Contact: Nick Costello, 312-952-4855,
nick@healnigeria.orgCHICAGO, Dec. 10, 2018 /
Christian Newswire/ -- Little Scholastica rubs her older sister Fustina's face in a playful manner, just like any other three-year old.
But Fustina, who is six years old in a video, seems oblivious to the antics. Her frozen stare at the camera seems to betray unhappy memories. Those memories might be that of a terrorist attack that destroyed her family's village only two years earlier, when she was four.
Scholastica and Fustina are two of the many children in northern Nigeria who lost their parents and relatives to the ravages of a cruel civil war, and who have been forced to live on the roads and in forests, scrounging for food and hoping for relief from passersby.
The terrorist group Boko Haram's abduction in 2014 of 276 girls of the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Nigeria gained worldwide attention. The incident was only one of many attacks in northeast Nigeria since 2010 involving the bombing and raiding of villages and killing Christians.
"The girls are growing and are healthy," said Deacon Leo Okonkwo, founder of the religious community Messengers of Justice (MOJ), and Home to Enhance African Life (HEAL), which are taking care of the girls. "This is because of the proper care and support that the Messengers of Justice, through HEAL, has been offering them."
The two girls were rescued by the Mother Enabler Compassionate Home School, a ministry of the MOJ religious community and HEAL. Today the girls enjoy good meals, education, caring concern by the sisters, and a secure environment, Deacon Leo says in a video on the HEAL website.
HEAL president Nick Costello added, "We make accommodations for helping those people who are fleeing difficult situations, such as Boko Haram attacks or other religious violence."
The Telegraph in the United Kingdom said that Boko Haram claims "that Western-style education is at the root of corruption and criminality in Nigeria, having lured people away from following Islamic teaching as a way of life. In traditional Koranic schools, pupils receive no formal education but spend their days memorising the Koran."
Click for complete press release on Widows and Orphans.
Also, three photos are available at:
healnigeria.org/press-release-docs/2018-12/
