The Nigerian Christian Ann O. once imagined her life differently after finishing secondary school. She actually wanted to learn a trade, but overnight Ann’s family lost her father and breadwinner. Fighters from the Islamist terrorist organisation Boko Haram attacked her home town of Mubi in the north of the state of Adamawa on the border with Cameroon with guns and machetes and murdered at least 25 people, including her father. In order to survive, she had no choice but to contribute to her mother’s income with odd jobs.

The family eventually moved from Mubi to the Christian-majority state of Enugu, where they settled in the north-east, in Eha Amufu. For a long time, Ann’s goal of learning something “sensible” seemed unattainable – a dream that finally came true last autumn. She was accepted at the Nazareth School in the town of Enugu. There she can learn tailoring or how to run a cookshop.

The local aid organisation “Women Empowerment through Education” (WETE), which was initiated by the Nigerian nun Dr Mary Rose-Claret Ogbuehi, is covering the costs of the training. ISHR has been supporting the programme for three years on the recommendation of its Board of Trustees member Professor Obiora Ike, a Catholic priest from Nigeria. ISHR officer Michaela Koller met the first graduates last summer when she visited the aid organisation.

At that time, she also met Ann O., who is now 27 and had been invited for an interview at the time. “So far, I’ve been selling onions to earn anything at all. But with an apprenticeship, I can stand on my own two feet and hopefully help my mum make ends meet,” she said. ”Only proper training and skills can help girls and young women in their lives. This knowledge enables them to change the sad stories of their poor families for the better,” explained Sister Claret in an email on 23 December. During the interviews, she not only paid attention to the candidates’ final school grades, but also to their determination and background of persecution. Unfortunately, this is becoming increasingly common:

Even though major media in this country only report briefly – if at all – from Nigeria, the ISHR regularly receives news of religiously charged attacks by militant herdsmen gangs from the Fulani ethnic group, who are systematically supplied with weapons and infiltrated by Islamists. In the federal state of Plateau alone, at least 200 people were killed in armed attacks over Christmas 2023. On 25 January 2024, around 30 residents were murdered again in a village in this state.
Word has spread about the opportunities that WETE offers survivors of such attacks, which is why the ISHR has promised Sister Claret to sponsor more schoolgirls. The costs amount to around 350 euros per year per training place.