Joy Bishara and Lydia Pogu have something to celebrate. Not only did they graduate from college, but they did so after surviving a kidnapping by a Nigerian terrorist organization when they were teens. The group of victims was referred to as the “Chibok girls.”
In April 2014, about 276 teen girls were kidnapped by Nigeria’s Boko Haram terrorist organization from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Nigeria. As of 2020, 112 of those young women were still missing, and some are believed to be dead. But, some of the kidnapping victims escaped early on. Bishara and Pogu are two of them.
Through prayer, faith, and sheer will to live, Bishara and Pogu, who were in two different trucks used by Boko Haram to kidnap the girls, leaped onto the road and escaped. They were are part of 55 other girls who took the chance and avoided a much worse fate.
“I had to make the decision if I wanted to jump out and die or go with these people. My choices were die or go with them. Not knowing what they would do with me, I chose to die,”
said Bishara.After they escaped the kidnapping, they wanted to continue learning but doing so in their home country was dangerous. Bishara noted that for Boko Haram members, being educated put more of a target on their back.
“Boko Haram says women can’t go to school. Women should be able to make decisions for their life. I want to fight for that,” said Pogu.
Fortunately, a Florida politician reached out and offered the kidnapping victims the opportunity to learn in peach. Democratic Representative Fredricka Wilson invited the teens to attend high school in America. Both Bishara and Pogu began their freshman year in Virginia and graduated from a school in Oregon. They received scholarships to Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida.
In April, Joy Bishara graduated with a bachelor’s degree in social work. Lydia Pogu graduated with a bachelor’s degree in legal studies. Both young women plan to pursue their graduate degrees at Southeastern University.
Pogu wants to be a lawyer to “bring justice for the people, “ according to People. Both women plan to fight for girls’ education.
They are both examples that not even being kidnapped can thwart a dream if there’s enough courage in the heart.