Cameroon, the story of three women victims of Boko Haram
The trail of terror that Boko Haram has dragged behind it for 11 years is recounted by Fatna, Maimouna and Bossoni
What they have in common is their village, Kolofata-in northern Cameroon, on the border with Nigeria, a place repeatedly attacked by Boko Haram-and the atrocities they suffered at the hands of the terrorist organization. This is how the lives of three women, completely different from each other, take a tragically similar turn.
“As if the earth had fallen on my head”
It is 2013, Fatna (fictitious name) is awakened in the middle of the night by her 22-year-old son who warns her that there is a knock at the front door. She and her husband get up as terrorists burst into the house, taking their son and slashing his throat before the eyes of his parents, who helplessly watch. The father runs away; she, Fatna, is left to face the killers alone. “I stood there looking at my son lying in a pool of blood,” she recalls shakily, her eyes still filling with tears, “I stood there looking at his corpse, his lifeless body. That day it was as if the earth fell on my head. My world collapsed before my eyes, and what hurt the most was that I could do nothing. There was nothing I could do. My son died right in front of me…. I didn’t want to live anymore…. I wanted to die, too…”
Augustine Asta – Maroua, Far North Region, Cameroon