother was sleeping and hid myself behind the door. The soldiers came inside and asked my father and my elder sister to tell them where the armed separatist fighters were hiding, and my father and my elder sister told them they didn’t know anything.  The military people asked them to sit on the ground and asked them again, and they said they didn’t know anything concerning the armed separatists groups or fighters. The military people said they were lying and shot and killed both of them.

When my mother heard the sounds of the guns, she woke up and demanded to know what was happening. A soldier came inside the room and killed my mother on her sick bed. When I saw this, I screamed and almost passed out. I started crying and the wicked military man dragged out from behind the door where I was hiding. The military man hit me on my head and I started bleeding through my nose. I begged him not to kill me, that I am innocent. The military man asked me where the armed separatist fighters were hiding. And I said I don’t know anything concerning the armed separatist fighters. But the military man said I was lying.

The soldier said that he knows my parents and elder sister, including me, are all members of the armed separatist groups. He shouted that separatists held meetings at a bar my mother owned in the village. My mother did have a bar with many customers. The military people thought that – the customers coming in and out of the bar were armed separatists but we were just selling drinks to customers and didn’t know who is who. He took pictures of me, making a mockery of me. He released the handcuffs and pushed me to my knees, saying if I told him the truth, he would not kill me. He said now they would take me outside to kill or bury me alive.    

Outside, the villagers were running around trying to escape. There were gunshots, which distracted the officers. I ran away and hid under a table outside.  When things got quiet, I escaped to the bush. I spent two weeks outside – very sick, suffering, traumatized.

How did I get here? Someone finally offered me food and shelter. I told him that I wanted to escape to another country where my life will be safe and protected. This good man helped me escape to Nigeria. Every day of my life, I pray to God almighty to bless this good man who helped me without even knowing me.

While in Nigeria, I was very worried about my parents and elder sister’s corpses. I called my auntie to find out what happened. She told me that the military people carried the corpses of my parents and sister, and together with other people that were killed on that same day, buried them in a mass grave in the village. She said that the military people had come again to look for me in the village. That they had pictures of me and were saying I was wanted. And that if anyone had any information about me, that they needed to provide it to the authorities.