shunning

On Thursday, news broke that another of the missing Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by the Islamist extremist cult Boko Haram two years ago has been found. The second in just as many days, she is being hailed officially by the authorities of Nigeria as a success story and paraded in front of the media as proof the new government’s ability to defeat the cult. However, there have also been reports circulating that paint a much less celebratory picture.

It seems that some of the locals in the villages are afraid of accepting anyone who has been involved with Boko Haram. In some areas, the fear is so strong that other women who have returned from the group’s forced captivity are considered to be “unclean” and “untrustworthy” – including innocent babies fathered by acts of rape. Though it is true that sometimes women taken by the militant cult have been used as suicide bombers, even those who present no physical danger are being cast away and even shunned. This same situation is occurring with those fleeing ISIS and other cults across the globe.